Northern Italy Trip, Days 3 & 4: Venezia

I spent most of the train ride to Venezia sleeping, but at one point I opened my eyes and looked out the window. I saw nothing but white--everywhere. It was snowing in Bologna. I suddenly regretted not buying a scarf from the vendor outside our Firenze hotel who kept trying to sell one to me. Fortunately, 20 minutes later we were long past Bologna, and there was no snow to be seen. And then there was water. We had arrived in Venezia.

Ponte Rialto over the Grand Canal

We started our visit to the City of Canals with another 'derive'. Eric and Marina left us at the Ponte Rialto to navigate our own way through the winding alleys and bridges to Piazza San Marco. After feeling like we had spun in circles a few times, we arrived in the square that had been used as an example in so many of our architecture textbooks and classes for the past three years.

View towards Piazza San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore

In the afternoon we went inside San Marco, but first we went to a museum where we were introduced to the brilliant detail work of architect Carl Scarpa. Later, we walked to the tip of an island where there was a great view across the canal to San Marco, San Giorgio Maggiore, and Il Redentore.

After splitting off from the group, four of us decided to spend the rest of our day doing something that is incredibly simple to do in Venice: get lost. There are so many tiny alleys in the city, and they twist and turn so much that it is so easy to get disoriented. However, if there was ever a place you would want to get lost, it would be Venezia. Though the tourist-oriented nature of many parts of the city cause it to lose some of its romantic impression, those wandering moments in the quiet parts of the city, crossing bridges overlooking tiny waterways, bring it back.

City of Canals and Bridges

The next day we saw two of Palladio's later architectural works in Venezia: Il Redentore and San Giorgio Maggiore. Both churches were beautiful and a wonderful prelude to all of the Palladian architecture we would see in Vicenza two days later.


Il Redentore Sketch