Friday, Aug 1. A day off. Dinner at Dolfin just a few meters down the street (good lasagne and pasta with bacon and tomato).
Sat. August 2.
We were back at the San Marco Basilica this morning, spending one hour at the top of the loggia, a/k/a the Basilica Museum. There are wonderful architectural drawings from the 18th and 19th centuries and views from the loggia. Also, the lights were on so the mosaics could be more easily appreciated. But, it’s up about 50 steep, high-rise, uneven, medieval steps. Another thing we will not be able to do again. We complied with the no-photos edict. We may have been in a minority on that. We acted very Venetian and returned to the apartment for lunch and a nap.
We spent the late afternoon on the island of S. Giorgio Maggiore. There’s a huge Palladio church built on land granted by Doge Tribuno Memmo to the Benedictines in 892.
The bell tower has a lift and spectacular views.
Our new camera is a compact Canon with a fixed 50x zoom lens. Here’s a cruise ship a few km away. 1/1000 sec exposure. Bright light helps.
These behemoths pass right in front of San Marco. It may be wonderful to look out over the city from the top deck. But we doubt that the Venetians have any enjoyment seeing them in their lagoon. Not only are they ugly and jarringly industrial, they tower above the city. Some locals contend that they do incalculable ecological damage. They are likely right.
The Biennale spawns exhibitions all over Venice. These were on S Giorgio.
The Sky over Nine Columns by Heinz Mack
The glass work by I Santillana, Laura
Alessandro
Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto offered the installation Glass Tea House Mondrian.
We did not figure out the Mondrian piece.
Splurge birthday dinner along the water on the Giudecca at Figlio della Stella. We started with aperol spritzes:
Despite their toxic appearance (the orange is way brighter in real life), we have become fond of this low-alcohol drink. I have not had the chance to make one yet, but my starting recipe will be:
3 parts Prosecco
2 parts aperol
splash seltzer
slice orange
Leslie ate a baked lamb dish with bacon and cheese. Interesting; very strong flavor (mutton?). Bruce had the mixed fried seafood and veggie plate. Good, but not close to the same dish served to him in Padua. Shared a brandy mousse for dessert. Shrug.
A long trip back with vaporetto transfer required. Late return.
Sunday, August 3
We returned to the Accademia, since our previous visit was incomplete. There are two rooms of monumental works that are nominally addressed to some miracle, but are
really decorative panels that show off Venetian pomp and artistic virtuosity. Here is Giovanni Mansueti’s “Miraculous Healing of the Daughter of Benvegnudo of San Polo”:
Then we walked to the Palazzo Cini. Cini was a very wealthy industrialist. His small collection of old master works is now on public display.
The lighting is new, high frequency LED spots. Fine for the visitor, but the reflections make photos very difficult.
Cini’s Botticelli:
Portrait of Two Friends by Portomo:
Mazzolino’s Circumcision of Christ, a riot of color and precision about 12” wide:
Jesus always looks so joyous at his circumcision.
There was a beautiful tondo attributed to Ghirlandaio and shop:
Bruce was not satisfied with that photo. We found this one at Wikipedia, where it is attributed to Bastiano Mainardi, Ghirlandaio’s brother-in-law:
These are definitely the same work. See the crease line running through Mary. Can the new lighting at the Cini explain the differences in the color?
We turned the other direction for dinner tonight. Lovely restaurant with less than mediocre food - pasta bolognese, gorgonzola ravioli.
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