Vogo e ti Defendo: April 25
Apr 18, 2008 events & offerings, viva la voga
We’re all familiar with the stupenda, increasingly-popular Vogalonga, the “race” (held this year on May 11) in which any and every type of oar-powered boat may participate. (I’ll be in caorlina with five other women, in the requisite white attire traditional for any regata). This upcoming Friday, April 25th however, the weekend of the Festa della Libertà , the Festa di San Marco, and the Festa del Boccolo, there’ll be an added event: Vogo e Ti Defendo: I’ll row, and defend you.
Organized by the rowing clubs of the city and lagoon, this civic demonstration and mini marathon is reserved only for the Voga all Veneta, and is designed to highlight the increasing threat and continuing damage that the augmentation of motor traffic (from taxis to transports to high-powered outboards to monster cruise ships) has on existence on not only the delicate lagoon environment, but on the practice of one of the most historic and uniquely Venetian activities ancora vissuto today, the Voga alla Veneta.
Tags: veneta, viva la voga
Veni, vidi…vini (and more vini).
Apr 14, 2008 wine for all & all for wine
VinItaly shouldn’t last a long weekend, it should last a month. Even if you had five whole days to spend tasting wine, it would be impossible to sample even half of those that are represented there, and likely to bring on raucous case of gout to boot. Besides, it’s not just about tasting an individual wine, it’s about learning first-hand from the producer their background, philosophy, and approach; the vinification process and challenges of their particular area, region, and terrior, and, in general, just facendo due chiacchiere, which usually bubbles as effortlessly as a Scolca spumante about halfway into the second bicchiere. If VinItaly went on for at least two weeks, for example, you could stop by four or five times, for perhaps for a few hours, tasting, say, Franciacorta one day, hopping over to Puglia or Sicily another, Friuli or even Alsace another, and…well, you get my point.
Tags: Untitled
Cannaregio 6-5000
Apr 5, 2008 vita venexiàn
I’m beginning to understand the logic behind the Venetian system dei numeri civici, the addresses that only the postino knows for sure. Pity the poor traveler who arrives thinking that he can even get help on the street by asking, Can you tell me, where is San Polo 2825? Boh. Should he have a name of a calle or fondamenta that’s not too obscure, we can more likely point them in the right direction; perhaps they have a bad map that can give us a clue. Too often, though, they arrive without even a phone number…which means inevitable wandering, with luggage, sometimes in late evening, before finally, hopefully, locating their destination. Forza, su.
However, if you’re only moving (as I did, for the fourth time in less than four years, and more often than in the prior twenty), the numbering system comes in quite handy for updating folks with your new address, particularly if you don’t change sestiere. My last three homes have all been in Cannaregio, and indeed, each time I have moved, I have only had to change the sestiere number. There’s no street in the address, so that isn’t a concern; the zip was the same, and certainly the city. So…Cannaregio 4989 went to Cannaregio 2865 and then became finally (and this one should do it for some time to come) yet another number just around the corner from Tintoretto’s home. My U.S. folks are grateful for not having to learn how to spell yet another unfamiliar Italian word incorrectly (Miseri-who?).
I doubt that was any sort of consideration when the system was established secoli fa, but we have to look for some sort of silver lining, yes? All I can say is, thank heaven for VeniceExplorer and TuttoCittà . We’d never be able to find our way around otherwise, as even Google maps and ViaMichelin still haven’t quite gotten the whole Venetian picture.
The convenience of the numbering system notwithstanding, I praying to the Venetian dei that this lighter, loftier, appartamento recently ristaurato — that’s also one floor up with una porta sola, a highly-prized feature here — remains my home for some time to come.
