Ognissanti

A year ago, if you remember, I celebrated the two day French holiday called Toussaint (All Saints' Day-November 1 and All Souls' Day-November 2), by haunting the Nice cemetary on All Souls' Day. I blogged several of my photographs of the picturesque gravestone statuary within that burial ground.

Italians too celebrate these holidays which in Italian are called Tutti i Santi or Ognissanti, and in honor I present some views of the Venice Cemetary located on San Michele Island.

During my several short-stay visits to Venice, I have often wanted to visit this cemetary island but never found the time and never justified the cost of an additional separate vaparetto ticket that presently costs 6.50 euros per trip.. This year having a week's stay in Venice, I purchased a 7-day vaporetto pass, which permited unlimited travel.

As much as the Murano and Burano islands are touristy, they still make a nice day excursion from Venice. Going to and from Venice to these islands, you pass San Michele. And while waiting for a return vaporetto from Murano, this view convinced me to visit the cemetary.

San Michele, although a small island, it is much larger and more populated (if I can use that term) than the Nice cemetary. Since 1837, it has been the only cemetary for Venice, except for the Jewish cemetary located on the Lido.

Soon after entering the cemetary, you will see a clositer on your left, but to your right you see a curving arcade of individual chapels; the family name incribed at the threshold of each door. You cannot see beyond the door on the majority of these chaples, but a few afford a view beyond due to age and decay. Like Nice, the chapels and crypts are well maintained except for a few where lack of family survivors has allowed corruption of the infrastructure.  This chapel may appear to have been desicrated, but most likely the damage has been caused by the roof partially collapsing.

Past this curving arcade, the cemetary opens to a vast graveyard. Even though an island, you feel like you are in a much larger space.

The graveyard spreads out in multiple directions and is divided into sections; for seamen, soldiers, foreigners etc. I believe the next photo is of the airman section (He looks like an aviator...NO?). Although the inscription on the beautiful markers behind the bust I think refers to the navy.

IL CAPITANO DEL GENIO NAVA E LUIGI BRESCIANI. LE SUE NO VISSI AME ARMI. ALATE NON COSTRUIVA SE NON PER MEGLIO COMBAT TERE. E AIL ARTE SUA EROICA SACRIFICO LA SUA CANDIDA VITA. XIII MARZO MDCCCLXXXVIII

I need to work on this translation, but iTranslate puts it something like this:

THE CAPTAIN OF THE GENIUS NAVA AND LUIGI BRESCIANI. IT IS NO VISSI AME WEAPONS. WINGED NOT BUILT TO BETTER COMPATE TERE. AIL AND HIS HEROIC SACRIFICE ART HIS CANDID LIFE. 13 MARCH 1888

Except for the older crypts, all new burials after 12 years are exhumed and either moved or cremated and placed in one of the surrounding monolithic cryptoriums.

There is so much to see here, but it needs time. The beauty needs to be searched for and whereas the cemetary in Nice was compact and conducive to introspection, San Michele overloads ones senses. Like a museum, I would only take this cemetary in short visits. So I leave you with just a few images that I found interesting.

If you care to compare cemetaries please revisit the la toussaint deuxieme partie (Nice cemetary) posting on my old blog rogerslifesillusions:

http://rogerslifesillusions.blogspot.com/2010/11/la-toussaint-deuxieme-partie-part-2.html

Mobile Blog - Days 7 - 8 - Venice

This picture shows you the palazzo where we are staying. Our apartment is the entire second floor. This view is from the traghetto (gondola ferry) that crosses the Grand Canal from San Tomà to Sant Angelo.

Conversely, this is the view from one of our windows of the Grand Canal and of the traghetto as it arrives from San Tomà.

Okay. Now that we have that out of the way, let me tell you what we have been up to for the last few days. Since Peter and I have been in Venice several times, there has been no hurry for us to go off exploring.

Day one, Saturday, was spent traveling from Malcesine to Verona by car and then train to Venice. After arriving, we spent the rest of the day relaxing and getting acclimated to the apartment. Dinner was at the Osteria down our calle where we had a wonderful conversation with an Italian couple; he (Andrea) from Rome and she (Franca) from Modena. With all the superlatives we heard about her home, we think we may need to go there sometime soon.

The next day, Sunday, we began to roam. We made our way up to the Fenice Opera House which faces the small Chiesa di San Fantin. Inside there was a remarkable exhibit by Oksana Mas called Post - vs - Proto - Renaissance.

Take a closer look!

Now, look even closer.

And even closer!

This exhibit was part of the Ukrainian Pavilion presentation at the Biennale di Venezia. The installation is composed of thousands of wooden eggs which evoke the mosaic quality of the piece, or as defined by the promotional literature, egg-pixels! Awesome!

My camera battery was beginning to lose power, so I only got a few more photo opportunities before the battery died.

And then the battery died. The charger, I recalled, was stilled plugged into the Malcesine kitchen outlet.

So I leave you with this last photo, while I try to find a replacement charger, a new battery, or a new camera. All in the photography center of the world, Venice. NOT!

Mobile Blog - Day 6 - Castello Scaligero di Malcesine

The original fort was supposedly built by the Lombards. Destroyed in 590 and later rebuilt after the Hungarian invasions, the castle became part of the large estates of the bishops of Verona. Between 1277 and 1387 it belonged to the Della Scala family, and up until 1403 it was owned by the Visconti family. From 1405 to 1797 - apart from the decade starting in 1506 - it belonged to the Venetian Republic.

The French owned the castle during the days of Napoleon. From 1798 to 1866 the Austrians took over the castle and also did extensive renovations. The castle of Malcesine was declared a national monument on August 22, 1902. Today it houses a small museum dedicated to the territory of Lake Garda.

It also is a favorite spot for marriages. At dinner the other night we met a young Irish woman and her grandmother who came to Malcesine for a cousin's marriage in the castle. Today we opted to visit the castle on our last day in Malcesine. Sure enough we ran into another wedding party. It was fun watching the photographer get the bride (in full gown and train) to climb a ladder to reach the area illustrated below. I'm sure that their photographs will be more spectacular than mine.

The castle is nicely preserved and affords 360 degree views of the area.

If you look at the right-hand corner of the parking lot and go straight up to the yellow house in the hill. That's it! But I'm sure you can't see it, so here is a closer shot.

Today, aside from the castle, we just had a late lunch and strolled along the streets. Here are my last photos for this area. Tomorrow we travel by car to Verona; train to Venice; and Vaporetta to our small palazzo on the Grand Canal. I'll take a break from blogging until Monday, so enjoy your weekend. Ciao!

Above are artists Gabrielle and her husband who run the Faust Art Gallery. We met Gabrielle on our first day when she met at and introduced us to the apartment.

Mobile Blog - Day 5 - Bardolino

German Unity Day is on Monday, October 3. I think that all German's not voting today to bail out Greece are here on Lake Garda. I hear more German spoken than I do Italian. Because of the influx of these german-speaking and other tourists in the area, the bus that runs from Riva to Verona with all the local stops in between are packed and are running late. The tourist office predicts that this weekend will be even worse.

We wanted to visit Bardolino for the festa dell'Uva e del vino which officially opens tonight at 6P. We decided to go today to miss the crowds. But we also missed the festival even though all the tents were in place. But I'm guessing that since all the wine-loving throngs will be there tonight, it left the town at mid-day relatively quiet. I had a good bottle of Tacchetto Bardolino with lunch for an early celebration.

Bardolino DOC
From Wikipedia, the free encycloped

Bardolino is an Italian red wine produced along the chain of morainic hills in the province of Verona to the east of Lake Garda. It takes its name from the town Bardolino on the shores of Lake Garda and was awarded Denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) status in 1968. The blend of grapes used to produce the wine includes Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara. Up to 15% of the blend may include Rossignola, Barbera, Sangiovese and/or Garganega.

The three main grapes used to produce Bardolino are also used to produce Valpolicella but the two wines are quite different. This is partly because Bardolino generally contains less Corvina which adds body and structure and more Rondinella which has a relatively neutral flavor profile. Yields in Bardolino also tend to be higher than the 13 tons per hectare officially prescribed in DOC regulations.

Other versions of Bardolino include a Superiore has at least 1 extra percent of alcohol and must be aged at least a year before being released, a rosé known as Bardolino Chiaretto, a lightly sparkling frizzante and a novello. The Bardolino novello was first produced in the late 1980s in a style that mimics the French wine Beaujolais nouveau.

It is already after 10P here, and not only did I have the Bordolino for lunch, but I had a Valpolicella for dinner, a cinnamon flavored grappa, plus a Mirto di Sardegna liquor, so I'll go straight to the photos and make my comments accordingly.

And finally, in case you think that I am not true to my word. Here is the church in Malcesine, now 5,00€ richer.