TIPS FOR MOVING AROUND VENICE

As featured in the Financial Times Weekend Magazine

Imagine you are a car. That is how to move around Venice. Imagine the calli are roads. If you behave like a car, then you will cause less impact on the environment.

1. Stay to the right when walking (even if you are British:). Please! Pass slow moving creatures on the left.

2. Do not sit on the bridges, never, under any circumstances whatsoever. One person sitting on a bridge can cause a traffic jam for miles. Would you stop on the Golden Gate Bridge?

3. Before stopping, look both ways, plus, in front and behind, and make sure there is no one else around. Do not stop short. Someone could rear-end you.

4. Think in terms of campi. Move from campo to campo, not calle to calle. When you get to a campo, then you can stop and see where you are, have a seat, some coffee, a spritz, and relax. A campo is a rest area, a scenic stop.

So, put that all together. You walk along the calle, staying to the right. If a shop catches your fancy, you slowly pause, sensing if there is anyone around you, then pull over on the right. When you are done, you merge back in the flow. Then you arrive at a campo. You find a nice table, order a drink, take out your map, and see where you are. It is a wonderful ballet.

The Reports of my Death are Greatly Exaggerated

The Coming Death of Venice?

June 20, 2013

Anna Somers Cocks

In 1987, Venice was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, at which point it was supposed to come up with a management plan. This March, the City Council finally presented it to the public. Its purpose, the council said, was to “define the strategies and choose the ways of putting them into practice through action plans.” Unfortunately, the document fails almost completely in both these objectives because its authors have funked all the big issues.

CLICK TO READ THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

The Vogalonga in Venice on May 19, 2013 set a new record with 1,700 boats and up to 7,000 people at the oars. No motorboats allowed. The headline translates to: Vogalonga Record-breaking 1,700 boats - Non-competitive race against wave motion; the point being that motorized boats cause too many waves and damage the Venetian infrastructure. Time for solar/electric hybrid boats!

Vogalonga da record, 1.700 barche

Regata non competitiva contro i danni da moto ondoso

Click to read ANSA in Italian.

Bell Tower Supported by Titanium

Holy See Gets Pavilion at Biennale

Not only do we have a new Pope with the marvelous name of Francis, the ancient Holy See will have a presence at Venice's Contemporary Art Festival! Holy Must See!

Holy See debutes pavilion at Venice Biennale

55th International art event welcomes Vatican exhibition

"For the first time, the Holy See has stitched together an exhibition to be presented at its very own pavilion at none other than Venice's epic art event, the Biennale - an idea first alluded to in 2009.

Starting June 1, the 55th International Art Exhibition entitled Il Palazzo Enciclopedico (The Encyclopedic Palace) runs until November 2013 at the Giardini and at the Arsenale in the Adriatic lagoon city."

CLICK FOR ANSA

Listen to the Mediterranean

I love red wine, fish, fruit and nuts and am pleased to have my basic instincts confirmed.

CLICK TO READ THE DAILY BEAST - "EAT LIKE A GREEK - THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET THAT COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE."

“Habitual drinkers” who followed the Mediterranean diet in the latest study were given the option of downing at least seven glasses per week with meals. A small carafe is part of a balanced Mediterranean breakfast for the centenarian residents of Ikaria, a Greek island where people reach the age of 90 at nearly three times the rate that Americans do. According to a recent study, they enjoy up to four glasses of wine per day. - See more at: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/27/eat-like-a-greek-the-mediterranean-diet-that-could-save-your-life.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet#sthash.xwuRC5mo.dpuf

When a major clinical trial is cut short because it would be “unethical to continue,” it’s safe to say the findings could be life-changing for participants. In the case of a monumental new study measuring how a Mediterranean diet—versus a low-fat diet—affected heart disease among people at high risk, the results were so clearly in favor of the former that researchers ended the trial early. - See more at: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/27/eat-like-a-greek-the-mediterranean-diet-that-could-save-your-life.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet#sthash.xwuRC5mo.dpuf

“Habitual drinkers” who followed the Mediterranean diet in the latest study were given the option of downing at least seven glasses per week with meals. - See more at: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/27/eat-like-a-greek-the-mediterranean-diet-that-could-save-your-life.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet#sthash.xwuRC5mo.dpuf

Red wine, in “moderation,” has for some time been thought of as heart-healthy, brimming with antioxidants that may help protect the lining of blood vessels and prevent blood clots. “Habitual drinkers” who followed the Mediterranean diet in the latest study were given the option of downing at least seven glasses per week with meals. A small carafe is part of a balanced Mediterranean breakfast for the centenarian residents of Ikaria, a Greek island where people reach the age of 90 at nearly three times the rate that Americans do. According to a recent study, they enjoy up to four glasses of wine per day. - See more at: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/27/eat-like-a-greek-the-mediterranean-diet-that-could-save-your-life.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet#sthash.xwuRC5mo.dpuf

Gondoliers Issue Warning

The gondoliers view Venice from the water, and things are bad.

Venice 'beginning to resemble Swiss cheese'

Venice's historic buildings and canals are riven with so many cracks and holes that the city is beginning to resemble a giant piece of Swiss cheese, gondoliers have said.

By Nick Squires, Rome

2:25PM BST 11 Oct 2012

The erosion of Venice's canal banks has been blamed in part on the increasing number of giant cruise ships which visit the World Heritage site.

An international group of heritage experts, authors and academics this week wrote an open letter to Mario Monti, the prime minister, calling for ships of more than 40,000 tons to be banned from entering St Mark's Basin and the Guidecca Canal, a passage of water which runs between Venice proper and the island of Giudecca.

They said the city's unique architectural fabric was being seriously damaged by "the increasing, invasive and uncontrolled presence of enormous cruise liners in the lagoon.

"Their presence arouses fears of serious environmental damage and jeopardizes the conservation of Venice's artistic heritage."

The group, from eight countries including Britain, included academics from the universities of Cambridge, Princeton, Columbia and Bologna, as well as Donna Leon, a best-selling American author of crime thrillers who has lived in Venice for more than 25 years.

Click to read The Telegraph

Human Beings Make Heat

Don't start complaining if there's no fish to eat when you get here.

Venice Lagoon Research Indicates Rapid Climate Change in Coastal Regions

ScienceDaily (Sep. 28, 2012)

Thousands of jobs and the Venetian economy rely on the survival of the fishing industry, which is dependent on the temperature of the coastal seawater in the Venice Lagoon. A rise in SST in the coastal zone reduces oxygen levels and displaces marine fish and associated nursery grounds, causing catastrophic fish kill phenomena. This research has helped predict the viability of clam fisheries and aquaculture habitats that serve the restaurant trade that caters for millions of tourists every year.

Click for ScienceDaily.

Venice. The Last Vestige of Romance.

Justice in Italy Served up to International Standards

Senate justice committee moves to make torture an offence

Measure to bring Italy into line with international standards

12 September, 17:43

(ANSA) - Rome, September 12 - The Senate justice committee unanimously approved a bill Wednesday to make torture an offence in Italy.

The move is designed to bring Italian law into line with international standards.

Felice Casson, vice-president of Italy's centre-left Democratic Party, said he was pleased with the decision.

"Now also in Italy, we recognize that this is a crime against humanity," he said.

Click for ANSA.

Simon Mordant, Rich Man with a Heart of Gold

Simon Mordant, the Australian financier and philanthropist who declared -- "I hope my last check bounces. I want to die with nothing" -- is Australia's commissioner for the 2013 Venice Biennale, and is at helm of the funding drive to raise money for the new Australian Pavilion. "I'm really targeting individuals. There's only so long you can stand around talking about your big house and your boat and your car. There's more to life."

From the Art Newspaper:

Australia’s new Venice pavilion to be built with private money

All A$6m ($6m) needed for the building will come from the private sector

By Louisa Buck. Web only
Published online: 27 June 2012

The Australia Council for the Arts has announced that the new Australian pavilion at the Venice Biennale is to be designed by Melbourne-based architectural practice Denton Corker Marshall. The new building, which the architects describe as “a form of the utmost simplicity: a white box contained within a black box” is due to be completed in 2015, with the existing pavilion that has occupied the site since 1988 and was always intended to be a temporary structure, having its swansong at next year’s Biennale when it will house the work of Simryn Gill.

Click to Read the Art Newspaper

Giorgia Boscolo Rows into Venetian Hearts

(12 maggio 2012 - Venice, Italy)

Yesterday, I took the traghetto over to San Tomà and met Giorgia Boscola for the first time. After nearly a millenium, the exclusive male world of the gondolieri accepted a woman as one of their own in 2010. The daughter of a gondolier, Giorgia is continuing the tradition. She's vibrant and friendly, greating passengers with a warm buon giorno, which is refreshing. When I asked her how it felt to be surrounded by so many men, the mother of two said, "I grew up with them, so it is like having hundreds of uncles."

Click HERE to read the Daily Mail.

"...Boscolo has dismissed critics who have questioned whether women would be strong enough to control the large boats.

'Childbirth is much more difficult,' she said."

Bottega Veneta Has the Midas Touch

Luxury at its best, 'made in Veneto'

Bottega Veneta has unusual recipe for success

06 April, 20:00

Eighty percent of the brand's bags are handmade and all are woven in the northern Italian region of Veneto.

"For us it is very difficult to find skilled labor, and bearing in mind the growth in recent years, this is starting to become a problem", says Bizzarri. The answer, he found, was right in front of him. With local unemployment in the company's hometown of Vicenza on the rise, and a once-thriving artisan community pulling down its shutters, Bottega Veneta decided to stay local.

...The special weaving technique that gives Bottega Veneta bags their midas touch is called 'intreccio infilato' and has been used by 'Vicentini' (from Vicenza) artisans for centuries. Bottega Veneta has accomplished two deft moves with the production cooperative.

CLICK FOR ANSA

MANET. Ritorno a Venezia at the Palazzo Ducale

Thanks to some exception loans from the Musée d’Orsay – which has the largest collection of Edouard Manet's works -- as well as loans from many other international museums, Venice welcomes the great French painter back to the lagoon city. Masterpieces galore, with fresh insight into Manet's inspirations -- not to mention Manet's controversial Olympia right next to Titian's controversial Venus of Urbino on the same wall. Curated by Stéphane Guégan, and with the scientific direction of Guy Cogeval and Gabriella Belli and exhibition layout by Daniela Ferretti.

MUST SEE!

MANET. RETURN TO VENICE
APRIL 25 - AUG 18, 2013
Palazzo Ducale

For more information:

http://www.mostramanet.it/

Fragile? at Rooms for Glass

Fragile?, an exhibition curated by Mario Codognato, features 28 artworks by some of the most innovative international artists of our time who have experimented with glass – from Marcel Duchamp and Joseph Beuys, to Ai Weiwei, Damien Hirst, Giovanni Anselmo and Jannis Kounellis, to name a few.

Le Stanze del Vetro is a joint initiative of the Giorgio Cini Foundation and Pentagram Stiftung to promote 20th Century Venetian glass. The Rooms for Glass is not just the physical space that houses exhibitions, but an entire enterprize, with research, seminars, archival documentation, catalgoues, and technical and artistic experimentation as part of the program.

MUST SEE!

Fragile?
April 8 to July 28, 2013
Venice, Le Stanze del Vetro
Island of San Giorgio
Free admission
www.lestanzedelvetro.it
www.cini.it

10am - 7pm

Closed Wednesday

free admission

ROBERT MOTHERWELL: EARLY COLLAGES

Devoted exclusively to the American artist Robert Motherwell's (1915-1991) papier collés, this focused exhibition contains about 60 works on paper which re-examines the origins of the artist's style. Curated by Susan Davidson.

ROBERT MOTHERWELL:
EARLY COLLAGES
May 26 to Sept 8, 2013

Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
Dorsoduro 701
I-30123 Venezia

Daily 10 am - 6 pm
Closed Tuesdays

tel: +39.041.2405.411
fax: +39.041.520.6885
e-mail: info@guggenheim-venice.it

Seguso. Vetri d'arte: 1932-1873

Sir Anthony Caro at Museo Correr

Giorgio Cini monumental complex open to visitors

Located on the Island of San Giorgio, the Giorgio Cini complex is one of my favorite places on the entire planet, full of treasures that reflect the highest qualities of mankind. On Saturdays and Sundays, the monumental complex is open to visitors from 10.00 to 16.00, every hour:
guided tours in Italian: at 10, 12, 14, 16
guided tours in English or French: 11, 13, 15
During weekdays, guided tours are for groups of at least 12 people, upon reservation.

Island of San Giorgio Maggiore

CLICK to go to Cini for itinerary and more info

Imperial Rooms of the Royal Palace in Venice

Ca' Rezzonico Museum of 18th Century Venice

A Very Light Art is an exhibition that presents itself as an interface between work of art and an object of common use. It 'a reflection on the design and study on the role of the artist in the history in relation to the architectural environment. Seven international artists selected by the exhibition's curator Cornelia Lauf, under the scientific direction of Gabriella Belli, named for their extraordinary sensitivity to Italian craftsmanship and materials and historical context of the building: Airò, Stefano Arienti, Flavio Favelli, Luigi Alders, Gabriel Orozco, Cerith Wyn Evans and Heimo Zobernig.

May 31 to Nov 24, 2013

Ca’ Rezzonico
Dorsoduro 3136
30123 Venice
Phone +39 041 2410100
Fax +39 041 2410100
carezzonico@fmcvenezia.it
Click to go to Ca' Rezzonico

IN GRIMANI. Ritsue Mishima Glass Works at PALAZZO GRIMANI

Ritsue Mishima, born in Kyoto and a resident of Venice since 1989, links her personal artistic expression to the thousand-year-old techniques of glassmaking and, as she herself asserts, she could not create anywhere but Venice.

Wander through a genuine Venetian palace, once home to Antonio Grimani. Vision of the Afterlife by Hieronymus Bosch is also on display.

IN GRIMANI. Ritsue Mishima Glass Works

May 30 to Sept 29, 2013

Palazzo Grimani

Ramo Grimani,

Castello 4858,

Venezia

Opening times:
Tues-Sun from 8:15 am to 7:15 pm
Mon 8:15am - 2:00pm

CLICK FOR MORE INFORMATION

GLASSTRESS at Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti

GlobalArtAffairs Foundation at Palazzo Bembo

GlobalArtAffairs Foundation, a non-profit organization whose aim is "to heighten the awareness about the more philosophical themes in contemporary art, in particular: Time-Space-Existence, and make these subjects more accessible to a wider international audience."

Global Arts Foundation has established itself as a major, important center for the arts in Venice. A collateral event of the 55 La Biennale.

June 1 to Nov 24, 2013

Open daily 10-6

Closed Tuesday

Palazzo Bembo

Rialto Bridge

Riva del Carbon 4793
PERSONAL STRUCTURES

Ileana Sonnabend Collection at Ca' Pesaro

Thirty masterpieces by some of the greatest artists of the 20th Century have arrived at Ca' Pesaro on a long-term loan from the Sonnabend Collection in New York. Ileana Sonnabend (1914-2007) was a leading discover of fresh talent and now Venice gets to share her fine eye. At the center is Jasper Johns Do it Yourself (Target, 1960) and Robert Rauschenberg's Payload Calendar 1962), and also features works by Andy Warhol, Richard Serra, Jeff Koons, Dine, Lichtenstein, Flavin, Judd, Wesselmann and the Italians Schifano, Anselmo and Zorio, as well as the recent photographic work of and Candida Höfer, Clay Setter, Lawrence Beck.

NEL SEGNO DI ILEANA SONNABEND
June 1 to Sept 29, 2013

Ca' Pesaro
International Modern Art Museum
Santa Croce 2070
30125 Venice
Closed Mondays

Click to go to Ca' Pesaro

Jacob Hashimoto: GAS GIANT at Querini Stampalia Foundation

FLUIDA ART GALLERY

Cindy Sherman & Arnold Mario Dall'O

The early work of the invigorating artist Cindy Sherman will be on show from Feb. 1 through Mary 26. The exhibition Cindy Sherman. That's me - That's not me. Early Works 1975-1977 presents some 50 works which the VERBUND COLLECTION acquired since it was founded in Vienna in 2004. In the years 1975-1977 Sherman raised the game for the first time with photos that combine a striking number of elements of theater. Gabriele Schor, director of VERBUND COLLECTION has worked for three years in close collaboration with Cindy Sherman.

CINDY SHERMAN
THAT'S ME - THAT'S NOT ME
Feb 1 to May 26, 2013

Arnold Mario Dall'O was a student of Emilio Vedova at the Art Academy in Venice where he studied sculpture, video and design, and edited popular images with religious symbolism, found in magazines or on the Internet. Ironic comment on contemporary society. With images of the dead, he gives "Still Life" a whole new meaning.

ARNOLD MARIO DALL'O
STILL LIFE
Feb 1 to April 1, 2013

kunst Meran
im Haus der Sparkasse
Lauben 163
Merano
Tel +39 0473-212643
info@kunstmeranoarte.org