Italian History and Culture

If Venice is a masquerade, we have all been players.

Some have put on their beach masks (captains’ hats and sunscreen); some, their boating gear to travel out to the islands of Murano (glass-making) and Burano (lace-making); some, their shopping clothes to shop, or at least window-shop, the shopping district with Prada, Canali, and Chanel.

Besides us, as Americans, there are lots of other folks at the party. Many from Germany and Great Britain, France and the Czech Republic. Venice is far even north to be more accessible to people from all over Europe.

What have we liked about the party? This place is more cosmopolitan, for the simple fact that it has been a trading center since before Marco Polo, a native son of the 12th century. So, the architecture looks more Persian and Eastern than any we have seen before; and the people, in ways that are a bit hard to describe, look more exotic.

And, we have found, the place lives up to its reputation as one of the most romantic places on earth. It is not just the gondolas and singing gondaliers. Just turning a corner on a sidewalk and running into a 10-foot-wide canal makes this place warm and soft and moody. Just turning a corner also may mean happening upon a kissing couple, especially at night.

We have all taken a boat ride at night. The dim lights behind gauzy curtains with shadows moving from room to room have charged our romantic imaginations.

What has made some of us want to leave the party early, lounge in our rooms or out on our fine little balconies? To move about, one must get in a boat. Some have felt a little queasy after some of our more choppy rides. Also, as anyone who has been to a port like New Orleans or Charleston or Wilmington or Savannah knows, the air can grow fetid fast.

Highlights of our three days in Venice, besides what was already mentioned, include Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square, famous for its huge forum often featured in movies and St. Mark’s Basilica with its Byzantine interior, including a glorious floor of hundreds of mosaic pictures. The movement of water under the floor has, over the centuries, given the floor a surface much like the water in the Grand Canal. The floor comes at you in waves.

After many museums and churches full of medieval and Renaissance masterpieces, we were treated to a museum devoted to modern art, specifically 1900-1950. The Peggy Guggenheim Museo has some famous Magrittes and Pollocks, as well as works by Mondrian, Kandinsky, and Miro. As we were leaving, the museum was hosting an artist reception and the local news (channel 7) was out filming. Some of us walked by the camera slowly, hoping to get in the background, at least.

The party is almost over. Tomorrow, we wing our way home.

While all of us have loved this trip, we are ready to come home.

–Prof. Charles Israel, Jr.