Art
Venetian painters, born there or living there, were for centuries among the best artists of Italy. They did not introduce e Gothic style or the Renaissance style, but they took them up and made a tradition of them.
Venetian art was born of Constantinopel roots and mixed the Byzantine style with the Gothic one. Mosaics and gilding characterize the first Venetian artists such as Paolo and Lorenzo Veneziano. Then came Jacopo Bellini, the brothers Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, Andrea Mantegna, Bartolomeo Vivarini and Vittoro Carpaccio with sharp paintings at the early Renaissance.
The heyday of Renaissance can be seen in the play of light and shade in the paintings of Tiziano, Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese. The main Venetian artists during the Baroque and Rococo periods were Canaletto, Pietro Longhi, Giambattista Tiepolo and Giandomenico Tiepolo. In almost all the many churches in Venice there are works of art by these world famous artists.
Carnivale
The Venetian carnival is the oldest carnival in the world, started in the 11th C. Originally it was an on-going feast of a two-month duration, but now it goes on for ten days before the start of Lent in February. People wear masks and costumes and try to go wild. Many costumes are fantastic and the masks are a main souvenir item of Venice.
Gondolas
Gondolas are one of the main characteristics of Venice, built according to a thousand year old design. They are asymmetrical, with a leftward curve, to compensate for having only one oar. They are all black, 11 meters long, exactly built from nine woods, and cost £10000 each. When they were the main transport in town they numbered about 10,000 but now they are only 400.
When Venice became a tourist city the role of the gondolas changed from being a means of transportation into a romantic institution, where the oarsman sang arias for couples in love. The third stage was reached with Japanese tourists who sail in groups in several gondolas on Canal Grande with an accordionist and a retired opera singer. That is the main use of gondolas nowadays.
History
Venetians descend from the Veneti who lived in the Po delta in Roman times. Attacks during the great European migrations drove the people out in the lagoon fens, where the city was founded on 100 islands, in 421 according to Venetian tradition. They drove piles into the mud, built their houses on them and connected islands with the characteristic canals and bridges.
They faced the sea and soon became great sailors and merchants. Impassable fens defended the city on the land side and their ships on the sea side. They soon started trade with Constantinople, the main city of the world at that time and were influenced by Byzantine art. In the Middle Ages they expanded their power in the Mediterranean and were victorious over Byzantium in 1204.
When other Italian cities fought civil wars during the Renaissance, Venice was a stable republic of ca. 2000 nobles who elected a Doge. This aristocracy survived more or less intact for 11 centuries, until Napoleon put an end to it without battle at the end of he 18th C. Venice had started to decline in the 16th C. when the Atlantic Ocean surpassed the Mediterranean in trade.
Life
Venice is unique. The main traffic artery is a wide river lined with elegant palaces. Boats are used for all public transport and transport of goods. The rest of the traffic is pedestrian. There is no noise or air pollution from cars, which are none. The refreshing air from the ocean fills up with the natural sounds of waves and people’s conversation. There is no modern stress.
The city has become a single, giant museum of the great centuries of Venice. Still dozens of thousands of people live there, about half the population during the golden ages. Also dozens of thousands come in to work every morning and leave at night. The tourists add to these numbers. Venice is thus a living city, even if it has been on the decline for the last centuries.
The city is a continuos artwork and history of arts. Every church has some jewels by the old masters. Some of the old palaces have been converted into museums and other into hotels. It is full of restaurants offering good Adriatic seafood. It is full of boats, from the slow gondolas to the speedy water-taxis. It is a constant relaxation for culturally minded travelers.
Palazzi
Hundreds of palaces line the canal banks of Venice. Usually they have decorative fronts to the water and simple rear sides to pedestrian alleys. Usually they have four floors. On the ground floor were storerooms and offices. Reception rooms were on the first floor, the piano nobile. The family lived on the second floor and the servants on the third.
The oldest and most enchanting palaces are from the 13th C., in Byzantine style, with light and high arcades on slender columns, covering the entire width of the first floor. Palazzo Loredan is a good example. Most numerous are the Gothic palaces, from the 13th-15th C., characterized by pointed arches, pointed windows and lace windows. Palazzo Foscari is a good example.
There are heavier palaces in Renaissance style from the 15th-16th C., symmetrical and mathematical in design, with fluted columns and Corinthian capitals. Palazzo Grimani is a good example. From the 17th C. are finally very heavy Baroque palaces with exaggerated decoration and deep windows on the front sides. Ca’Pesaro is a good example.
Preservation
Venice has been sinking, especially in the 20th C. This results from the drying of land for the expanding industry in the neighboring towns of Mestre and Porto Marghera and from excessive use of fertilizer in the Po valley. The use of motor boats has also disturbed the canals and weakened the foundations of buildings. Preventive action has now slowed down the sinking.
Germany
Sottoportego Giustinian, Accademia. Phone: 522 5100.
United Kingdom
Palazzo Querini, Accademia, Dorsoduro 1051. Phone: 522 7207.
Accident
Phone: 113.
Ambulance
Phone: 523 0000.
Complaints
It is generally useless and a waste of time to complain in Italy. Instead try to look at the bright side.
Fire
Phone: 115.
Hospital
Ospedale Civile, Campo Santi Zanipolo. Phone: 523 0000.
Medical care
Phone: 118.
Pharmacy
Hours: Monday-Friday 8:30-12:30 & 16-20, Saturday 9-12.
Closed pharmacies have signs on their doors to point out where there is night duty. Opening times are also in Un Ospite di Venezia. Many minor drugs are available without prescription.
Police
Phone: 112.
The city police, Vigili urbani, wear blue uniforms in winter and white in summer. The state police, La Polizia, wear blue uniforms with white belts and berets. The military police, Carabineri, wear red-striped trousers. You can ask all three types for help.
Precautions
Don’t use a handbag. Keep money in inside pockets. Use cards as much as possible. Don’t keep passports in the same place as money. Don’t leave valuables in a locked car. Beware of gypsy children, especially in groups. Petty crime abounds, but there is very little violent crime in Rome.
Banks
Banking hours are Monday-Friday 8:30-13:30 & 14:45-15:45. Change foreign money in banks or at “cambio”-offices, not in hotels. Some banks only change foreign money during the morning hours. A bank is open 24 hours a day at the central railway station but often there is a long queue. At Marco Polo airport at Venice an exchange office is open all day.
Credit cards
Credit cards are widely accepted in hotels, restaurants and shops. Visa and Eurocard (Access, MasterCard) have the largest circulation. Their emergency freephone is 167 82 80 47. American Express has 722 82 and Diners Club has 167 86 40 64 (freephone).
Electricity
Italian voltage is 220V, same as in Europe. Plugs are continental.
Hotels
Venetian hotels are generally clean and well maintained, including plumbing, if they have three or more official stars. But two-starred hotels can also be very good, even if they do not have TV sets in guest rooms. A bathroom is taken for granted nowadays. Some hotels have been set up in famous palaces, which are still decorated with antiques.
It is more expensive to stay in Venice than elsewhere in Italy. You can stay inland and go by train or car to Venice in the morning, but this also costs some time and money.
Breakfast in Italian hotels is usually worthless, just as in French hotels. It is better to get a freshly pressed juice, newly baked bread and cappuccino at a corner café.
Money
The currency in Italy is the lire (L.). Paper money is dominant, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000, 50000 and 100000 lire (L.), increasing in size with their value. Coins are for 50, 100, 200 and 500 lire.
Prices
Prices in Venice are unusually high by Italian standards and are increasing on par with Western Europe.
Shopping
Shops are generally open 9-12:30, 15:30-19:30 in winter, 16-20 in summer. Sometimes they close earlier on Saturday. Many tourist shops are open all day and Sunday.
Street numbers
Houses in Venice are not numbered according to streets, but to districts. A hotel at the street of Calle largo 22. Marzo has the address of San Marco 2159. This can be frustrating for strangers who do not have further information on locations.
Tipping
A service charge is generally included in restaurant bills. Some guests leave a few thousand lire extra. Gondoliers do not expect tips. Taxi drivers expect at least 10% from foreigners. Porters expect L. 1000 per bag.
Toilets
There are some public toilets in the center. The toilets in cafés are sometimes not up to standard, but generally they are acceptable in restaurants. Many of them are for crouching and not for sitting. Bring the paper if you are not visiting a restaurant.
Tourist office
Piazza San Marco 71c. Phone: 522 6356.
Uffici Informazioni.
Water
Tap water is usually clean and tasty in Venice. In restaurants most people drink bottled water.
Accommodation
Tourist offices at the Marco Polo airport at Venice and at the Piazzale Roma car park building in Venice find hotel rooms for travelers. Rooms with “twin bed” are often larger that those with “double bed”. Rooms on the canal side are often quieter and brighter that those on the street side. Rooms in Venice proper cost more than others, but you save time and transportation costs.
Airport
Marco Polo. Phone: 260 9260.
A taxi takes 15 minutes from Marco Polo airport to Piazzale Roma in Venice and a bus takes 30 minutes, costing L. 5000. A public boat, Vaporetto, is 50 minutes to San Marco, costing L. 15000. A water taxi is 25 minutes to any location in the city, costing L. 130000
News
International Herald Tribune and some other foreign newspapers are available at many kiosks in Venice. The main Venetian newspapers are Gazzettino and Nuova Venezia. There are three TV channels, Uno, Due and Tre, and additionally cable channels in many hotel rooms, including CNN. Information on what is on in Venice is in the free booklet, Un Ospite di Venezia.
Phone
The Italian country code is 39 and the local code for Venice is 41. The foreign code from Italy is 00.
Post
Fondaco dei Tedeschi, Rialto.
The Italian postal service is inefficient. The main post office in Venice is in the Fondaco dei Tedeschi palace beside the Rialto bridge.
Railways
Ferrovia Santa Lucia. Phone: 71 5555.
The Italian railway system is inexpensive and effective. The Santa Lucia railway station in Venice is near Piazzale Roma at the west end of Grand Canal. The public water transportation system is centered on the station.
Taxis
Phone: 522 2303.
Water taxis is the fastest way and the most expensive way to get around in Venice.
Traffic
The simplest way of exploring Venice is by foot. The city is only 5 km x 2 km. The next best transport is by water bus. Line 1 stops almost at all stations in Grand Canal. A three-day pass to all lines costs L. 30000 and a seven-day pass costs L. 55000. The romantic way of travel is by gondola, which costs L. 70000 per 50 minutes in daytime and L. 90000 at night.
Coffee
Italians are the first-class nation of coffee culture. They drink all their coffee freshly ground in espresso machines. Most often they drink espresso or caffè = very strong; doppio = double the size of an espresso; cappuccino = espresso mixed with air-whipped milk. Bad coffee for tourists is called americano. Italians usually have their coffee standing at the bar.
Cuisine
Foreigners often think that Italian cooking consists mainly of pastas after pastas. In fact this is more complicated. Italians do not talk of Italian cooking, but of Venetian, Tuscan, Ligurian, Latin and so on. In this database we concentrate on Roman cooking, even if we include restaurants representing other types of Italian cooking.
Eating habits
Italians do not eat much in the morning. They may have an espresso and cornetto at the corner café or bakery. Lunch often starts at 13:30 and dinner at 20:30. Both lunch and dinner are hot meals and are equally important. Italians like food and consume it with abandon.
They are on the other hand careful with the wine and some only drink water. Tap water is very good and clean in Rome, coming in ducts from the mountains. In restaurants most people have bottled water though, aqua minerale, often with gas, gassata.
Menus
An Italian menu typically has five sections: Antipasti = starters; pasti or asciutti or primi platti = pasta courses; secundi piatti = fish or meat; contorni or verdure = vegetables and salads; dolci and frutti and formaggi = sweets, fruit and cheeses.
There are no rules on the number of courses in a menu. Some have a starter and then two pastas, one after the other. The usual thing is to have three courses. It could be a starter, a pasta and a meat course. Or it could be a pasta, a meat, a side course. Or a pasta, a meat and a dessert.
The price of a starter, pasta or a bottle of the house wine is usually two times the price of a side course or a dessert; and the price of a main course is usually three times the price. The prices in this database are usually calculated on the basis of a starter, a second course, a side course, a dessert, mineral water and coffee. All prices are for two persons.
Restaurants
Lunch hour is 13:30-15, dinner 20:30-23. In most places the owner or some waiters understand English. Venetian restaurants are generally small and clean, sometimes accidentally decorated. They usually have linen tablecloths and linen napkins, most often white.
Nowhere in the world is the service in restaurants better than in Italy. The waiters are generally quick and effective. They hurry with the courses until you arrive at the last course. Then everything slows down. It seems that Italians like to eat in a hurry and then to linger on over the wine glass or coffee. Quick service does not mean that the waiter wants to get rid of you.
Seafood
Many Venetian restaurants specialize in Antipasto di frutti di mare = mixed seafood as a starter. It offers samples of many tasty things such as:
Aragosta = lobster;
Calamari and Seppie = squid;
Cappe and Vongole = shellfish;
Cappesante = scallops; Folpi and Polipo = octopus;
Gamberi = big prawns;
Granceola = spider crabs; and
Scampi = Dublin Bay prawns.
Popular with locals is
Baccalà mantecata = plucked stockfish, mixed with olive oil, parsley and garlic. Common fish from the Adriatic are
Branzino = sea bass;
Rospo = angler fish;
Orata = gilt head;
Rombo = brill;
San Pietro = John Dory;
Sogliola = sole; and
Spigola = sea bass.
Generally they are best grilled.
Specialities
Seafood is the most important aspect of Venetian cooking. Otherwise one of the main specialties is Polenta = maize puré, often sliced and grilled. Another is Fegato alla veneziana = pan-fried calf liver with onions. Popular is Carpaccio = thin slices of raw beef with olive oil and salad. A classic course is Insalata mista = mixed salad, usually very good.
The most famous dessert of Venice is Tiramisù, a kind of a cheese truffle, spiced with coffee and chocolate. It derives from Byzantium and has spread from Venice through the West. Cheeses from the Veneto area are Asiago, Fontina and Montasio. Most restaurants also offer Grana, Taleggio and Gorgonzola.
Wine
The house wine is usually well chosen and economical, either bianco or rosso, white or red. Connoisseurs can have a look at the list to find something unusual, as no country in the world has as many different labels. Italian wine is generally good, sound and simple, but lacking in great growths. Italians do not take their wine as seriously as the French do.
The wine areas north and west of Venice are Veneto and Friuli. The best wines have both area denomination and grape variety on the etiquette. Some Merlot comes from Colli Euganei. Other good Veneto districts are Breganze, Piave, Gambellara, Pramaggiore and Conegliano-Valdobbiadene. In Friuli are Aquileia, Collio Goriziano, Colli Orientali, Grave del Friuli, Isonzo and Latisana.
Farther west, in the hills around Verona, there are still better known wine districts, such as Bardonlino, Valpolicella, Soave, and inside them still smaller and better areas, called Superiore and Classico at the top end.
1996
© Jónas Kristjánsson
