Tuesday,
July 15, 2008
Venni, Vidi,
The
ANNOTICO Report
The
authenic Spirit of Venice are its "Campi" ,or City Squares,
where Life is really lived. Here are the three that will intrique
you.
(1)
Campo
By
Susan Spano
July 11, 2008
Pianissimo, pianissimo.
That's
how morning comes on the Campo Santa Maria
The
paved square -- or campo -- around the
I'd
been to
CAMPO
Leave
San Marco from the piazza's northeastern corner, cross the Campo San Zulian, jog left, then right and if you're lucky you'll end
up on the Campo Santa Maria
The
church that gives the campo its name is thought to have been founded in
the 7th century but was rebuilt in the early Renaissance by architect
The
campo is a large rectangle bounded on two sides by canals where
gondoliers fan themselves while waiting for the next romantic couple. The other
two sides are lined by fine palazzi with
peaked Venetian Byzantine windows. Some are given over to small businesses --
the neighborhood pharmacy and funeral parlor -- but others,
like the Palazzo Querini-Stampaglia, have
grander purposes. Reached by its own little bridge, this palazzo is a
library and picture gallery. Across the campo is the imposing Ruzzini Palace Hotel recently opened as a luxury hotel.
I
stayed at the Hotel Casa Santa Maria
But
my room was cool enough, decorated with the warring fabrics, patterns,
decoupage and gilding well known to budget-loving aficionados of
I
liked going out in the relative cool of the early morning, getting a newspaper,
having my first cappuccino at the Bar all'Orologio
and watching one of the last authentic neighborhoods in
But
you wouldn't know it in this campo, where I watched men with briefcases
hurrying to work. Old women pushing shopping carts quarreled at the vegetable
stand. Finally, the tourists started coming out, studying maps until they got
the idea of looking up at the church.
It
is one of the most companionable in
Reconstructed
many times over the last millennium, the church now takes the form of a Latin
cross superimposed on a Greek cross, paved with smooth stones set in
diamond-shaped patterns. Side chapels were endowed by the guild of cofferers, who made dowry chests for Venetian brides, and
the guild of fruit sellers, who dedicated a shrine to their patron, St. Jehosophat.
Among
the church's treasures is Bartolomeo Vivarini's "Our Lady of Mercy" triptych (1473).
With no need to rush off, I found my own favorites, including the wood-backed
"Holy Father With Angels" (late 15th
century, attributed to Lazzaro Bastiani)
and an altar relief (1719) by Giuseppe Torretti,
showing a decapitated St. Barbara, her head rolling on the ground.
Back
outside, I looked into shops along the Calle Lunga Santa Maria
I
discussed the derivation of the word "campo" with Luigi Frizzo, proprietor of the Acqua
Alta bookstore, and made a dinner reservation at Osteria
al Mascaron after seeing the squid and sardines on
the antipasto counter.
Osteria al Mascaron -- from mascherone, a kind of talismanic monster sculpted on
many facades in
About
the time catechism class let out, I found a table at
CAMPO SAN ZACCARIA, CASTELLO
Wise
men do not come to
At
the Hotel Villa Igea, I was given a room that was
stuffy even with the air conditioner on high, so I asked for and got a cooler
chamber. It had a bathtub -- a rarity in modest Venetian hotels -- and came
with an excellent breakfast buffet.
Best
of all, the hotel was right on the campo, looking directly at the white
Renaissance facade of the Church of San Zaccaria,
which looks like a hairstyle worn by Marie Antoinette.
This
campo is smaller and more dignified than
The
campo narrows on the far side, where a carabinieri barracks occupies the old Convent
of San Zaccaria, founded with the church around 1000.
The convent was an old friend of
During
the debauched 18th century, sisters wore pearls and entertained gentlemen, as
depicted in "The Nuns' Parlor at San Zaccaria"
(1750), a painting by Francesco Guardi on display at
the Ca'
I
could imagine them filing into the church next door, where
Architects
admire San Zaccaria for its blending of Renaissance
and Gothic features and for its oldest chapels, where a fragment of 9th century
mosaic pavement can still be seen. A doubtful-looking stone staircase leads to
the crypt, where some of
Afterward,
it was a shock to emerge onto the sun-blasted campo, where instinct led
me to the nearby Rio dei Greci,
settled by Greek immigrants. Their church, San Giorgio dei
Greci, with its precariously canted campanile, is in
an enclosure on the canal. Next door is a museum with a 17th century icon I
especially liked that depicts the ascetic Christian saint Simeon Stylites, who lived for 37 years on the top of a pillar in
From
there, I retraced my steps and took the Salizzada San
Provolo to the Rio di Palazzo, a canal spanned by the
Outside,
I joined the streaming crowd, went from shadow to bright light again, blinked
hard and realized I was in the incomparable Piazza San Marco, along with all
the other 18 million people who visit Venice every year, it seemed.
A
vast banner obscuring the facade of the Sansovino
Library showed tennis pro Roger Federer's Rolex
watch. Even the stone faces on the capitals at the Doge's Palace looked
stultified by the heat.
The
only thing I could think to do was to retire to the roof terrace atop the
fabled Hotel Danieli, occupying a 15th century palazzo on the Riva degli Schiavoni, where George
Sand and Charles Dickens stayed. But my gin and tonic cost $30 and a pigeon
stole one of my hazelnuts.
A
refrigerated late afternoon nap restored my good humor, and when I woke I
walked along the waterfront to the Arsenale, the
renovated shipyard east of San Marco that hosts the Venice Biennale, Europe's great
showplace for contemporary art.
At
the Teatro alle Tese, I stood in line for a ticket to a modern dance
performance that ended just as the sun was melting into the boat basin.
I
meant to go straight home. But along the way, I passed Al Covo,
considered one of the best fish restaurants in
CAMPO SAN BARNABA, DORSODURO
Guidebooks
pay scant attention to the Campo San Barnaba, near
the Ca'
Deconsecrated
and emptied of its best art, it is an exposition space now, currently hosting a
show on the whimsical machinery designs of Leonardo da
Vinci.
A
10-minute walk from Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, with its divine
"Assumption of the Virgin" (1516-1518) by Titian, and the Gallerie dell'Accademia in the
other direction, the small square is found only by wandering.
It's
never crowded, which has endeared it to filmmakers. Katharine Hepburn fell into
a canal here in "Summertime" (1955), and
Harrison Ford sought the Holy Grail at San Barnaba in
"Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989).
But
the campo has its own stories to tell, some even verifiable, like the
one about Lucrezia Contarini,
who was attended by 150 ladies when she married the doge's son at San Barnaba in 1441.
Another
somewhat more doubtful tale concerns the noisy ghost of a French crusader whose
mummy was unearthed nearby. Apparently, he got drunk and drowned in a canal
before ever reaching
The
campo has a well, two restaurants with outdoor seating favored by
students from the nearby Ca' Foscari University of
Venice and a floating greengrocery laden with blessings from the countryside.
The
boat is permanently moored by the Ponte dei Pugni, where rival gangs once brawled and a man with a
knife sometimes sits, expertly extracting artichoke hearts from their thorny
coats of armor.
A
string of shops and restaurants lines the Calle Lunga San Barnaba, which emanates
from the southwestern corner of the campo. I especially liked the
Pizzeria Al Profeta and a fabric store called Annelie Pizzi e Ricami that sells soft, white, cotton First Communion
gowns.
I
stayed at the Hotel Locanda San Barnaba
on Calle del Traghetto, which runs between the campo and the Ca' Rezzonico vaporetto stop
on the
There
was time to visit the Ca'
In
another room, I found old friends dallying with cads in "The Nuns' Parlor
at San Zaccaria" by Francesco Guardi (about 1750). But I did not tax myself by following
a checklist of great sites. Instead, I adopted the rhythm of a Venetian summer
by spending the late afternoon quietly in my room, with the curtains drawn and
one of Donna Leon's addictive mystery novels set in the
Church
bells summoned me to the campo around 6 p.m., where people began to
emerge, whistling, with shopping bags and a beautiful array of dogs, surely the
best-loved domesticated creatures on Earth.
I
thought about walking to San Marco but left the notion on the table along with
the toothpick that had skewered the slice of orange in my Spritz.
So,
I really can't say how long the lines are at the Doge's Palace this summer.
But
I do know where to get artichoke hearts and First Communion gowns.
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