A Perfect Day in Venice

by Dagmar Painter

Floating in my gondola past the houses of Marco Polo, Byron, Casanova, and Vivaldi on a sunny day in March, I remembered my last visit 40 years ago, and marveled at how little had changed. But of course that has been more or less true since the dedication of the San Giacomo church at Rialto on March 21, 421. I arrived in Venice on March 21, 2012.  Just a few years later, from the looks of things.

Venice, Serenissima

Studying the "ferro" on the prow, I remembered that its shape echoes the cap of the Doge, ruler

of the city, with the six teeth symbolizing its six districts. The gondola is black, because the Doge decreed so to curb the ostentatius embellishment of competitive owners. So of ocourse they just embellished the seats in Venetian cut velvets and Fortuny silks. The forcule oarposts are still hand carved.   

Of course one visits all the famous monuments, churches and museums, but I also found time just to stroll along the rivas and through the campos, living like a Venetian.  

The city is remarkable for its craftsmen, makers of shawls, gloves,  velvet pillows, masks, and glass slippers, whose displays are a feast for the eyes (and a threat to the pocketbook). 

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Strolling the narrow calles, one comes upon the magnificent food market at Rialto with its mounds of fish, gorgeous vegetables, cheeses and sausages, the shoppers accompanied in their rounds by strolling musicians.

Venice in books and films

The City of Falling Angels, by John Berendt. Dagmar Painter recommends this book, which I have not yet read. By the best-selling author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Berendt, who arrived in Venice three days after a fire destroyed the historic La Fenice opera house, uses the event as a backdrop to delve into the nature of life in the city, and to introduce a memorable cast of characters.

Death at La Fenice is the first in the mystery series by Donna Leon starring Guido Brunetti, a suave commissario who sets out to investigate the murder of world-renowned conductor Maestro Helmut Wellawer, who is found dead in his dressing room just before he was to conduct "La Traviata" at La Fenice.

Inspector Brunetti and Venice are the stars of the lush German film versions of Donna Leon's books which are part of MHz Networks International Mystery Series. Joachim Krol plays a pitch-perfect Brunetti, and the city sparkles as he travels around Venice in canal boats, savoring fine cuisine and enjoying the million-dollar view from his terrace with his wife Paola, a literature professor.  

Death in Venice.  A haunting film thriller based on the novella by Thomas Mann, it tells the story of the troubling attraction of a male composer, Gustav von Aschenbach, towards a beautiful adolescent boy. Starring Dirk Bogarde and directed by Lucino Visconti (1971), much of the story takes place on the beach at the Lido, while in Venice, a deadly epidemic is spreading, symbolizing the corruption of the composer's ideals.

Summertime.  Based on Arthur Laurent's play The Time of the Cuckoo, this romantic comedy directed by David Lean tells the story of a vacationing American spinster, played by Katharine Hepburn, who has an affair with a handsome and not quite honest antiques dealer, the suave Rossano Brazzi. The film received two Academy Award Nominations, including Best Director and Best Actress, but the Venice views steal the show.  

The Wings of the Dove. This Henry James story of a love triangle was the basis of a movie with beautiful scenes of Venice. A disturbing tale of passion, temptation, and greed, it stars Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech) in an award-winning performance as Kate, a beautiful young society woman whose desire for a common journalist (Linus Roache) presents her with a wrenching dilemma: leave him, or marry -- and face a life of poverty. Things take an unexpected turn when Kate befriends a lonely young heiress (Alison Elliott) whose own tragic secret presents a difficult - and dangerous - answer.