Road Trip Pt. 3: Venice, Italy!

Interior of St. Mark's Basilica
Venice, Italy

I love Italy with its mild temperatures and Mediterranean diet. When we visited Venice though, I learned there is a big difference between southern Italy and northern Italy. The biggest shock was the olive oil—there wasn’t much. The climate is not conducive to olive growing and there are only a few groves in the area around Lake Garda. Also much less surprising, being closer to the Alps, the weather is cooler and subject to greater fluctuations—hence no olive oil.

We spent two days in Venice and had 3 tours booked using Veneto Inside. Our first tour was behind the scenes at St. Mark’s Basilica, and it turned out that we were the only people on the tour. We were able to ask lots of questions and our guide escorted us to areas no longer open to the public, most notably the baptistery dedicated to St. John. St. Mark’s has vastly different architecture than what we’ve seen previously. Venice was a seafaring, merchant city and the basilica was obviously influenced by styles outside of Western Europe; it looks like a typical byzantine church found in Turkey. Much of the interior was gilded and the art within was more Middle Eastern than typical renaissance art found in other Italian churches.

Venice, Italy

That evening we had dinner on the Grand Canal. Venice has more tourists than locals and the restaurant didn’t have an authentic feel, but the ambience of sitting canal-side was nice. We sat right next to the edge of the canal and were able to watch the chaos that is water traffic from a safe distance. As we finished our dinner we encountered a downside to sitting so close to the canal: flooding. The water had risen during our meal and was now pooling around our feet. We paid and headed into the labyrinthine streets in search of our hotel. There are over 400 bridges in Venice, but lots of streets still dead end into the canals.

Minor Flooding
Venice, Italy

The next morning’s weather did not bode well for the already swollen canals; a storm was brewing. We decided to visit Murano Island in the morning and wander around more of Venice in the afternoon. Murano is another small series of islands similar to Venice and is located about 1½ miles northwest of the city.

We took a water bus, or vaporetto, to Murano. Our route took us out into the lagoon where the waters of the Adriatic were rougher due to the impending storm. Knowing what white caps mean from experience, I went below deck and had the pleasure of watching everyone above get soaked when we hit the first wake of another boat. I also delighted in standing the whole ride; it was like surfing. I could see the locals waiting for me to fall and I’m proud to report they were disappointed. I may be clumsy on land, but years of sailing with my Dad have given me pretty sturdy sea-legs.

Rough Seas
Murano, Italy

Murano Island has far fewer tourists and locals than Venice; people tend to visit for one reason. For centuries, Murano has been the location of master glass craftsmen. During the height of the glass monopoly, the masters were forbidden from leaving the island for fear of trade secrets getting out. There were rumors that dissenters would have their tongues cut out.

The secrets are still jealously guarded, though with less brutal punishments. Today the main fear is cheap, Chinese knockoffs, and photography isn’t allowed. Now with fewer craftsmen in the city, I’d rather support the masters so the craft doesn’t die out. The art is stunning; shapes and colors that shouldn’t be possible with glass as a medium. It takes at least 10 years of training to become a master; many craftsmen spend even longer developing their skills. The price of the art is proportional to the amount of work that each piece requires. At first blush the prices seem outrageous, but as soon as you see the process, you understand.

Our Lamp Shades from Murano

If cooled too quickly, hot glass breaks. During formation the glass is heated to ridiculously high temperatures so that it will be pliable. After the master shapes the pliable glass, the piece is placed into an oven to cool down. Letting the glass cool on its own to room temperature would cause it to break; instead it cools slowly in the oven over a few days.

Joe and I purchased a beautiful light fixture (previously I was saying chandelier but that’s not really an accurate description) from Franco Schiavon Gallery. It’s mostly metal, and it reminds me of a tropical plant; the glass shades are the flowers. There are 5 shades, each in a different color. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take any pictures before they wrapped it up, so it’ll be awhile before you can get the full experience.

After our purchase we were allowed to see the work shop and the specially commissioned pieces. We were also permitted to photograph as much as we wanted. I won’t be making these pictures publicly available to protect the privacy of the artists, but it’s nice to have them for my personal use.

The Grand Canal
Venice, Italy

All the lights and chandeliers are wired for European outlets and voltages when they’re made. Since we are taking ours back to the US the wiring needed to be changed before we could leave the shop. While they were changing our wires and boxing the light, we wandered around the show rooms. After, while we were waiting, the power went out! The store was 3 levels and each piece had display lighting. During our tour of the store, our guide would power up each room when we walked in, and flip all the fuses back off when we left. I think someone had too many lights on at once and overloaded the system. Once power was restored we got our packages and some cute glass candies as a parting gift. We didn’t have time to return to the hotel so we carried our bulky packages the rest of the night—through 2 tours.

Venice, Italy

The first tour was pretty interesting; it was called a taste of Venice, and by chance we were again alone with the guide. Basically we were bar hopping; eating a traditional small snack, or cicchetti, paired with wine, sort of like tapas. Unfortunately, something they ate didn’t agree with them, and Joe’s parents both got sick. Joe and I didn’t, and everything we ate tasted amazing.

The second tour was a large ghost tour and it was given about a half hour before dusk, so it wasn’t very dark. It was difficult to get in the mood when there were no shadows creeping around corners. We were able to see more Venice on this tour and to witness the city under siege from high water. All the rain during the day had significantly increased the high tide depths. The high water warning siren rang, and the flood gates went up in front of home and businesses. We had to splash our way through a few puddles to get home that night.

Useful Links!
Pictures from Our Trip!
Franco Schiavon Gallery-Murano
National Geographic Guide to Venice
About Authentic Murano Glass
Byzantine Architecture - Be sure to scroll left and right
St. Mark’s Basilica Website
Veneto Inside Venice Tours
History of St. Mark's from Sacred Destinations (I love this site!)
Article about the Negative Effects of Cruise Ships Visiting Venice
Riding the Vaporetti (from Smithsonian Magazine)
Venetian Pub Crawl through Cicchetti Bars (from Smithsonian Magazine)
Climate Change: Rising Sea Levels and Venice (from Smithsonian Magazine)