This morning we woke up and met Beatrice to take a walk through the city with her. On our way out we passed over a bridge and got to see the Venetian police on jet skis, which was pretty awesome. We walked first through the area of the city that used to be the Jewish ghetto, and much like the area in Rome where our studio was located, the density here was pretty great. We learned about how this density impacted not only the plan of the whole neighborhood, but also in the way buildings were maintained; because there was always a need for more space, existing buildings were renovated to allow for more occupancy by subdividing the floors and adding more in between the existing ones. This fantastic occurrence is visible from the outside in the quantity of windows on the façade, and when a building such as this sits next to a normal one, the contrast is pretty great. We walked through a series of streets that led us into a pretty fantastic piazza where we talked about how the seven synagogues of the neighborhood were raised off of the ground floor and hidden within existing buildings for safety reasons.From there we walked down along a major canal and enjoyed the city in its natural, non-touristic nature. This walk through the “real” city was very refreshing and furthered my general love for this city. We walked along this canal for quite some time, enjoying the great variety in the buildings as well as the city at a very personal level until we emerged from the street to the edge of the lagoon. I found it interesting that we were able to feel the breeze coming off of the larger body of water the whole way down the canal. The entrance to this edge was pretty great since we were coming from such a tight space, the feeling of being jettisoned out of a canon into a massive space primarily composed of water was somewhat exhilarating, and the views were, as usual, fantastic. We wandered down along the “coast” for some time before coming to the main hospital of the island (the original design was by Le Corbusier, but the entry was scrapped for something (worse) else) where we got to see ambulance boats!
We stopped next in another great piazza with two fantastically juxtaposed churches: one was white, clean, highly articulated and of the Renaissance style, while the other was a clunky, overbearing, brick beast of the Medieval style. While both of them would have been nice on their own, the sandwiching together of such fiercely opposing styles illustrated one of the best parts about this city: the way that everything seems to “flow” (no pun intended) together to form one cohesive organism. The Medieval church was the primary focus of our stop as we were able to walk around the majority of the building. There we talked about this phenomena, and how it is odd that it is not engaged in the fabric of the city much like countless other churches. This discussion brought me back to the same experience we had in Pisa, and how the Duomo was open on every side. The rest of the church was quite fantastic as the apse and side chapels from the outside were very highly articulated and quite dematerialized by stained glass windows, leading to quite the contrast with the stark façade.
From there we continued walking along random backstreets (Bea made it a point to get us away from the major tourist avenues of the city) where we saw some interesting moments like a church façade that angled somewhat severely into the street, as well as a quick stop at one of the streets that remained a relic of the old Red Light District of the city (of the 300,000 inhabitants of the city at the time, somewhere around 22,000 where prostitutes!). We talked here for a bit about how this business was sanctioned by the government of the city and provided quite a bit of their income. Our next stop was to the Querini Stampalia, an old palazzo converted into a museum featuring a ground floor design by the “modern” Italian architect Carlo Scarpa.
We were lucky enough to have Bea with us for this stop because she was able to get us in for free!! The ground floor sat at the level of the water so there was a point where a room was sat up slightly higher in order to avoid flooding. The design of these rooms was pretty fantastic and each one was slightly different. We came through a few of these before exiting out into a wonderful little courtyard. There was actually a point where we recognized a doorway that we talked about in our construction class fall quarter!We enjoyed the peaceful garden for a little while before continuing through the downstairs for a while. Each room was extremely varied in both the overall aesthetic as well as the design of the ground plan. There were a series of levels to step up and down as we maneuvered through the spaces, and this interaction with the architecture was great! We stopped briefly in an exhibit on a higher floor of a pretty great artist who seemed to work primarily in portraits, as well as a few fantastic landscapes. Our way back down took us through a massive working library that had the squeakiest and creakiest floors of any room that I have experienced, so our promenade through the space was quite announced and the looks we got only added to the experience. Once we had gathered we stopped and saw a beautiful light well and a nice theatre with a great futuristic feel.
From there we continued through more streets until we came to St. Mark’s Square. While the space is quite crowded at this hour, somehow the air is lively and the experience is quite enjoyable, especially when compared to the cramped mosh-pit of the Spanish Steps in Rome. While we were there we took a moment to lay with the pigeons since they were bold enough to climb on you when offered food. I befriended one who ended up sitting on my shoulder for a while as we walked. After we said goodbye to the pigeons we walked along the main coastline until we came to a Traghetto, which is a small gondola used to carry people from one edge of the canal to the other for only 50 cents! The ride was a hoot, as the majority of the time we were in fear of capsizing as we turned around. Being in the middle of the canal at a level barely above the water was pretty great, and by the time we disembarked on the other side we were ready to head back over. Instead we continued walking through some streets until we came to the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute.The exterior of this octagonal church was pretty fantastic as it was very highly detailed and featured many deep cuts into the mass of the building. Its placement at a point along the river provided a great relationship with the water, and its footprint allowed for a highly orchestrated and minimally obtrusive interaction with the pathways of the people in the space. The interior was just as fantastic as the outside, decorated in primarily grayscale and quite massive in size, it brought back memories of the Baptistery in Pisa (but way better!). We enjoyed this space for a bit and checked out the great side-chapels before coming outside to sit on the steps and just relax in the waterfront setting.
From there we continued out to the endpoint of the small peninsula where we enjoyed a panoramic view into the harbors and lagoon surrounding us, as well as some great yachts docked nearby. After some photos we set off to return to the mainland (using another Traghetto instead of a bridge less than a hundred yards away) for some lunch at a small little café. From there we just ended up walking for a great deal of time, and I think that I have never been in a city where aimlessly strolling through the streets with no purpose and really no major architecture moments to see was so much fun. Our path took us through a seemingly never-ending rollercoaster of hyper-narrow alleyways, crowded piazzas, empty piazzas, water front spaces and canals. We came back to the Rialto Bridge where I got a cup of the biggest and most delicious cherries that I have ever had.From there we returned to the hotel and relaxed for a little bit waiting for the churches to reopen before getting some gelato at a cool place nearby (I got Snickers, white chocolate Kinder and amarena) before heading out through a series of new streets (purposely trying to get “lost”) until we came back to St. Mark’s Square. We were lucky to have come this way because the sun had finally come out and the façade of the church was infinitely better when lit up. The piazza was hopping just as it was earlier, so we enjoyed that for a little while before setting off. As we walked along the lagoon for a little while we saw some cool moments like the Palladio church on an island finally in the sun and a fantastic leaning tower (much smaller than the owner of that title, but great nonetheless). However we had some trouble locating the church we were looking for, so after some confused wandering through the back streets in this area we happened to stumble into a piazza with a random church sitting in it that happened to be the very one we were searching for.
While the façade and overall design of this church were somewhat unknown to us, the name is what brought me here: St. Zaccaria (pronounced like my name!). In spite of the painfully plain façade the interior was one of the better ones I have seen here. Nearly every surface of the walls and coffering was painted, and the light pouring in from the windows of the façade gave everything including the somewhat dark paintings a wonderful and ephemeral glow. The ceiling and dome were both quite plain, but this was ok because it kept my attention on the artwork and the beautiful moments at our level (I find that once I look up in most churches, I forget about the design of the human scale). The plan of the church was quite odd in that it was very compact in the entry/altar axis and filled with rather odd structural moments. My favorite part was probably the altar, mostly because of the way it sat inside an apse within a larger apse-like space. This interesting moment combined with the radiance it gained from the front windows made the space quite great. From there we went down into the crypt to see the space below that had been flooded with water. Once we had finished in this interesting but slightly creepy space I sat and wrote for a while accompanied by the singing of a troupe of old women, which was nice but a little creepy.
From there it was time to head back home to meet up with some more people for dinner, so we hiked the whole way back (for the fourth time today). Once we had reassembled and changed into shorts we set off (where else) directly back in the direction we came from. After a good deal of walking we came upon one of the greatest moments that I have ever witnessed. A man disembarking from a water taxi carrying a backpack and small suitcase provided the night’s entertainment, and much to our chagrin we couldn’t get a video of it (we are certain it would win money on America’s Funniest Home Videos!). As he began stepping up from the bottom level, he slipped and dropped his suitcase. At this point the entire crowd was rapt with attention to see how he handled this trouble and his suitcase’s precarious perch just above the water. He slowly shuffled down to pick it back up before slipping once again and dropping it further and slightly into the water. As the events picked up speed, he grabbed the suitcase from the water and threw it up to the dry stairs above him; however, this success was short-lived due to a third slip and the subsequent loss of his backpack onto the steps. As if by fate, when he picked up his backpack he slipped once again and dropped it directly into the water before scurrying to retrieve it and throw it back up as well. Sadly, there was one last act to this comedy: he had finally stabilized himself at this level, but upon his first movement to walk up he slipped one final time and fell (closer to a dive) headfirst into the water. At this point the crowd lost it, and although I felt bad for the guy he climbed out of the water and threw his arms up triumphantly, which made me feel better.From the scene of this disaster we continued to the fish restaurant we were aiming for, which turned out to be more of a café-like place so we ended up finding a small pizza place to stop at instead. A buddy and I split two pizzas, one prosciutto and the other four cheese; both were fantastic! After dinner we wandered back home through the darkened streets (the only time we felt uncomfortable was when a flower vendor materialized around a corner, arms wide and a smile on his face. Upon our return to our hotel we stopped at the train station to check on tickets for tomorrow and got gelato (pear!) on the way back before going to bed almost instantly.
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