Venal Venice - Beautiful and Decaying

This is my second trip to Venice. I was here with my wife, Pam, in December, but that didn’t prepare me for being here in August. The train trip from Florence is not the most interesting of rides, but at least this time I detrain in the correct station, St. Lucia, not Mestre, as I did in December.

Our hotel, the Abbazia, is down a nearby alley. After checking in, we decide to walk 3km via the Rialto Bridge to the Piazza San Marco. We encounter hordes of tourists on the way. The Piazza is packed with people and pigeons. The line to enter the Basilica is very long, so we explore the piazza and do some serious people-watching. For dinner, we choose a friendly pizzeria I remember from December, Planet Dream. I am shocked to find they now have a cover charge of 2€ just to eat, not an uncommon thing in Venice. After dinner, we take a vaparetto back to our hotel.

The next morning, we again walk to the Piazza San Marco. Once again, the line for the Basilica is very long, a 2-hour wait at 10:30am. We decide instead to visit the Correr Museum and the Ducal Palace, both right on the piazza. We decide to walk back to our hotel paralleling the Grand Canal while ogling the interesting buildings. That evening, after first being ignored at a local bar, we find another friendlier venue for dinner, where we meet an interesting couple from England.

Disaster strikes the next morning when Tom’s back goes out. I decide to do laundry and end up having fun, believe it or not, and meet some interesting people. In the afternoon, Tom recovers and we visit Frari Church and the Gallerie dell’ Accademia after lunch. That night we decide to have a "blowout" dinner at an expensive restaurant, the Ristorante Roma, overlooking the Grand Canal. The dinner turns out to be much less than expected. We have a totally unsatisfying and expensive meal and return to our hotel to drown our sorrows in Sambuca.

The next day, we visit Ca' Rezzonica, a restored palazzo in the Dorsodura District. We enjoy a nice alfresco lunch and explore more of Venice on foot. We take an overnight train to Paris, not all that unhappy to be leaving Venice. I doubt that I will return.

Quick Tips:

Bring lots of money. Everything in Venice is more expensive, much of it understandably so. One of my guidebooks said, "Don’t think about it and just enjoy the place." I did that in December, but in August, I wasn't so forgiving.

There are various combination cards and passes you can buy for the different museums. There are also cards for transportation. There are also combinations of both. We got confused, so I recommend that you buy a current guidebook for an explanation. The clerks at our hotel didn't have a clue. The only one we bought was the combination Correr Museum/Doge’s Palace. It has the additional benefit of allowing the holder to bypass the often long queue at the palace and enter directly.

There are many, many free tourist-oriented magazines that contain discount coupons. Since I'm not a shopper, I can't say whether the bargains are really worthwhile or not.

There are a few guided walking tour companies, and the prices are not that bad. Pam and I were going to try one in December, but they cancelled. You can hire licensed guides as an individual or small group. Check the tourist magazines or your guidebook.

Best Way To Get Around:

There are only two ways to get around in Venice: walking or boating. Walking is a joy except for the crowds. Get a good map and walk the side streets, which are more interesting anyway.

Public transportation is done by bus-boats called vaparetto. You can buy passes for one day or longer. We never felt the need because, except for the end of the day, we always walked. One of the best deals in Venice is to take the slow no. 1 boat the length of the Grand Canal in the evening and either walk back or do a round-trip.

There are also traghetto, which can ferry you across the Grand Canal at certain points. There are only three bridges, so traghetto come in handy sometimes.

Water taxis, which look something like cigarette boats, are very expensive, minimum 40€. I've heard you can negotiate, though.

Last are the gondolas, which are not really for transportation, but rather for a romantic adventure – super-expensive at 60 to 120€ for a 45-minute ride, depending on time and location.

I chose the Abbazia Hotel because it is very near the train station. As usual, Tom and I can’t find it even with the help of our "Streetwise Venice" map. That’s because it isn’t on a street. It’s down an alley, which sharp-eyed Tom notices has a sign with our hotel’s name on it.

We are delighted to discover that the Abbazia is a converted abbey of the barefooted Carmelite Friars of Venice. It has an astounding lobby that was, at one time, the monk’s dining room and includes a raised pulpit from which scriptures were read during meal time. We also notice a beautiful garden and breakfast site that we can see from our window.

It is not only just 150m from the railway station "Santa Lucia," but also about 8 minutes from the "Piazzale Roma" car and bus terminal. It has evidently been recently restored and contains 50 rooms furnished with a modern bathroom, an air-conditioner (so important in the summer), direct-dial telephone, TV, and minibar. In addition to the aforementioned pulpit, there are holy-water bowls in some of the most disconcerting places and brass chandeliers hang from the ceiling, though I doubt the monks were much for chandeliers. Our rooms are done in a kind of peach-shaded tone with dark green accents. The rooms are quite a bit larger than I expect the monks’ cells were.

The location turned out to be even better than I had imagined. The Vaparetto station is a 3-minute walk, and there are numerous restaurants, cafés, delis, and bars within 200m. A combination launderette and Internet shop are close. (I know, it’s a weird combination.) Even though we are within a short distance of the train station, the noise does not penetrate, even with the windows open. What does penetrate are the morning bells, which ring twice at 7:30 and 8am, I believe - no need for an alarm or a wake-up call.

The staff is one of the strengths of the place: friendly, helpful, and humorous. Our last day, even though we know the place is full, we ask for a room for the day at a discount because we are taking a sleeper to Paris. The clerks tell us we can have a room and a discount as long as we pay in cash. Hmmmmm? We are happy to collude in the arrangement.

The only thing I can complain about is breakfast. It was ample but mundane. However, eating in the garden made even the mundane breakfast interesting. In the evenings, we always stopped at the bar for a drink. The bartender, Matteo, an Argentinean expat, told great stories of his adventures.

The Abbazia is a three-star establishment with four-star ambience and service. Shop the Internet for rates. We stayed there for considerably less than the rates advertised on their own site.

On our last night in Venice, Tom and I decide to splurge on dinner at a restaurant overlooking the canal. Based on our previous experiences in Italy, we figured it would be hard to pick a truly poor restaurant. Wrong!!!

We choose it because the maitre d’ is very friendly and, as we look into the dining room, it seems pleasant with candles on the tables and uniformed waiters. We check the menu, and while the prices are high, they are not totally out of sight and the location is such that we expect to pay more for our food.

We are right about the view; it is fantastic, but everything else is, at best, pedestrian. I’m not an expert in Italian wines, so we order an expensive Chianti. When I taste it, I think, well, it’s a little acidic, but it just needs to breathe a little. Unfortunately, breathing doesn’t help. The wine never mellows. Our surly waiter keeps hovering as we try to enjoy our overpriced wine and decide whether to stay or leave. We decide to stay, and with much sighing, he takes our order and keeps asking us if we want to order an antipasto as we keep saying no.

We never see the waiter again until he delivers the bill. Another server brings our food, and when I start to eat, I realize why the original waiter disappeared. The food is horrible: fatty veal, frozen vegetables that have had all the life cooked out of them, and oily roasted potatoes that look and taste as if they had been waiting all day for us to arrive.

The evening’s denouement comes when our original waiter, on only his second appearance, delivers the check and announces that he wants to be sure we understand that the service charge is not a tip. It is the only time that we see him attempt a smile. Tom and I have problems swallowing our laughter. After I pay the bill and get my change, I deliver an old insult remembered from my days as a traveling executive by leaving him a few small coins, maybe 10 cents, and insuring he sees me doing it.

On our way out, the maitre d’ asks most solicitously and seriously if we enjoyed our meal. We finally break out laughing and tell him it was not only the worst meal we have had in Italy, but that it may be the worst meal we’ll have in Europe. Turns out that we are right!

Do not go to this restaurant.

Our first stop this morning is the Correr Museum in the Napoleonic Wing, Piazza San Marco. I had been here in December, and I enjoy my visit just as much this time. It is a superb museum in terms of its artistic treasures, incredibly restored library, and archeological exhibits, which go back to Roman times, when Venice was just a collection of mud huts in a marsh. The murals in the library are worth the trip by themselves.

I like the idea that the museum combines the art and history of Venice. The original collection, donated by Teodoro Correr, dates from 1830. Most of the historic material focuses on the history of Venice from the 13th to the 16th century, and almost any objects that have survived from medieval and renaissance Venice are fair game for inclusion. There are also 15 rooms devoted to the resurgence in Italian nationalism that culminated in the Unification of Italy in 1866.

The first section consists of a series of neoclassical rooms that once housed royalty, but now contain, among many other attractions, a number of works by one of the greatest sculptors of the Napoleonic era, Antonio Canova. Farther in are large rooms that were once government offices, but now contain collections that document various aspects of Venetian history: daily life, public institutions, naval battles, local festivities, and major buildings.

Sprinkled throughout are dozens of works by the prolific Bellini family. There is Jacopo Bellini’s "Crucifixion" and his son Gentile’s "Portrait of Doge Mocenigo." Gentile’s brother, Giovanni Bellini, is represented by the "Crucifixion" and the "Transfiguration," and the artistically important "Pieta." There are other works by less-famous Venetian artists. Even though laminated information guides are available in English, it pays to also have a good guidebook as the guides are sometimes missing.

The Libreria Sansoviniana is at the far end of the building. The interior architecture and furnishings are almost as interesting as the murals and statuary. Originally commissioned to house the Biblioteca Marciana (Library of St Mark), it’s now an exhibition space. The vestibule ceiling is a huge Titian fresco, "Wisdom." The main hall has paintings of many of the great philosophers by Tintoretto, Veronese, and Andrea Schiavone. I somehow feel transported back to Venice’s Golden Years when I’m here.

Tucked away in a separate section, we discover many archeological artifacts from Greek and Roman times, including a bust of Julius Caesar. Some of these pieces are from the digs at Pompeii, some from nearby Ravenna. What with everything else, it’s almost too much. This is a very comprehensive, large museum with much to see. Plan accordingly.

It is open every day. A single combination admission, including the Doge's Palace, is 16€, with concessions for EU citizens. Photography is forbidden and closely monitored.

The Doge's Palace was the seat of the government of Venice for centuries. In addition to being the Doge’s home, it housed the law courts, civil administration and bureaucracy and the jail. It is a repository of the history of Venice, architecturally, artistically and historically.

We basically wander around trying to see everything. I am particularly fascinated by what I learn about the governing system of Venice. It was a republic that operated as an oligarchy. A vast bureaucracy of elected civil servants, committees and councils was presided over by the only figure elected for life, the doge. The system of elected doges lasted for over 1000 years, from 697 to 1789. Interestingly, a really incompetent or evil duke would not last very long. He would just happen to die sooner than he would have from natural causes so the leaders could choose a more suitable candidate. The most famous example is Marino Faliero, the 55th doge. He was appointed in 1354 and by 1355 was plotting a coup to declare himself prince. When he was caught he pleaded guilty, was beheaded, mutilated and all traces of him were expunged from history and memory. His place among the paintings of the 76 doges in the Hall of the Great Council is empty, covered by a black veil.

The first version of the palace was raised in the ninth century but it wasn’t until 1340 that the present building really took shape. Work continued until 1438 when the last piece, the grand entrance was finished. Work on the palace has never really stopped and even today there is a constant effort to maintain, refurbish and restore the building and its contents.

We enter through a side door, into a large courtyard. We can see there is a mix of styles, as successive doges tried to make the palace ever more magnificent. The columns surrounding the courtyard are elaborately carved. Sculptures are scattered about representing scenes from the bible. In the southwest corner there is an enormous staircase, the Scala dei Giganti, overlooked by huge statues of Neptune and Mars. This is where the Doge and his officials received visiting dignitaries.

We ascend the highly gilded "Golden Staircase" and stroll through the doge’s private and public rooms, filled with frescos by Tintoretto, Titian, Veronese and other lesser known artists. We finally reach the aforementioned Hall of the Great Council, perhaps the most magnificent room in the palace. We also visit the armory which has fascinating weapon exhibits. Descending into the building’s bowels, we cross the Bridge of Sighs, so named because it provided prisoners a last look at Venice. We explore the ‘new’ prison, built in the 17th century. Casanova is the only person known to have escaped this horrible place.

We wanted to spend more time here but we become thirsty, hungry and weary and decide to leave.

Open daily. Entry in combination with the Correr Museum: €16. Photo shooting in courtyard only.

This large Gothic church, whose full name is Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, is surprisingly beautiful. I say surprisingly because it isn’t as heavily visited as many other attractions in Venice. It stands on the Campo dei Frari at the heart of the San Polo district of the city. With Titian as the main contributor, artworks were created for this church by him, Giovanni Bellini, Donatello and many others. It also contains the tombs of Titian, the sculptor Canova, the composer Monteverdi, and the Doge Francesco Foscari. In spite of its many historical and artistic treasures, it’s so large that it seems empty even with the tourists wandering around.

After the death of St. Francis of Assisi, some of his followers traveled to Venice. The government eventually gave them an old abandoned Benedictine monastery to live in. In 1250, they started to build St. Mary the Glorious later called the "Frari" (Friars) because members of all religious communities were welcome there. The original was torn down in the early 15th century and replaced by the current edifice. It was finally finished and consecrated in 1492. The interior is just as magnificent as the outer façade. It is built in a Latin cross pattern, with a central aisle and side aisles, divided by twelve massive pillars. The original monastery, which we didn’t visit, houses the city’s archives and contains Venice’s entire history.

Entering the church is like entering an artistic wonderland. Titian’s altarpiece, the "Assumption" overwhelms us at first. A Bellini "Madonna with Child" graces the sacristy. A Donatello carving of St. John the Baptist is in the choir chapel. The Doge Francesco Foscari’s tomb is impressive. Titian and Canova are buried next to each other. Their tombs are interesting but not spectacular. Canova’s is a pyramid (see below) and was originally designed for Titian’s tomb.

We are awed by what we see but eventually are tempted to leave so we can have an alfresco lunch on the Campo outside the church. There are food stands and towering shade trees around the outer rim of the Campo. Just west of the church and very near where we end up eating our panninis is a church and museum we seriously considered visiting, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, which houses 50 Titian paintings. Unfortunately, it isn’t as high a priority as the Gallerie dell’Accademia.

Entry to "Frari" is free, and it’s open every day but closed in the evenings unless there’s a mass being celebrated. Picture-taking is allowed.

After lunch on the Campo dei Frari, we wander the lanes and alleys of southeastern Venice and, more by accident than design, manage to locate Gallerie dell’Academia, reputed to be one of the world’s great museums. It contains the most complete Venetian school collection in the world, including masterpieces by Bellini, Carpaccio, Tintoretto, and Titian.

As you might guess, it can get very busy. We took a chance and didn't have to wait, but others have said that they endured long queues. So, to be safe, book your tickets well in advance and plan your visit around lunchtime or towards the end of the day to avoid wasting time in line.

Even though the building isn’t air-conditioned, we spend a couple hours moving through the 24 gallery rooms, inspecting the incredible paintings which cover 10 centuries of Italian history. At some point, Tom breaks me up when he announces he is only interested in looking at masterpieces. He says that he just doesn’t have time for minor works. I suspect that, if he’s like me, he also doesn’t have enough "ram" in his brain to absorb it all.

Napoleon set up the galley during the French occupation of Venice in 1807. It was moved around the city before finally ending up in its present location. Galleries are set up chronologically so that Room 1 has works by the earliest recorded Venetian painters, including Paolo Veneziano and Lorenzo Veneziano (Veneziano means, "of Venice"), whose works were accomplished in the 14th century. Rooms 2 through 5 contain works from the 15th and 16th centuries, including pieces by Giovanni Bellini, Carpaccio’s "Crucifixion," and Mantegna’s "St. George."

Room 6 is where the high Renaissance paintings begin and we see "The Creation of the Animals" and a series of St. Mark paintings, the patron Saint of Venice, by Tintoretto, "John the Baptist" by Titian, and Paolo Veronese’s "Christ in the House of Levi," for which he was dragged before the Inquisition, but ultimately released. Rooms 11 through 19 include additional works from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries, including some Canova statuettes. I think it was here that Tom made his hilarious comment.

I am particularly taken by a number of paintings by Carpaccio, whom I hadn’t known much about prior to now. They include "Cure of a Lunatic" and a series, the "Story of St Ursula." Rooms 20 and 21 contain works with views of 15th- and 16th-century Venice by Carpaccio and Gentile Bellini. It’s incredible how little the city has changed. By the time I get to Room 24 and Titian’s transcendent "Presentation of the Virgin," I am in intellectual overload.

Admission fee is around 11€. A combo including Ca' d'Oro and Museo Orientale is about 5€ more. A free map naming art and artists is available. Take it. It’s good, better than my guidebook. It is closed Mondays. Photos are not allowed. Phone: 041/5222247 or 041/5200345 for reservations.

On our last day in Venice, we walk to the Ca’ Rezzonica, a beautiful Palazzo on the Grand Canal in the Dorsodura District. As usual, we wandered the streets until we found it down an unmarked alley. Perhaps one of the lesser-known museums in the city, it’s also one of the most intriguing. It contains not only paintings but also frescoes, furniture, statuary, and many other artifacts from opulent 18th-century Venice. It also gives us access to some great views of the Grand Canal and the neighborhood. We thought this would be a quick tour, but for us history majors, it turned out to be one of our more interesting stops.

This palace has a fascinating history of its own, notwithstanding its incredible contents. Designed by Baldassare Longhena in the 17th century for the aristocratic Bon family, this palace wasn’t completed until nearly 100 years later by Giorgio Massari. Longhena's death and Bon Family financial problems halted the work leaving the palace incomplete. The Rezzonico family had moved to Venice from Lombardy in the late 16th century and purchased a title. Giambattista Rezzonico, merchant and banker, bought the palace in 1751 and appointed Massari to complete it.

While the Grand Canal facade is Longhena's, Massari was responsible for the ceremonial staircase and the grandiose ballroom. The most important painters in Venice were called upon to decorate it: Crosato and Visconti, the frescoes in the ballroom; and Tiepolo, who painted two ceilings along with Guarana and Diziani. It was indeed an age of artistic excess.

By 1810, the family had died out, and the place was sold. Stripped of its furnishings, the palace had various owners until it was bought by English painter, Robert Barrett Browning, for his father Robert Browning, who died there in 1889. It was subsequently taken over by Baron Hirschel de Minerby, who eventually sold it to the Venice Town Council in 1935.

It now houses the "Museum of Venice in the 1700s", and it is a fascinating place. It retains the feel of an old Venetian palazzo and the frivolous lifestyle of 18th century Venice. For instance, the Throne Room, which was originally decorated for the wedding of Ludovico Rezzonico to Faustina Savorgnan, is fully furnished with articles from the patrician Barbarigo family. The room is named for an ornate gilt chair by Corradini. Additionally, there is a Chinese-style salon from the Calbo-Crotta family palazzo. Many of the rooms contain furnishings salvaged from decaying Venetian palazzos. There is also an extensive collection of Venetian glass.

The most impressive room in the building, though, is the ballroom; followed by the frescoes throughout the building, the ornate staircases and the view from the second-floor balconies. Paintings by Guardi, Longhi, Giambattista and Canaletto, and others I knew little of until today are interesting but pale next to the art we had seen in the Gallerie dell’Accademia, yesterday.

Admission around €11. Closed Tuesdays. Picture-taking not allowed inside the palazzo.

I am a bit of a curmudgeon, but I’m still able to experience the sense of awe and wonder that is so necessary if I want to be a happy and satisfied traveler. When I first visited Venice over the New Year holiday 2004, I was ready to be blown away by its beauty. In visiting for the first time, I was able to either ignore or repress my sense that the Venetian attitude towards me as a tourist was less than positive. In the winter, the venues weren’t as crowded, except for maybe New Year’s Eve, and the atmosphere was more welcoming. At that time of year, most of the visitors are Italian whereas in the summer, most of the visitors are foreigners. Maybe this fact contributes to the overall difference in atmosphere between my first visit and my second.

I was taken by the beauty of Venice both times I was there. I enjoyed the walking and drank in the architecture and culture of this attractive but fast-fading beauty. The problem, as I see it, is that all there is to Venice is tourism drawn by decaying attractions that are slowly being eaten away by the sea. I live in Hong Kong, and have lived in San Francisco, both very hot tourist destinations. So I am familiar with some of the frustrations that can arise when a place is inundated with visitors. Tourists are mistreated in both places by some of the locals. In San Francisco, it’s mostly crime that tourists are victimized by. In Hong Kong, it’s the cultural divide that often creates misunderstandings. Customer service, as ideally practiced in the West, is not as important in the Chinese culture, though that is changing.

The difference is that both these places are not totally dependent on tourism for their very existence. Venice is. I suspect that might grate on those who must earn a living serving tourists. It manifests itself in a number of ways. Granted these are anecdotal stories nevertheless, I can’t imagine that I am the only person who has run into similar situations.

As I mentioned elsewhere, most of the restaurants have a cover charge during the high tourist season whether you eat there or not. I understand the need to insure that those people using your facilities help pay for them but if I’m eating in your restaurant what is the rationale for a "Cover charge?" There’s no entertainment, the prices on the menu are the same as in the low season, and the service, if anything is worse. The only motivation I can come up with is greed. I reviewed Ristorante Roma elsewhere. Stay away. Planet Dream Pizzeria, which was a joy to visit in December, added a cover charge and cut down on the service in August. One evening, we tried to find a non-touristy place to drink some wine. We found such a place, but unfortunately, the owners obviously didn’t want tourists, so they basically just ignored us and refused to take our order even when we asked them to. We got the message and moved on down the street to a friendlier venue, which was about 25% more expensive for a similar bottle of wine. Eventually, Tom and I stopped going to restaurants and instead bought food to go and ate sitting on public benches or, in one case, in our hotel lobby, not to save money, but rather to save the hassle. Even in December, my wife Pam and I walked out of a restaurant at lunch time that was totally disorganized and where the owner or manager yelled at us in Italian when we asked to be waited on after sitting there for 15 minutes.

The Piazza San Marco is a world famous spot. It is the first place tourists head for when they arrive in Venice. Unfortunately it exemplifies the juxtaposition in Venice of beauty and greed. The square, which is architecturally fascinating, contains many overpriced jewelry stores, souvenir shops, restaurants serving $15 cups of espresso, etc. Musically challenged bands duel for attention while the tourists try to attract pigeons (Woody Allen calls them rats with wings) to sit on their arms by buying overpriced birdseed. The only difference between the tourists and the statues the pigeons usually sit on is that the statues can’t contract any diseases from the pigeons.

On New Year’s Eve, Pam and I were in the Piazza for the celebration. The celebration consisted of the bells ringing in the tower and individuals setting off fireworks wherever they pleased. It wasn’t safe and there was no police presence that I could see. Venice is the most popular destination in Italy for New Year’s Eve. Pam and I have celebrated New Year’s Eve all over the world and this was the lamest "celebration" we’ve ever experienced.

Is Venice all bad? Of course not, or it wouldn’t be as popular as it is. What I am suggesting is that its reputation is undeserved. Pam, Tom, and I agree that we were treated far better in Florence and Rome than here. I understand how the constant crush of tourists could get on people’s nerves, but that same situation has not created the same effect in places like Florence, Siena, or San Gimignano, all of which are similarly inundated with tourists.

What I advise is that, if you are going, and I do believe everyone should go there once, don’t go in the summer or other highly touristy times. Plan your time carefully so you can see the sites you want to see while giving yourself plenty of time to walk. My fondest memories of Venice are walking along the waterfront in the Dorsodura section, getting lost in the warren of streets between the Piazza San Marco and the Castello section, searching for the Ca’ Rezzonica in Dorsodura, and wandering the streets of San Polo on our way to and from the Frari Basilica.

I highly recommend that you do research on eating places before you leave. Something I did not do either time, trusting the techniques that work for me elsewhere in Europe. In Venice, where food is expensive, you need to be more careful. The Internet is full of restaurant recommendations. Use them. Also, use the Internet to find a hotel. People were paying much more for a room in my hotel than I was both times I visited. I cannot say anything bad about the hotel personnel I encountered on both trips. They were generally friendly and helpful.

Venetian art is interesting but it doesn’t, in my opinion, measure up to the art on display in Florence, Rome, Paris, London, Madrid, or New York, to name a few other cities. I think that what separates Venice from other tourist destinations are its architecture, its history, and its canals. I suggest you focus on those aspects of the Venetian experience.

No question, this place is beautiful, though decaying. I am glad I visited Venice, but I doubt I needed the second trip. I further doubt I will ever return. There are just too many other places that are more welcoming. For instance, I plan to return to Florence as soon as I can, and I've been there twice. Maybe the problem is, quite simply, too many tourists and too few residents.