Author Archives: Living Venice

Hop-on, Hop-off Vaporetto dell’Arte eliminated.

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Vaporetto dell'Arte Venice City Tour water bus

The vaporetto dell’Arte service has been eliminated as of fall 2013.

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The Vaporetto dell’Arte debuts June 1, and with any luck will allow curious ticket holders to travel more comfortably,  and more informed.

A local will only lament the arrival of yet another vaporetto water bus traversing the Grand Canal, and after the failed attempt at the resident-only line two years ago, you can understand their skepticism. But this new hop-on, hop-off city tour might just help distribute the tourist vap traffic a bit more appropriately, freeing  sightseers from the more cumbersome arrival and departure traffic—we can only hope.

The Vaporetto dell’Arte resembles hop-on, hop-off buses in other cities like London or Rome, with some notable differences. Each of the 80 seats on this colorful vaporetto is equipped with its own monitor; you can select your language and use the earphones to listen to the presentation between stops. There is more ample outside seating compared to a normal vaporetto, and with your purchase, along with the earphones, there’s a kit with a map, a booklet with instructions and route, and offers from associated organizations (Venice city museums, Biennale, Fenice , Guggenheim, Cini and Prada Foundations, and more) for Vaporetto dell’Arte ticket holders.

The Vaporetto dell’Arte stops have be selected to make them convenient for sightseeing and for criss-crossing the city more efficiently; though that will likely depend on exactly what it is you intend to visit (the Ghetto, Ca’ Rezzonico, Bevilacqua, Querini Stampalia and Palazzo Grimani don’t seem terribly convenient to any of the included stops, which are San Stae, Ca’ d’Oro, San Samuele, Accademia, Salute, San Giorgio, and San Marco, of course; Arsenale and Giardini when the Biennale’s on). Forza, corraggio.

Some particulars:

  • the pass is good for 24 hours, so you’re covered for two full days of sightseeing.
  • the cost is €24, or €15 for seniors or kids 12 and under; you can also combine this pass with any regular  pass for €10.

• purchase the Vaporetto dell’Arte and other travel passes from veniceconnected.com,

Note, too, that

  • the starting point is the Ferrovia train station, not Piazzale Roma; the line ends at San Giorgio Maggiore (or Arsenale or Giardini).
  • the vaporetto departs every 30 minutes from any stop; when you arrive, check the next departure times.

For complete information, see the official web site, vaporettoarte.com

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By the  way, the VAP MAP has been updated to reflect the new line, and the new Alilaguna and ACTV stops.

Grandi Navi: Two Demonstrations say “Open Season”

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There’s lots of activity around the opening of “cruise season” in Venice, and citizens are mobilizing to continue to protest their presence.

It’s a rainy weekend in the forecast, so it’s hard to say what the participation might be. In the meantime, here’s a rough translation from their Facebook page:

No Grandi Navi ProtestThe cruise season resumes in full force the weekend of April 14 and 15: as many as 9 (nine!) ships will arrive and depart this Saturday and Sunday. The Comitato No Grandi Navi has decided to mobilize now, raising its voice to renew the demand to remove these monsters from the fragile lagoon.

At 15:30 on the 14th, there will be a procession of private boats from San Marcuola to the Canale Grande Bacino of San Marco: citizens, in fact, are invited to repossess their water city in any sort of private boat: rowing, motorboats, sailing, pedal, canoe, kayak, or surfboard! Who doesn’t have a boat, or is on foot, will be transported by the Committee.

It’s important that there’s a lot of us, to give the peaceful sign that we don’t need cruise ships to stay afloat in the lagoon, and that certain ships and the dredging they demand are incompatible, polluting, destructive.

If anyone wants fly a flag or sign or banner that asks the cruise ships to stay out of the lagoon, obviously it would be welcome. Venetians, given free rein to your imagination!

Then, from 14:30 on the 15th, we will set up a garrison along the Zattere with an information point, launching a signature campaign for the ouster of ships from incompatible lagoon.

Drinks, cichèti, and jazz and blues music for everyone!

Please join with us to proclaim that Venice belongs to its citizens, and not to the airlines or cruise ships or the Port Authority.

Boat sflilata of the 14th in Canal Grande
Meet at 15.30 at San Marcuola

Signature Fest, Music & Drinks for all
14:30 on the Zattere 

 

 

Klimt (and Hoffman) Conquer the Correr

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The time is la Belle Èpoche, the place is Vienna. Women are still corseted, but Freud is probing their psyche; while Art Nouveau begins to sweep the continent, Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffman ‘secede’ in igniting a new world of art and architecture.

Klimt at the CorrerThe excitement at press conference was palpable, even in an off-Art Biennale year. And such a crowd: perhaps two hundred journalists and photographers, gathered in one of the most splendid ballrooms in the city. Not to dance, at least not literally…

The Museo Correr on Piazza San Marco has just launched “the art event of the year in Italy,” according to Correr director Gabriella Belli, and hails a return to international collaboration for the museum because, as director of the Belvedere in Vienna Agnes Husslein-Arco puts it, “A country’s art is its best ambassador.”

“Being his 150th birthday year,” reported Husslein-Arco, “We had requests from all over the world to host Klimt’s work. But we chose Venice.”

The Secession was the movement in Vienna founded in 1897 by Klimt and architect-interior designer Josef Hoffman (among others), so named because they seceded from the conservative artist’s union of the time to pursue and document the creation of Gesamtkunstwerk, the total work of art.

The exhibit itself is multifaceted, and richly illustrates the symbiotic collaboration between Klimt and Hoffman along with their contemporaries with a commentated timeline of two decades of paintings, jewelry, personal artifacts, and even the Beethoven Friezes (albeit copies) created by Klimt, once installed the iconic Hoffman building modeled before it.

Klimt at the Correr

The museum interior has been completely refashioned to highlight the works presented: windows are covered, walls re-formed and painted, and in some cases effectively replaced (as in the case of the friezes) to permit each work to shine.

Klimt at the Correr

And shine they do. Curator and Klimt expert Alfred Weidinger recounted the story of when Klimt was visiting Venice with a few friends, one of which was the charming Alma Schindler (later Mahler, whose former-Venetian abode is now the Oltre il Giardino B&B). The luminous mosaics of the San Marco Basilica interior, along with the equally luminous Alma Schindler, must have created quite an impression on Klimt, which manifested, said Weidinger, during his Golden Phase when he employed the extensive use of gold leaf and recalled mosaic form in paintings such as the opulent Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer* and The Kiss. The deeply-hued walls are ideal for featuring these works’ shimmering golden tones.

Klimt at the Correr, VeniceThe Kiss is not at the Correr (“The Kiss does not travel,” in fact); but Judith is here, as is Salomè, the Portrait of Marie Henneberg (above), and even Girasole — the Sunflower — donated to the Belvedere only ten days before the opening of the show at the Correr. (By the way,  Salomè did not travel to the Correr from the Belvedere—but instead from across the Canal at the permanent collection at Venice’s own Ca’ Pesaro museum of modern art, where it was acquired after Klimt’s grand success at the Biennale of 1910. In fact, Ca’ Pesaro is hosting a collateral exhibition on the same theme, The Spirit of Klimt, a perfect complement the Correr exhibit.

Klimt was an interesting character; he painted no self portrait (If you want to see me, look at my work) and kept no diary. He died of complications of Influenza 1918, leaving a number of unfinished paintings.

So, Happy 150th Birthday, Heir Klimt. We’re happy to be able to celebrate your life and work today in this splendid exhibit.

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Klimt in the Sign of Hoffman and the Secession
mostraklimt.it

Museo Correr, Piazza San Marco
Vallaresso stop (Line 1, Line 2)

Daily 10 – 7pm (ticket office closes at 6pm)
through July 8

€12
discounts for seniors, students, and with the San Marco Museum pass.

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* A recent NPR story highlights The Lady in Gold, a book recounting the recovery of Adele’s Portrait, appropriated by the Nazis during WWII.

 

Emma Thompson on the set of "Effie" in Venice

Emma and Effie (and Claudia!), Movie Making Most Venetian.

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Last December, Emma Thompson arrived for “Effie,” along with Dakota Fanning, Claudia Cardinale, husband and co-screenplay writer Greg Wise, and an opportunity to make believe that in Venice, it’s 1850 once again.

Venice Grand Canal background film shoot for Effie (screenplay by Emma Thompson and Greg Wise) (Nan McElroy)It seems to me this is the sort of film that ought to be made here. It’s a sustainable sort of film: no explosions, no taxis careening down tiny rii, no fake collapsing buildings. Just a recount of John Ruskin (played by Greg Wise), one of the most famous foreigners to ever have been consumed by Venice, and his ill-fated marriage to the young Eufemia Gray (Dakota Fanning).

The film’s backdrop is a rich one: the Victorian Ruskin feverishly documenting Venetian Gothic architecture as he feared it might be destroyed at any moment by occupying Austrians, while he simultaneously patronized (in the literal sense) contemporary artists William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Ricardo Scamarcio), John Everett Millais (Tom Sturridge). This trio formed the rebelliously contemporary Pre-Raphealite Brotherhood, dedicated to the pursuit an art form born of and inspired by the natural. Millais (who painted poor Ophelia, lifeless in the watery reeds…) also used Effie as model, in fact—perhaps that was when their romance began…

Venice Grand Canal background film shoot for Effie (screenplay by Emma Thompson and Greg Wise) (Nan McElroy)My romance, instead, began the first day of shooting here, on set with Emma, Claudia, Dakota, et. al., actors meticulously costumed by Ruth Meyers in 1850 garb shipped in mostly from Spain, as Venice seems to only stock attire from 1700’s (didn’t the Venetian world die with Casanova?). You’d think as a former editor, I’d be a bit more blasé about the whole process. Anzì–it was nice to be back in the milieu.

They’d meticulously recreated an alimentari on the ponte leading from a small campo near San Giovanni e Paolo; it was astounding how the Venetian aspect retreats into another century voluntarily. Everyone seemed quite excited to be there—or (being a big Thompson fan anyway), maybe I was just projecting my own delight. I’d helped transport one of Arzanà’s traditional boats to be used in the background, so once we got there, I was free to take in the scene. Lots of publicity cameras, Emma in a bright white piumino coat circulating with her teenage daughter, Director Richard Laxton posing with one stella after another, Greg Wise looking quite Ruskin-ish. Set ups weren’t too taxing, everything went as scheduled—and I got some great shots.

I also got to try out some of that 19th c garb a few days later, rowing for an entire day in the Grand Canal in the traditional boats of Arzanà. The rowing wasn’t too taxing, but I have certainly acquired a new appreciation for modern, light-weight vestments.

The weather was splendid, and it was a holiday to boot, so there was little traffic. We rowed back and forth on cue as the 2nd unit halted water traffic when the shot was rolling. The fact that I just can’t seem to cull the shot selection only speaks to how fascinated I was by this unusual, marvelous spectacle. How often to you see a caorlina vela al terzo with its firey orange sails proudly traversing the Grand Canal, seeming to reclaim its once indisputable domain? (I know, I know, the tendency to hyperbole strikes again.)

 

The film is “Effie,” it’s in post now and due out in July, 2012. Surely it will get some sort of nod at the festival in September?

 

Combining Carnevale with Cruise Ship Protest: only in Venice

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The bitter bora has moved on, so several hundred locals and passersby enjoyed bright sun and vin brulé as they affirmed their continuing opposition to the size and number of massive cruise ships that come and go via the Venice lagoon. Venessia.com joined group Fuori le Maxi Navi dal Bacino San Marco (Big Ships Out of San Marco Bay) and Comitato No Grandi Navi to organize the event; there was vin brulé, a papier mâché Campanile and riotously-colored boat, plenty of costumes, stilt walkers, and music; there were sign up sheets to gather support and lots info on why everyone’s so mad. Afterward the group formed a procession to San Marco, drawing the attention of everyone they passed along the way. You can make a point and be entertaining at the same time, right? Here, you better…

Out, Out, Big Ships – Venice Carnevale Cruise Ship protest Images by Nan McElroy