Venice Is Alive: Venice Film Festival, Accademia Galleries, Venice Glass Week & Variety Party at Hotel Danieli + More

The Adriatic Sea seen from the roof terrace of Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido - Photo: Cat Bauer

 

(Venice, Italy) It seems like every cultural organization in Venice schedules events and openings around the same time that the Venice Film Festival kicks off. There is a slew of international press in town, and the hope is that the press will attend and shine a headline or two their way — so we’ve got major openings at the Gallerie dell’Accademia and Palazzo Grassi (Hypervenezia) and Palazzo Ducale (Venetia 1600 - Births and Rebirths) which will have their own posts in the future, as well as the Venice Glass Week scattered in venues and galleries all over the city. Venice can careen from ancient Renaissance to glam Hollywood to glitzy haute couture without missing a beat. The Queen of the Adriatic is exploding out of lockdown in a town brimming with celebrities and dignitaries, as well as ordinary folk.

 

This year a new element was added to the mix when Dolce & Gabbana electrified the city with fashion shows, dinners and parties in Piazza San Marco, the Rialto and Arsenale just before the film festival opened, ushering in a bevy of celebrities and ritzy clientele who got very wet. You can read about it in Vogue: Dolce & Gabbana’s Stunning Alta Moda Show in Venice Boasted Both a Lightning Strike and a Rainbow and Inside Dolce & Gabbana’s Lavish Three Days in Venice—See J.Lo, Helen Mirren, and More.

Final Day of August, 2021

Power Circle

Roberto Cicutto, President of La Biennale di Venezia

Toto Bergamo Rossi, Director of Venetian Heritage

Simone Venturini, Venice Councilor of Tourism & Economic Dev.

Dario Franceschini, Italian Minister of Culture

Luca Zaia, President of the Veneto Region

Photo: Cat Bauer

Gallerie dell'Accademia

 

On Tuesday, August 31, the day began with the opening of two new salons of the Gallerie dell’Accademia in the company of Dario Franceschini, the Italian Minister of Culture, and Luca Zaia, the President of the Veneto Region, among other dignitaries.

I like the headline from the press release of the Gallerie dell’Accademia:

THE MOST IMPORTANT VENETIAN ART COLLECTION IN THE WORLD IS EXPANDED WITH TWO MONUMENTAL SALONS COMPLETELY RE-ESTABLISHED AND DEDICATED TO PAINTING FROM THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

Scourge of the Serpents by Giambattista Tiepolo (c.1732-34) Photo: Matteo De Fina

The most riveting painting in the new salons is the Scourge of the Serpents by Giambattista Tiepolo (1696-1770) an enormous work of art more than 42 and a half feet long (13 meters) depicting a horrific attack of snakes on what seems to be innocent children, women and men — an infant appears to be suckling at the breast of his dead mother. 

Scorge of the Serpents (detail) Tiepolo - Photo: Cat Bauer

Apparently the Lord had sent venomous serpents to punish the Israelites for criticizing him and Moses. Moses is at the center, raising a bronze serpent on a rod. The painting was restored by Venetian Heritage in memory of its founder, Lawrence D. Lovett.

I had never heard of this dramatic story before, so I did a little research. Here is the Biblical passage from Numbers 21:4-5 that the painting portrays:

The Bronze Snake

They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.  The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.

It seems that Tiepolo caught the moment just as Moses was raising the bronze serpent because there were a lot of Israelites already dead with snakes coiled around their bodies. I will confess that after having been raised on a benevolent Jesus Christ it is difficult to wrap my mind around Christ having such a cruel father -- and that is supposed to be the universal image of the one god? It is a magnificently disturbing work of art.

Revelers at Benedetto Marcello Conservatory for Venice Glass Week - Photo: Casadorofungher

The Venice Glass Week

 

Next we segued over to Palazzo Franchetti for the Venice Glass Week press conference, an international festival dedicated to the art of glass. From September 4 through September 12, there are hundreds of events that celebrate glass — installations, exhibitions, conferences, lectures, demonstrations, workshops, film screenings, performance, guided tours and parties. The Venice Glass Week has a website where you will find everything that is scheduled, both physically in town and virtually, so even if you are not in Venice you can participate. There are conversations in English with international glass maestros such as Lino Tagliapietra and Dale Chihuly on the YouTube channel Conversations on Glass by Apice. 

 

Academy Award-winning film-maker Bong Joon Ho at Variety bash at Hotel Danieli - Photo: Cat Bauer

 

Variety Bash at Hotel Danieli

A change of clothes, then over to the Variety party co-hosted by Hotel Danieli, a Luxury Collection Hotel on their magnificent rooftop terrace on the eve of the grand opening of the Venice Biennale International Film Festival. It is a beloved tradition that combines the provincial with the international, and Hollywood with Venice. It was not held last year due to the global pandemic, so it was wonderful to be able to celebrate again. 

The bash honors the President of the Jury of the Venice Film Festival with whimsical food and creative drinks based on his or her body of work set against a backdrop of the lagoon with the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore omnipresent in the background. This year the party celebrated the work of the Academy Award winning film director Bong Joon Ho, who won four Oscars in 2020 for his masterpiece Parasite -- Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature Film. 

The Venice Lagoon from Terrazza Danieli - Photo: Cat Bauer

Alberto Fol, the Executive Chef of Hotel Danieli's Terrazza Danieli Restaurant, paid tribute to Bong with an evening entitled The Stairway to Paradise, inspired by the class struggle in the film. The menu combined the proletarian with the aristocratic, and featured delicacies that I am taking straight off the press release:

• La Roccia della Ricchezza - Scampi prawn tartar with gold leaf and Gochugaru (Korean chili powder) 
• Parasite Pizza - Steamed pizza with oriental vegetables and burrata
• Parasite Jiapaguri - Ramen and udon mix with premium beef sirloin
• Chicken - with prune syrup and honey
• Birthday Skewer - Sausages and prawns with bulgogi sauce
• Peach and Tofu - with Chopinamu berry
• Da-Song Chocolate Cak
  

The mixology was by Hotel Danieli's Lorenzo Ricci, pairing the chef's creations with the refreshing "Core Evolution" cocktail -- gin, mint syrup and champagne. 

 

Cat Bauer at Variety party Hotel Danieli

Century after century, Venice has hitched up her skirts and lowered her décolletage after overcoming impossible challenges. Venice is 1600 years old this year, born March 25, 421 at noon at Rialto. The Grand Lady may have some wrinkles, but she is still a dynamo, going strong.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog