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This is the blog of Steve Burkett of Italy, Our Italy

Enjoying Italy-Bought Wine

Isn't it funny how the brain works? Not hah-hah funny, but amazing funny.

“To fully understand today’s story, you have to understand that we were naughty this past weekend. Yes, we were very naughty!”

Sometimes we have a sudden flash-back to some other time in our lives...it might be triggered by a sound, or maybe a smell...it could be any one of our five senses that brings back a memory, either wanted, or unwanted. My wife and I had an experience this past weekend that brought this home to us. But, it wasn't related directly to a triggering from one of our five senses. So, what was it?

It was a wine, of all things. It was a wine which we brought back from a trip to Italy in 2014. And it was this wine that brought back memories. And those memories brought back a joy of Italy and a wonderful day in Tuscany.

This is a story about stopping to smell the roses...or if you are want for roses...the wine.

First, I'll give you the backstory for the experience which uplifted our spirits this past weekend.

The Backstory from 2014

Our memory started as many Italian memories do -- with food. We had just finished an outstanding lunch at Ristorante La Botte di Bacco (The Bottle of Bacchus) in the hillside town of Radda in Chianti.

This charming little restaurant is highly regarded by those who utilize TripAdvisor in their travels, as we do. The upstairs dining room overlooks the street and the surrounding valley below the town. That's our table in the photo at left.

The food is absolutely scrumptious. I have included a few photos below to prove this statement. As we sat down at our nice window seat, we enjoyed the Tuscan countryside on this temporarily-beautiful day.

See the photo to the right? When we sat, I'm like, 'Whoa...what is this?!' My wife Ellen, being an expert in such things, let me know that, 'It's like a ginormous bread stick'. And I'm like, "Man, its good!"

[I'm happy to say that, like it or not, we've like, grown out of saying 'like' all of the time -- like heck we have]

I've never lied to you, and I won't start now as I tell you that I am now a fan of huge bread sticks. And, in the photo to the right, you can see that Ellen has quickly become a huge fan of fried pizza dough that we found in the carb-alicious basket of goodies you see below.

And here are a few photos of just some of our lunchtime treats. Please click on the images, because I want you to get a much closer look at the shaved pear and ravioli, the veal, and the bisteca con carciofo (aka artichoke). Benissimo!

The white wine above? I don't remember what it was, but it was delicious, as you can tell by the smile on my face, below. But, this is not the wine of which I write today.

You can see the wine of which I write today in the next photo...but though it is, it also isn't. That probably doesn't make much sense, does it? So read on.

The red wine in the photo is a Chianti Classico from the Rocca di Castagnoli winery. See the black rooster on the neck of the bottle? That tells you that the wine is officially a 'Chianti Classico' wine. Chianti Classico does not in itself impart a note of superiority, but is more related to a location. The Chianti wine region is generally a Tuscan area south of Florence, and the Sangiovese grape variety grown there is the key ingredient of all Chianti. And if the Chianti region was thought to be shaped as a donut, the Chianti Classico area could be the hole in the Chianti donut. The town of Radda in Chianti, where we were eating, is located in the Chianti Classico area. You can see that the wine is a 2011 wine, which in summer of 2014 was just right for drinking...it was approachable, as one might say...so, we approached it.

If you are want to know more about Chianti Classico and it's origins, please read my article of August 25, 2015, about the birthplace of Chianti titled, "Beautiful Places Castello Brolio".

During lunch, the formerly sunny day turned dark and stormy, as you can see below as we looked out of our window-side table.

So after lunch, we darted from one dry spot to another as we made our way to our car. We took shelter in a couple of tourist stores, then a butcher shop, and in the tunnel-like entrance to this centuries-old courtyard.

Having dodged rain drops, we made it to our rented Alfa Romeo Giulia, where we sat for a bit.

"Now what?", I asked.
Ellen offered, "That Chianti at lunch was really, really good. Let's see where it's made and go visit the winery."

Sounded good to me. So, that's what we did.

We took a bit of a circuitous route, for which we were rewarded. You might remember an article I wrote back in June, 2015, which was titled "Get Lost!". If you don't remember that article, you can read it here...it's one of my favorites.

Our reward for taking this route to the Rocca di Castagnoli winery was beautiful scenery as the weather began to clear. Here is one of my very favorite photos of Tuscany...full of rich, weather-lifting scenery, as well as rich memories.

And a couple more photos from along the way in the 'moody weather' vein.

The Rocca di Castagnoli winery sits high upon a hill southeast of Radda in Chianti. Like a lot of wineries in Tuscany, it is housed in centuries-old buildings.

During our tour of the winery, we particularly enjoyed the barrel-vaulted barrel vault, with row-after-row of colorfully casked wine, aging to perfection.

Want larger casks? You got it!

In the photo of the lone cask to the right, you can see the burned-in graphics indicating that it is an oak barrel from a particular forest. You can also see that it is made from grapes of the 2013 vintage.

Here's the very friendly young man who helped us in tasting the various wines behind the Rocca di Castagnoli label.

And here, he has laid out several wines for us to try.

We had a great afternoon indoors tasting delicious wines, while outside it was off-and-on stormy. Know what we did when we left? That is the subject of another of my very favorite articles titled, "Wild Goose Chase", which is about our ill-fated reservation at one of Tuscany's (formerly) finest restaurants. You can reminisce with us by reading here.

Just a quick note about wine tasting and driving. If you haven't tasted wine at an enoteca, or Italian winery tasting room, please understand that you don't get a full pour, nor even a half pour...a taste is all you get...just a sip. So, inebriation shouldn't be in the picture. And just a bit more about drinking in Italy...as our friend Luciano says, "If you see a man who is staggering down the street after having too much wine, we say that he just hasn't had enough to eat!". Such words of encouragement for eating more in Italy are not needed...really.

Fast-Forward to 2017

So finally, now back to my story about this past weekend, and the gist of this article on enjoying Italy-bought wine. That is the whole point, after all.

To fully understand today's story, you have to understand that we were naughty this past weekend. Yes, we were very naughty!

So, there's all kinds of naughty, right? And I'm not sure what degree of naughty you are imagining right now (but of course, you can use the Comment box below to share your thoughts if you feel so obliged), but I have to say that our naughty was in the really-tame-naughty category...mostly.

This past weekend, we had planned to clean up the house. Besides the various misplaced items on our main floor, we had things in our bedroom which we had neglected for awhile, and in our basement (please don't tell anyone this!), we had not put away all of our boxes of Christmas decorations. I know...we are terrible people, aren't we?!

Instead of starting the ball rolling Saturday morning, I completely stopped the ball by suggesting that our day would be better spent laying around in our jammies in front of the fireplace reading our books and drinking wine. With hardly any sales effort on my part, Ellen bought into my program with absolutely no hesitation. So, that's exactly what we did.

I got the fire going (yes, we actually use wood in our fireplace!) and then went down to the basement (aka wine cellar) to grab a bottle of red wine. While Ellen lay on the couch reading in front of the crackling fire, I uncorked the bottle and poured us each a glass.

Ellen: "Dang! What is this? It's really, really good!"

Me: "Let me look. Its a bottle of Chianti Classico from Rocca di Castagnoli."

Ellen: "Isn't that the wine we bought that day when it was raining after we had lunch in Radda in Chianti?"

Me: "Yes, that's exactly what it is! Let's pull up the photos from that trip so we can look at 'em."

So, that's what we did...and we were able to journey back to relive almost every moment of that wonderful afternoon. It was all brought back by enjoying our Italy-bought wine from our 2014 trip.

And, we were pleasantly surprised to see that it is the exact same wine - vintage and all - that we had for lunch that day at La Botte di Bacco.

And with the added 2 1/2 years of aging, the wine was even better than before than before...markedly better, actually.

Finally, here's proof of our wonderfully quiet day -- proof in the form of...

...our bottle of wine...

...our blazing, crackling fire...

...Ellen reading her 'book' with wine in hand..

...and I with my wine as I finish reading "Somewhere South of Tuscany", written by our lovely friend, Diana Armstrong (see my article "Covering for My Friends").

We had no roses this past Saturday, but we stopped anyway, smelling the wine instead...and our week will be better for it.

When you next travel to Italy, bring back a bottle of wine, and give this a try for yourself.

Mentioned in this article...

Finally, on a photographic note, each of the final 4 photos above that were taken this past weekend were captured on my iPhone 7 using the new "Portrait" mode. This mode is meant for photographing people: rendering a person in sharp focus, whilst the background is blurred. I like the way it was able to accentuate the wine bottle tableau, Ellen's glass of wine, and my book. Give it a try if you have this new equipment.

Ciao for now,

Steve

Transforming A Corte

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Today I give you a short transformation. This is where I show you how one of my photos goes from a snapshot to something more in line with a fine-art photograph.

“I really like the lion medallions above each side of the entrance. And I also found the plaque, with what I will call a coat of arms, interesting.”

Last week, I showed you the sestiere of San Polo...one of the six districts (aka sestiere) of Venice. I have taken several photos within San Polo over the years, and as I was looking through those for last week's article, I came across the one which is the subject of today's transformation.

The site to be transformed is the Corte Petriana. A 'corte' is what we would call a 'courtyard' in English. I could find no translation for Petriana, so I would assume that's the name of the family to whom this courtyard belongs.

Here is the original snapshot of the entrance to the corte.

Ugh. I have to agree with you...not a very pretty site as it sits in the real world. But, as it is my job to transform the real into the Venetian world that I imagine, that's exactly what I did.

First, things are a bit wonky with the alignment of the entrance to the corte. Then, within the corte itself, there are some distractions, like a water pipe and an electrical conduit.

[As an aside, let me write a few sentences about water and electrical conduits. You will see these throughout Venice. They are not something that one enjoys seeing, but they are necessary. Imagine a Venice of 1,000 years ago, or even 300 years ago -- you will not see water or electrical conduits because they didn't exist. Water was gathered at the local pozzo (which I wrote about here), and electricity had not made it on the scene. The houses in Venice do not have basements (obviously) and all of the walls are made of stone. This pretty much necessitates running both water and electrical conduits up the outside of walls, and then through them. But just for you, in my quest to present you a Venice of days past, I feel compelled to bring a Venice to you without these distractions. OK, now back to the photo transformation.]

Next, I felt the whole areas surrounding the entrance to the corte was not what I would want to personally discover as I was wandering my romantic, ancient Venice -- so I got rid of the walls on each side of the narrow calle (aka street). This required a good bit of demolition and masonry work on my part, but that's my job, and I love it.

So here is the final photo of Corte Petriana.

And here is a black and white version if you prefer.

I really like the lion medallions on each side and above the entrance. And I also found the plaque, with what I will call a coat of arms, interesting. Here is an enlargement of that feature.

Note the crescent with the tree on the shield...hmm. Then there are the two dragon-like creatures at the bottom. A couple of angels are at the top corners. But then there is the curious main feature of person and child. One could assume that the adult is Mary, but it isn't too clear, and perhaps there is a crown on the head? The cross is the hand of the adult is the kicker for me...if the child is the Christ-child, the cross would be a concept that is about 30 years too early. If you have thoughts, please put them into the 'Comments' area, below.

Just so you know...and I figure that you are wondering...I had not Photoshopped the basketball backboard and hoop into the photo...it was there when I showed up...really. But, I decided to have a bit of fun with it, so I've titled the resulting photograph "The Court of the Venetian Baseketmaker". Your absolutely right, that was clever!

But, I decided not to stop there. So, in the next more whimsical and non-official photo, I've added a basketball in its arc towards the basket, as well as a bit of shadow of the ball's shooter.

So, there you have it. A transformation of an ugly snapshot into the more charming "Court of the Venetian Basketmaker".

Ciao for now,

Steve

Venetian Sestiere: San Polo

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A couple of weeks ago, I reminded you what a 'sestiere' is. Don't remember? Read that article here.

The San Polo sestiere ('sestiere' = 'district') is our second favorite – right after San Marco. But San Polo is not a distant second.

< Check out the map at left to see where the San Polo piece fits into the Venetian puzzle.

There is a lot to see and do – and eat – in San Polo. Click on the map and you will see the rather convoluted layout of this sestiere.

Overview

First, the term ‘San Polo’. You may remember that ‘San Marco’ refers to Saint Mark; well, San Polo refers to Saint Paul.

San Polo is the smallest of the six sestiere of Venice. It is also one of the oldest neighborhoods, as the highest banks of the mud flats where Venice began were located here. And today, it is one of the liveliest of the six sestiere – there is a lot to do here, both day and night.

Below you can see just a portion of San Polo as it sits across the Grand Canal from San Marco.

A portion of San Polo, across the Grand Canal from San Marco

Attractions

Some of our favorite Venetian attractions are found in San Polo.

Rialto Bridge

First, to get to San Polo from San Marco, you will most likely cross over the Rialto Bridge. Because of the need to get to the Rialto Market from San Marco, a wooden bridge was originally constructed in 1255. After being burned in 1310 in a bit of a revolt, and then collapsing (with people on the bridge) in 1444 and then again in 1524, a call went out for a design competition for a more substantial bridge.

In 1591, Antonio de Ponte completed construction of the current bridge based on his winning design -- his bridge has become one of the iconic structures in Venice. I'm not sure if he was born with the name "de Ponte" (translates 'of the bridge') or not, but it was sure a good gimmick to get the bridge job if he wasn't.

Here is a photo of the Rialto Bridge, taken from a romantic gondola ride.

[click any image for a larger view]

You can see that the bridge is composed of two inclined, shop-lined, ramps with a central portico.

And in the next photo, you can see the steps of the inclined portion of the bridge. And you get an idea just how big this bridge is, as the buildings in the distance are at the mid-point of the Rialto Bridge. Those are shops on each side of the bridge, lining its edge.

It is almost unimaginable how many feet have gone over these steps, as most every visitor to Venice for 400 years has been funneled over the Rialto Bridge.

A lot happens on the Rialto Bridge. Here are a couple of images from a photo shoot that I did for a bridal fashion magazine.

Just kidding. Even though I did take the photos, this is actually just a kind of reverse photo-bombing event…rather than me jumping into the background, I just joined the commercial photographer in shooting the false bride.

Another day on the Rialto Bridge, and another bridal fashion shoot. It must be some sort of bride magnet.

And such drama!

Around the bridge is a lot of action. As I’ve mentioned before, everything brought into Venice travels either by boat or foot. Here you can see that the area around the Rialto Bridge is a hub of delivery activity.

And here are a couple more photos showing detail of the Rialto Bridge.

Finally, it was from the Rialto Bridge that I took the photos to create one of my most popular images…”Busy Day on the Grand Canal”.

Rialto Market

Moving on just a few feet from the Rialto Bridge you will find the Rialto Market. As I’ve covered this market in detail in another article, you can see that article and photos of the market in “The Rialto Market of Venice”.

The Frari

One of the most beautiful churches in Venice is Chiesa Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. [‘chiesa’ (key-‘ā-suh) = ‘church’] Also known as The Friari, it is not much to look at on the outside, as you can see here.

But, don’t let the starkness of the outside fool you. Inside are treasures of all sorts, like the almost 20 burial monuments.

Here is a monument to Antono Canova, who is perhaps second only to Michelangelo as a sculptor.

Though his body lies a few miles away in Tempio Canoviano (The Temple of Canova) which he designed and financed, his heart belonged to Venice, so it is enshrined in this monument. It's interesting that this heart tomb was originally designed by himself to be the tomb of Titian. But, there sits Titian’s final resting place (shown below) right across from that of Canova’s heart. It's nice to be famous, isn't it? I guess...wouldn't know.

One of my favorite parts of The Friari is the choir seating. It is made of carved wood, and each of the ‘seats’ is different, and includes both carvings and inlaid marquetry, as seen in these photos. Please click the photos to get see the beautiful detail.

Then there is Titan’s famous altar piece titled “Assumption of the Virgin”, which you can see here…but which we were denied viewing on our last visit due to restoration work…there is always something being restored in Venice…thankfully.

And there are other works, like Bellini’s triptych titled “Madonna with Child and Saints”, which sits in the Sacristy. I absolutely adore this assemblage! Here is its setting and a detailed photo.

You'll see more of Bellini's absolutely gorgeous work when we head to the sestiere of Dorsoduro in the near future.

It is fortunate that you are not prohibited from taking photos in The Frari, as you are in many other Venetian churches.

Some of you may recognize this golden angel from a recent family Christmas card.

Finally, there’s this poor gentleman, whose fate it is to hold up a good part of the church, whilst being eternally pestered by that seriously macabre figure behind him. Could that be hell, itself?

Scuola Grande di San Rocco

Then there is the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Shown here is its grand room.

San Rocco (or Saint Roch) was known for his plague healing miracles, which is what got him institutional recognition in this city which was hit hard by the plague. There are a number of ‘scuola’ in Venice. A scuola is a Christian association of lay people that promote special works of charity…maybe like a lodge in the U.S. that takes on charitable work.

The Scuola Grande di San Rocco is chock-a-block full of Tintoretto paintings. Both walls and ceilings hold his huge masterpieces. The most famous being his “Crucifixion”, which is 40 feet across, and is shown here.

As one cannot take photos within the Scuola, I harvested these from the official Scuola San Rocco website here.

And for a more entertaining view of the inside of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, just watch the Woody Allen movie, “Everyone Says I Love You”, where he just happens to bump into Julia Roberts in the Scuola.

My feet are already hurting from all the walking we’ve done thus far. Let’s move on to eating in the sestiere of San Polo.

Eating

Da Fiore

I will focus on the premier restaurant of San Polo, and all of Venice, in most people’s opinion…and I can’t argue.

Da Fiore is a culinary experience. I can’t put my finger on why that is. They are not into the culinary chemistry thingie that so many top-rated restaurants are want to put out these days (and yes, we've experienced a 22 course meal of these delights, where upon leaving the restaurant, my wife said to me, “I’d sure like a hot dog”). The dining room is not opulent, though it is charming and has the look of a ships galley to me for some reason…I think it is the curvature of the ceiling, perhaps?

What you get here is really great food…Italian, of course…featuring seafood, of course…serving great wines, of course. And the service is friendly, not overly stuffy, and attentive, of course. Here are a couple of our friendly wait staff.

One of the internationally recognized food critics puts Da Fiore in the top 5 restaurants in the world. ‘Nough said. Here are some photos from some of our visits there.

Here are a couple of photos from a visit on a cold January night in 2004. The grappa was to warm us for our journey back to our hotel in San Marco.

Poste Veccie

Of course, there are other fine restaurants scattered throughout the San Polo sestiere…and we’ve eaten at several. Poste Vecie is particularly nice. Our traveling companion Mike picked this one out years ago, and we were not disappointed. You get to it by passing between the two red-striped barber poles and over the small bridge…

…or by going down this narrow calle [‘calle’ (‘cä-lay) = ‘street’].

Poste Vecie is said to date from the 1500s and like many restaurants in Venice, it claims to be the oldest.

Ristorante Terrazza Sommariva

And there is very nice alfresco, canal-side dining just south of the afore-mentioned Rialto Bridge. Here is the quaint Ristorante Terrazza Sommariva. It is skinny and long enough that we had no idea that our traveling companions Debbie and Scott were eating at the other end during our ‘on-your-own’ time. Here are some lunch-time photos.

Shopping

I would have to say that the shopping for high-end fashion goods is not as prolific in San Polo as it is in San Marco…and personally, I like that. I like to find those little, out of the way gems. Here is one of those shops where the craftsmen carve wood into fabulous works of art, like these in their window. I stopped in for a chat one trip and got invited to visit the workshop. Fascinating.

And on the Rialto Bridge, we were so charmed with the fine jewelry in Jovon that we got my lovely wife a beautiful 35th anniversary ring. This shop, which specializes in carved coral cameos, has been on the Rialto bridge for 83 years, and is still owned and run by the same Jovon family. Again, friendly shop keepers are the rule in Venice!

Lodging

I can’t give you any personal experiences regarding staying in San Polo. There are a number of well-regarded hotels here, though. We find TripAdvisor to be an excellent source of user-reviewed lodging.

I would say stay here if you want to be close to some great food and want to be off the beaten path. But realize that San Polo does get lots of tourists seeing the marvelous things I’ve pointed out above, so you might not get the tranquility you seek if you are near the main thoroughfare between the Rialto Market and the Accademia (which will be covered in an upcoming article on the sestiere of Dorsoduro).

Fine

I found a lot of families out and about in San Polo.

I'll close with a few more photos taken within the sestiere of San Polo. Please click and enjoy!

And I say goodbye by presenting these two lovable characters. We love Venice, and we especially love its people!

I hope to bump into you as we walk the calle of the sestiere of San Polo.

Ciao for now,

Steve

ps: A reminder once more that language will not be a barrier in your Italy travels...you speak English...they speak English...everyone happy!

The Results Are In -- Part 13

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“I had planned to tell you of the Venetian sestiere of San Polo this week...but something came up”

Isn't this time of year great?! The hectic holidays are over, the decorations are mostly put away, we are back to work and our routines...there is time to take a breath and catch up on things that need catching up on. That's what I was doing when I made a discovery.

Last year, my wife Ellen gave me a fabulous subscription to a magazine called "Italia!". This monthly publication is about...you guessed it, Italy! The byline of their magazine, published in Great Britain, is "Holidays - Property - Food - Wine - Culture - People".

I enjoy reading this magazine each month. I especially like the sections on food, as there are excellent recipes in each issue. And each issue is dedicated to a different region or town of Italy, so you get a smorgasbord (not sure there is an Italian word for that) of regional dishes over the years.

As I write this, I had just taken a few moments to catch up on my Italia! reading when I picked up the September, 2016, issue. Travel and the holidays had created neglect on my part in staying abreast with the Italian scene. As I do with each issue, I was tearing out page after page to save articles for later reading and recipes for later execution (this issue has some great recipes for appetizers from Venice, as well as some pasta sauces), when something caught my eye.

There on the "Readers Photo Competition!" page near the front of the magazine was one of my photos. I had submitted it several months past, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had won the first place award for that issue. My prize? A free one-year subscription to Italia!

Here is page 6 showing my winning photo...

I was thinking that you might have seen this photo before in one of my photo transformation articles, but as I looked back, I saw that I have not done that...until today.

So, what follows is how this winning photo came to be.

But first, a reminder about just what a 'water gate' is. As small canals crisscross Venice, most of the larger palazzo have entrances at both a pedestrian level from the walkways of Venice, but also at the water level. Remember that Venice is a city of walking and boating...and that's it. When you go to visit your friends, it was, and is, just so much nicer to go by gondola and be dropped off at a water gate, like this one. And it is much easier for the supplies for your home to be dropped off by boat, rather then being hauled over bridge after bridge on their way to your home.

As I was standing directly across a small canal from this water gate, I was just a bit difficult to get the whole of the door and its surroundings into one photo. So I took three photos and stitched them together in Photoshop. Are are the original three photos.

And here is the photo that resulted after stitching these three together into one image. If you want to see any of the photos below in greater detail, just click on the image.

As you can see, the resulting image is a bit wonky, and it needs a good bit of adjustment, so that's what I did. But, before I go there, I have to admit that I am constantly amazed as I make my photo transformations -- of Venice in particular. That rather blah, unassuming snapshot above does absolutely nothing aesthetically for me as it now stands. But, that challenge of making magic to give you that Venice of another age is what drives me in my transformations.

Here is what the image looks like now.

The composition is just as I want it. The elements of the photo -- the brick, stone, wood and glass -- are just as I want them, too. And I really like the warm, yellowish glow coming from that one panel on the door to the right. I'm thinking that this particular element is what I need to enhance to make this image into a fine-art photograph.

So, here is this water gate after working that nice evening glow into all of the glass elements of the photo.

But remember, this evening glow has nothing to do with the evening, as the original snapshots were taken during the day. So my final job is to transform this ancient, Venetian, functional water gate, into a sight as you might have seen it one evening as you strolled Venice in another time. Here is the final image.

As you can see, I've emphasized the texture of the brick and stone work, and the glass transmits that nice glow from within this timeless building. And I've tried to call attention to the ubiquitous, relief-carved keystones of the archways of Venice, as well. Finally, I hope that I've cast just enough late-night light onto the subject, for you.

Now, take a moment to think about what is going on behind those doors. And perhaps what has gone on behind those doors over several centuries...remember, Venice is well-over a thousand years old.

I was pleasantly surprised to find my photo as the winner in Italia! magazine. I hope that you are pleasantly surprised at today's transformation.

Interested in receiving Italia! magazine yourself each month? Click here to see how.

Ciao for now,

Steve

Venice's Sestiere

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First, let me be one of the last to wish you a Happy New Year! I hope this year is filled with joy and hope-realized for you.

I know I’ve been away for a bit, as many of you have reminded me as you asked and wrote, “Where are your articles on Italy?” But, I’m back now. However, I do feel a bit fickle about my absence because of what I was doing when I wasn’t preparing my Italy, Our Italy articles.

“During the next few weeks, I will be going over the various districts, or ‘sestiere’, of the most interesting, beautiful and mysterious city in the world – Venice.”

I hope you don’t think less of me when you find that I was working on photos from our latest trip – a trip to England, Scotland and Ireland. There were fewer vineyards there (actually, we saw none), less pasta and wine (we made up for the wine with ciders), but the people were just as friendly as those of our Italian encounters. I’d have to say that the countryside of the UK environs was a good bit more cultivated and elegant than those of Italy…but maybe simplicity and magic are what continues to draw us to Italy.

At any rate, it took me a good bit of time to get through the photos from our trip. If you would like to see just a few of the photos from our England-Scotland-Ireland trip, you can see them by clicking this button...

See England, Scotland and the Irelands

During the next few weeks, I will be going over the various districts, or ‘sestiere’, of the most interesting, beautiful and mysterious city in the world – Venice. I began this journey with the article on the San Marco sestiere on February 16, 2016 in the article titled ‘The Sestiere of Venice”.

As this new year progresses, I’ll cover the other 5 sestiere of Venice. In each, I will give you a quick overview of the sestiere. Then I will cover where to stay and where to eat in that sestiere. If there is something else that I think you need to know of that sestiere, I’ll include that, too.

Here is the simple map similar to the one I included in the article on the sestiere of San Marco.

This map presents a rather modest view of the six sestiere. I say 'modest' because this map just cannot characterize the world that it represents and that awaits you...you will have to experience it on your own.

You will note that the map includes the Giudecca island, which is not actually one of the six official sestiere. Further, not all maps show the same delineations for the sestiere. For instance, some show the Giudecca to be part of Dorsodouro. While others show that orange, polygonal island at the eastern end of Giudecca (the island on which the church of San Giorgio Maggiore sits) to be part of the sestiere of San Marco. For our purposes, we will use the delineations shown in the map above as we work through the sestiere.

Finally, understand that there are many, many islands in the Venetian lagoon (around 117 it is estimated) that are not considered to be within the districts of Venice – islands like Murano (glass), Burano (lace and colorful homes) and San Michele (dead people).

I'm wondering if you remember what the six sestiere and Giudecca have to do with the accouterments of a Venetian gondola. If not, you can review that in the San Marco sestiere article.

Here is a rather different view of the six sestiere of Venice…this in the form of a Google maps satellite view. I want you to see this to see just how large the municipality of Venice is.

Venice is quite huge. Note just how many buildings there are. From east-to-west, Venice is about 3 miles, while north-to-south, it is just shy of 2 miles. Within these six square miles you will find 409 bridges crossing over the 177 canals that divide Venice into 117 islands.

And in this detail view below, you can see churches, gardens, pozzi, restaurants, boats, canals and bridges.

There are places you will never see as you stroll Venice, as they are kept hidden behind walls and locked doors, like the one of which I wrote here. In Venice, intrigue abounds now as it has for centuries!

You've seen our favorite sestiere of San Marco, so tune in next week when we visit our second most-favorite sestiere, San Polo.

Ciao for now,

Steve

ps: The Berlin Foto Biennale is now over. If you missed the significance of that exhibit this past fall, please see my previous article here.