Fine Settimana

Ciao,

This entry is about the first fine settimana-non carnivale (non Carnival weekend) that I'm spending in Venice. This has really been the first week of real school. Classes have picked up full steam and we're deep into the Merchant of Venice in my Shakespeare class, discussing the history of the English language in "One World, One Language" and already studying the imperfetto in Italiano. Classes are Monday through Thursday, which is nice because it affords an extra day to relax or travel on the weekend. However, VIU actually organizes trips around Venice to see interesting parts of the city you wouldn't normally see (but of course, we'll be going to the Basilica San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale).

I'll list some of the other trips we're planning on taking soon. Next weekend we're going to Padova to see the Cappella degli Scrovegni. I can't wait to go to Padova - I actually really want to go since I have a little leather and metal icon of St. Anthony that my grandfather got there, so I want to see what's interesting there. There are also trips to the place where Prosecco is produced (it's the Italian version of Champagne) and the Venetian port. I'm also looking forward to visits to Vicenza and the Brenta district, which I don't know too much about but I'll keep you posted!

This week, I went to two trips sponsored by VIU. The first was a modern art exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi, which is one of the famous residences along the Grand Canal (if you're familiar with the city, it's just up the Canal from the Ponte all'Accademia). The palazzo was apparently bought by a wealthy Frenchman who turned the building into a museum for art. Some of the art was very stimulating and interesting - on the whole, I really enjoyed it. Of course, it was modern art, so although not too much went over my head, I still had trouble appreciating every single exhibit in the museum. Some of it was just so avant-gard I didn't know what to think. But on the whole, it was incredible, especially in the space of the palazzo. My favorite pieces were a giant blue fuzzy spider (can't really explain what it means, but I liked it) and an architectural installation that worked like this: you walk into a black room lit by ultraviolet lights, and motors on the outside twist a 3D grid of strings, so it produces an odd sensation of motion. Most of the works in the museum were by fairly reputable modern Italian artists.

A lot of my friends went to Rome this weekend. I chose not to go along for a couple of reasons. First, I just went there. If you feel like reading about it, scroll down. If not, you just saved a couple hours because it's kind of long. Anyway, the other reason is that my dad is coming to Venice tomorrow, so I'm sticking around to introduce him to the city.

I'm actually hoping to stay in Venice for a lot of weekends. First, Venice is a beautiful city that is small (you can walk all the way across the island in about an hour) but has so many narrow and hidden places of interest. The people here are so interesting; you have to build your way into their routines, and then you yourself become a part of the landscape. Staying here on the weekends will make that process more positive and more fun, I think. But anyway, let me get to what I did today.

Today, the stalwart crew that remained in Venice (myself included) went to Murano where the famed glass-blowing studios are. We went to a particular studio to watch the production of a chandelier. It reminded me a lot of the glass art of Dale Chihuly, a really famous glass artist in America (I've actually met him before when he spoke at an installation in Charlotte). But anyway, this was such an incredible thing to watch, even though I'm sure I've seen it somewhere on TV, either Discovery Channel or Mr. Rodgers. The furnace was so hot, and it was mesmerizing to watch the glassblowers twirl the changing mass of thin glass, working it into different shapes - it seemed like they were going to burn their hands at any point. The pieces that they produce are so expensive - we're talking thousands for these chandeliers, which they can also mount lights in to turn them into lamps. One of the glass blowers turned a small wad of viscous white glass into a small seahorse in about 2 minutes, and he said that it goes for about 500 euro. Wow. I'm not saying that's too much though - in general, I'm finding that the quality of goods produced over here are much more superior to some USA products (and by USA products, I mean goods produced in other countries for USA companies). Neat little economics lesson, vero?

Anyway, we took the vaporetto back to the main city of Venice to the sestiere of Canareggio. After an incredible lunch (of course) we went to the Orsoni Mosaic company - they have been producing mosaics since 1860, and for four generations. We saw the furnace where the tiles are melted into shape, as well as the "biblioteca dei colori" (library of colors) where the sheets of tiles are stored according to color. Then we saw some workers cutting the tiles into really small pieces as well as some examples of finished tilework. Most of the works are commissioned (actually, just about all of them, I think), and these pieces are mostly modern in nature, as opposed to traditional.

So that's what I've been up to recently. I'm actually about to go into Venice with some friends now, and tomorrow I'm planning to go to the mall in Mestre, a city not far from Venice - some incredible shoes may be in my future. We will see.

Ciao,
Andrew