Category Archives: Vita Venexiàn

Mi stago ben…

Women Make Waves in the Regata Storica

I know everyone’s out on their last summer picnic weekend, but when you get back, here’s a re-worked press release we hope will gets some visibility beyond Italian borders (the Italian press has already made appointments for pre-festival photos!):

On Sunday, September 7th, for the first time ever, an all-women crew will row the Serenissima, the lead galley in the most elaborate of Venice’s annual water-festivals, the Regata Storica. They’ll all be from our very own Remiera Cannaregio, and, I’m delighted to say I’ll among them!

The scandolous idea of having only vogatrici (female rowers) lead this procession famossima was proposed by Giovanni Giusto, master stonecutter and restorer, and Head Coordinator of the over 80 boat clubs that support the unique voga alla veneta rowing style (you know standing up, facing forward, made famous by gondoliers). “Maintaining the voga tradition,” smiles Giusto, “doesn’t mean things have to always be done exactly the same!”

For millennia, the voga alla veneta was the only way all the light, shallow craft, both commercial and personal, were propelled across the lagoon and throughout Venice’s intricate canal system. It’s still a passion of many a local for leisure and sport. Itâ€™s also one of the few authentic Venetian activities that, thanks to stalwarts like Giusto, has not been appropriated by the tourist trade; and such, it remains one of the living links to the Venice of centuries past and the cradle of vera venezianitÃ .

The serene voga alla veneta struggles to survive among the choppy seas created by the ever-increasing number of motor craft, both pleasure and tourist transport, that criss-cross the lagoon incessantly. But the rowers are a determined lot, not to be counted among the cynics who resign a vital Venice to the past tense. Ask any vogatori, including the eighteen fie (women) you’ll spot in the Serenissma on September 7th.

If you’ll be attending the festival – or anytime you spot voga enthusiasts – feel free to show your support with a shout of Viva le donne, viva la voga!

“Quarantine” a Venetian word? Sì.

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It’s from quarantena, the period of 40 days that cargo and merchandise arriving from faraway lands was sequestered on the island of Lazaretto Nuovo. All sorts of treatments were applied to the goods held in storage there in the hopes of extinguishing whatever bestie might be lurking that could potentially carry the dreaded bubonic plague to the city. Venice was decimated by two major plagues barely fifty years apart (1576 and 1630), a factor which certainly contributed in no small part to the Republic’s eventual demise.

The English word origins don’t stop there, of course. It’s one of the first uses of the word word “lazaretto” to refer to a hospital or place of quarantine for those with infectious diseases (a bibical allusion to Lazurus). You were shuttled to Lazzaretto Vecchio if you developed symptoms of the plaque to recover…or not. In fact, just last year mass graves were discovered on Lazzaretto Vecchio; the graves were utilized not as a result of disrespect for the dead, but of the number and speed at which people were dying.

On Lazzaretto Nuovo however, evidently sailors from Crete, Constantinople, pass the time by leaving wonderful recounts scribbled attentively across the wall; they seem to be the ancient equivalent of “I was here.” They are very well restored, and almost always allude to events of the day and affirming they were experienced in buona compania. Even then, it seems that hanging out with good friends was a highly-valued activity.

There is much more to see on Lazzaretto Nuovo, including a still-operational vera da pozzo with one of the few engraved lions that Napoleon missed in his manic quest to obliterate them all. You may tour Lazzaretto Nuovo on Saturdays and Sundays in either the morning or late afternoon from April through October, other days by appointment.

For more information stop by the tourist office, visit the website, www.lazzarettonuovo.com or call +39 041 244 4011. To reach the island, take Linea 13 for Sant’Erasmo from the Fondamente Nove, and ask the ACTV personell to let you know when you should get off.

One last note: take mosquito repellent. As well-cared for as the island is, it’s still a bit difficult to keep the bestie under control. Now we know why they abandoned Torcello…

Three steps and a porch swing.

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The four of us (two Venetian locals, two born in the U.S.A.) had just finished una cena improvvisata on Anna’s 4th-floor terrazzina that hovers over the Rio San Lio, when the last, late-night

Â gondola group boisterously (if with some difficulty) disembarked below us. “Buena sayra,” they each say in turn, teetering off with two half-full bottles of wine in hand. The gondolier responds with a perfunctory buona notte as he shoves a fistful of cash in his pocket, and pushes off for home.

“I’ve never been in the U.S.” recounts Anna, “so I have no idea what it’s really like. But we have this one, very consistent image from all the movies we’ve seen. At least all the older ones.”

Ah, lovingly-conjured bygone film images. Wherever this was leading, it was going to be good.

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Cannaregio 6-5000

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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 TuttoCittÃ . 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.

livingVENICE

Voga, vino, foto, e la vita venexiàn as lived by the author of "Italy: Instructions for Use" and "The Vap Map."

Category Archives: Vita Venexiàn

Women Make Waves in the Regata Storica

“Quarantine” a Venetian word? Sì.

Three steps and a porch swing.

Cannaregio 6-5000

The Fenice takes the 5th.