in 
Luminaries
Luminaries In tutta Italia lire 2 Anno MMVIII
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Friday
24Oct
Paul of Venice
Friday Paulus Nicolettus Venetus or Paolo Nicoletti Veneto, O.E.S.A. - was born in Udine, Italy, around 1369. He joined the Augustinian order near the age of fourteen, when he entered the convent of Santo Stefano in Venice. Years later, in this monastery a terrible fire raged and burnt many monks to death.
The picture below shows the arch over the canal that flows under the monastery and church.
Nearer our own times, Canova the sculptor wrought some of his first works in his studio situated in the cloister of Santo Stefano, where today there is a Department of the Inland Revenue Office.
Scholar
Paul studied first at Padua, but in 1390 he was assigned to Oxford, where he spent three years. He became Doctor of Arts and Theology by 1405.
Teacher
He taught in Padua, Siena (1420-24), and Perugia (1424-28), and lectured in Bologna (1424). At various times he held positions of leadership in his order. Pope Gregory XII designated him Prior General of the Augustinians in May 1409.
Ambassador
Paul of Venice served as Ambassador of the Venetian Republic. He died in Padua on 15 June 1429, while commenting Aristotle’s De anima (On the Soul).
More information on Paul of Venice in the Stanford Encyclopedia.
Wednesday
24Sep
The Epic of the Glass Bridge
Wednesday
The Glass Bridge
- as conceived in great imaginations.
The so-called glass bridge, now named as Ponte della Costituzione (Constitution Bridge) – an 83 metre span across the Grand Canal from Piazzale Roma to Santa Lucia Railway Station gradually opened on 11 September 2008 amid much delighted controversy.
The Plastic Art
The design by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is quite understated - perhaps too much so - for in no time at all, it was pointed out during the early stages that its many steps were an obstacle for disabled people and barrow boys. Not a ramp in sight.
The so-called glass bridge, now named as Ponte della Costituzione (Constitution Bridge) – an 83 metre span across the Grand Canal from Piazzale Roma to Santa Lucia Railway Station gradually opened on 11 September 2008 amid much delighted controversy.
The Plastic Art
The design by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is quite understated - perhaps too much so - for in no time at all, it was pointed out during the early stages that its many steps were an obstacle for disabled people and barrow boys. Not a ramp in sight.
After a considerable number of protests from interested associations, and to mollify a disgruntled Venice City Council, Santiago Calatrava’s original but not hugely practical plans were modified to include the pod (not the i-pod). What the plastic and drawings did not show was the red-ribbed underside of the bridge, the part propping up the slender glass portion.
In the picture (below), these struts and ribbing are blended into grey; whereas at present they are a strong wine-red colour. As the picture shows, the bridge, sad to relate, leads to one of the 20th century’s more hideous building blocks. Probably conceived as a penitentiary for wayward boys, this sight for sore eyes rather spoils the view from the bridge.
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Conjuring figures
For a couple of years after the outset of the project, a hopeful €600,000 was mentioned as the total cost of combined efforts. Happily, as though by a miracle, the final bill is only something in excess of 12 million euros, but that might or might not include the cost of the pod.
The Pod
Although Calatrava’s original design had not taken into consideration legislation and regulations regarding disabled people, the Council has made up for this oversight by commissioning a Disneyland-type pod contraption (picture, right) from Cignoni and Pmp of Milan, who probably had their sights set on Expo rather than on the Grand Canal - by the look of it!
The Gloss
Work is progressing to turn the crude extension to the old railway building into a sort of Las Vegas shopping centre. That will help put a little grandeur back into the Grand Canal!
For a couple of years after the outset of the project, a hopeful €600,000 was mentioned as the total cost of combined efforts. Happily, as though by a miracle, the final bill is only something in excess of 12 million euros, but that might or might not include the cost of the pod.
The Pod
Although Calatrava’s original design had not taken into consideration legislation and regulations regarding disabled people, the Council has made up for this oversight by commissioning a Disneyland-type pod contraption (picture, right) from Cignoni and Pmp of Milan, who probably had their sights set on Expo rather than on the Grand Canal - by the look of it! The Gloss
Work is progressing to turn the crude extension to the old railway building into a sort of Las Vegas shopping centre. That will help put a little grandeur back into the Grand Canal!
Thursday
28Aug
The Venice Printer
Thursday 
Aldus Pius Manutius Romanus was born in Bassiano (about 100 kilometres south of Rome) in 1450. After studying in Rome and Ferrara, he moved to Mirandola in 1482. Alberto Pio, the prince of Carpi, gave Aldus the money to set up a printing press for the promotion of Greek scholarship, as well as to teach the Greek classics. It was in Carpi that he conceived the idea of publishing these manuscripts.
The great repository
He went to Venice - the great repository of Greek manuscripts at that time - in 1489. The following year he founded the Aldine Press in Venice, assembling a staff of Greek scholars and compositors, and making Greek the official language of his business and household.
A flourishing business
Wars were playing havoc with printing in Europe - except in the politically neutral Venice, where some 113 Venetian publishers printed 325 times as many books as those in Florence, Milan and Rome put together. Between 1495 and 1497, out of the 1821 titles that came off the presses of Europe, 447 were from Venice - where the Venetian government granted easy licenses and reproduction rights. Compare this to Paris which in the same period produced 181 publications.
The format
With Aldus Manutius the contents of classical manuscripts became available to a wider public. The format of the earliest books printed in Venice had usually been the Folio or the Quarto (instances of the Octavo before Aldus are very rare). Aldus Manutius’ desire to produce books cheaply led to the invention of the italic.
Italic style
The former goldsmith, Francesco Griffi da Bologna, was the first punch cutter for the Aldine Press. Griffo’s most brilliant work was the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499) by Francisco Colonna for which he cut the italic types, said to have been modelled on the handwriting of the poet Petrarch.
The most important result of the italic type and the octavo page (pocket book size) was the immediate lowering of the cost of printing, making it affordable to the public and it became a great service for travelling scholars.
The Age of Discovery
Before he died, Aldus Manutius published works in areas as diverse as the interests of his day. From his press came Greek and Latin classical texts, grammars, religious writings, contemporary secular writings, popular works, political and scientific writings, history, and geography. This was the age of discovery, both intellectually and geographically. The West was exploding with the knowledge of new peoples, new lands, new cultures, and new ideas. Aldine Press stood at the center, recapturing the past and recording the present.
The great repository
He went to Venice - the great repository of Greek manuscripts at that time - in 1489. The following year he founded the Aldine Press in Venice, assembling a staff of Greek scholars and compositors, and making Greek the official language of his business and household.
A flourishing businessWars were playing havoc with printing in Europe - except in the politically neutral Venice, where some 113 Venetian publishers printed 325 times as many books as those in Florence, Milan and Rome put together. Between 1495 and 1497, out of the 1821 titles that came off the presses of Europe, 447 were from Venice - where the Venetian government granted easy licenses and reproduction rights. Compare this to Paris which in the same period produced 181 publications.
The format
With Aldus Manutius the contents of classical manuscripts became available to a wider public. The format of the earliest books printed in Venice had usually been the Folio or the Quarto (instances of the Octavo before Aldus are very rare). Aldus Manutius’ desire to produce books cheaply led to the invention of the italic.
Italic style
The former goldsmith, Francesco Griffi da Bologna, was the first punch cutter for the Aldine Press. Griffo’s most brilliant work was the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499) by Francisco Colonna for which he cut the italic types, said to have been modelled on the handwriting of the poet Petrarch.
The most important result of the italic type and the octavo page (pocket book size) was the immediate lowering of the cost of printing, making it affordable to the public and it became a great service for travelling scholars.
The Age of Discovery
Before he died, Aldus Manutius published works in areas as diverse as the interests of his day. From his press came Greek and Latin classical texts, grammars, religious writings, contemporary secular writings, popular works, political and scientific writings, history, and geography. This was the age of discovery, both intellectually and geographically. The West was exploding with the knowledge of new peoples, new lands, new cultures, and new ideas. Aldine Press stood at the center, recapturing the past and recording the present.
- In the Printing House of Aldus Manutius (1890),
after the painting by F. Flameng
after the painting by F. Flameng
Wednesday
13Aug
An Underground Dream
Wednesday 
The Project
The sublagunare, or lagoon underground tube train, has been on the drawing board for twenty years or so. The latest phase sees the cost rise from the last-heard-of 415 million euros to 680 million euros, and lay your bets.
The Ride
Our ride begins at Marco Polo Airport, Tessera, at the edge of the lagoon. Let’s not worry, with a bit of luck we won’t see the lagoon because we’ll be well below all that horrid, marshy stuff, in our brightly lit tube. It should be a smooth, swift submarine ride to the island of Murano. No need to see it. We won’t see it. Next stop Fondamenta Nuove, on then to the Ospedale, the Arsenale, Bacini and finally to the Lido - without ever having to worry about seeing a drop of water or even the bell towers of Venezia itself. We have made a fast, comfortable journey.
Swift and Safe
Apart from the 8 planned stops, there are 6 rather ominous-sounding uscite di sicurezza, emergency exits, and 3 interchange stations, one of them seemingly planted in the middle of the lagoon, presumably so we can escape into a passing fishing boat. The project’s organisers claim it is going to take only four years to complete the work (it seems it must be much easier to build a tube than a Calatrava bridge. Jokes aside, London and Paris both have trains that pass under watercourses. Gardaland (the amusement park near Lake Garda) and Disneyland have opted for an elevated railway, running over the water. This type of transport has obvious disadvantage in a place like old Venice where we passengers might glimpse the water and realize where we are.
Where are we ?
Though it is true that the lagoon is being rapidly filled in (Marghera industrial area, the airport, Mose flood barriers) there are still quite a few fearsome stretches of lagoon to be seen, whereas the underwater tube would have those supersonic tv screens now located in all major Italian railway stations (to amuse and divert us) and wirefire links so we can play with our laptops. Another grand idea for the City Fathers to brainstorm: extend the tram route down the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco.
Monday
04Aug
Time Reveals the Truth
Monday The young woman, sweetly reclining next to the globe of the earth on a soft rug of clouds represents Truth. In her right hand she clasps a mirror; in her left hand is the glowing sun, the symbol of the Light of Reason.
Her sensual young body is embraced by Old Father Time, whose wrinkled skin is in direct contrast to the maiden’s smooth pink complexion. Time - for once leaving aside his great scythe and now clutching a palm branch (alluding to Truth) - frowns at one of the cherubs who, bolder than the others, has just stolen the hour-glass. On the right-hand side of the painting, under a cherub holding a laurel crown, we see Falsehood cringing in the background, blinded by Truth’s dazzling light.
Il Tempo scopre la Verità or Time Reveals the Truth was painted by Giambattista Tiepolo while he was working at Montecchio Maggiore, a few kilometres west of Vicenza, in 1743. The artist had been commissioned by the Venetian nobleman Carlo Cordellina to decorate the rooms of Villa Cordellina Lombardi, an edifice designed by the distinguished architect Giorgio Massari. Writing to his friend Count Algarotti, the painter mentioned that he had reached a good stage of the work and expected to complete the cycle of frescoes by the 10th or 12th of November. Tiepolo intended to decorate the salone with a work to honour his patron, a distinguished Doctor of Law: therefore, Intelligence Triumphs over Ignorance. By this time Giambattista Tiepolo was attracting attention as a gifted artist.
He had been born in Venice, the youngest of six children of a sea captain, Domenico Tiepolo, and his wife, Orsetta. The future artist had been baptised in the Cathedral of San Pietro di Castello in Venice, which in those days before the curse of Napoleon was still the seat of the Patriarch of Venice. In 1719 the artist married Maria Cecilia Guardi, sister of two contemporary Venetian painters, Francesco and Giovanni Antonio Guardi. Tiepolo and his wife were to have nine children, two of his sons becoming artists and a third son a priest.
Back at the villa, the pronaos, leading up to the salone, was to have been embellished with an oil painting depicting Tempo che scopre la Verità, Time reveals the Truth.
However, for some reason, Time Reveals the Truth was not placed in the villa; perhaps Giorgio Cordellina was considering placing it in his palace at San Maurizio in Venice, or in another of his residences. The point is that it ended up in his neo-classical Palazzo Cordellina (by architect Ottone Calderari) in Contrà Riale, Vicenza. From there in 1928 it was removed to the Gallery of Palazzo Chiericati, now the Museum of Vicenza.
Tiepolo went on to greater things until by 1772 – as the archives show – he was painter to Doge Giovanni Cornaro
and in charge of the decoration of Palazzo Mocenigo in Campo San Polo.
Curiously,
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi chose a copy of this scene as
the backdrop for his Press Conference Room in Palazzo Chigi in Rome in
August 2008, when the beautiful painting was censored. Now, we might
well ask: who in Palazzo Chigi would want to censor the Truth?
in Art
Art Tuesday
15Jul
The Tram to Padua
Tuesday 
The tram arrives at Padua Railway Station
In the old tram days you could ride from Fusina on the edge of the lagoon all the way to Padua (mentioned in period accounts).
The canal lock at Fusina is the waterway portal to Venice and it was once the terminus for the tram to Padua: many travellers arrived or departed Venice via this route.
Nowadays Fusina is at the edge of the industrial zone of Porto Marghera, which spreads from here to the Prima Zona Industriale and to the dock area. There are 200 hectares of industrial space available where decommissioned plants, such as Alumix, have been closed down or have become derelict.
Road, rail air and shipping networks converge around the area, making it an ideal site for innovative lightweight industry or assembly works requiring an easy distribution point for north Italy and Eastern Europe. Groups now relocating part of their business to the area include Mearsk, Evergreen, Msc, and China Shipping.
In the old tram days you could ride from Fusina on the edge of the lagoon all the way to Padua (mentioned in period accounts).
The canal lock at Fusina is the waterway portal to Venice and it was once the terminus for the tram to Padua: many travellers arrived or departed Venice via this route.
Nowadays Fusina is at the edge of the industrial zone of Porto Marghera, which spreads from here to the Prima Zona Industriale and to the dock area. There are 200 hectares of industrial space available where decommissioned plants, such as Alumix, have been closed down or have become derelict.
Road, rail air and shipping networks converge around the area, making it an ideal site for innovative lightweight industry or assembly works requiring an easy distribution point for north Italy and Eastern Europe. Groups now relocating part of their business to the area include Mearsk, Evergreen, Msc, and China Shipping.
Those older model trams disappeared from Padua during the Dark Ages but there are now sleeker, longer trams plying the city routes, helping to make life easier.
Sunday
15Jun
War, Water & Veritas
Sunday 
In Campo Sant’Angelo there used to stand a statue of the patriotic engineer Pietro Paleocapa, Manin’s Minister of Public Works, but during the 1930s it was transferred to the public gardens opposite Piazzale Roma. How many times have we passed through the Papadopoli Gardens on our way to Piazzale Roma, and glanced at the great man on his pedestal - without knowing who he was or what he represents?
“Paleocapa is a seriously undervalued figure in Venice’s history. He was an engineer, hence lacking in the glamour that surrounds doges, painters and poets, yet the city owes more of its survival than is often realised to his organisation of dredging operations, flood precautions and improvements to the working of the port. From a Cretan family which moved to Venice in the eighteenth century.” This quotation is from Jonathan Keates.Born at Nese on 11 November 1788, Paleocapa studied Law and Mathematics at Padua University before joining the Military Academy at Modena and becoming a lieutenant in the Engineering Corps.
In 1817 he joined the “Water and Roads Corps of Engineers” in Venice (Venezia) where he worked on extending the railway from Mestre to Venice in 1846.
“Immediately prior to the revolution he had completed a successful project for widening the Hungarian River Tisza and rescuing the surrounding countryside from flood damage, but though the Habsburg government was grateful, he continued to be fingered by the authorities. A police report, while noting his ‘unimpeachable moral conduct’ and respectable position ‘owing to his knowledge of the art he professes’, was suspicious of his ‘affection for the past order of things’ and his friendship with noted Freemasons.”
A quotation from Keates again.
In 1840 he became Director of Public Constructions in Venice where he commanded respect among Venetians in general as someone who dedicated much energy and ingenuity to improving the infrastructure of the port and helping to revive the city’s commercial life. He worked on regulating waterways - including the Brenta, the Bacchiglione and the Adige - the marshes around Verona, and a seawall at the Port of Malamocco in the Venice Lagoon.
During the Venetian Revolt against the Austrians in 1848, he participated in Daniele Manin’s Provisional Government. He was a promoter of the railways at Turin, and was Chairman of the first committee for the planning of the Suez Canal. By 1859, owing to his failing eyesight, he was obliged to give up his position in the Public Service and died in Turin on 13 February 1869.
In 1840 he became Director of Public Constructions in Venice where he commanded respect among Venetians in general as someone who dedicated much energy and ingenuity to improving the infrastructure of the port and helping to revive the city’s commercial life. He worked on regulating waterways - including the Brenta, the Bacchiglione and the Adige - the marshes around Verona, and a seawall at the Port of Malamocco in the Venice Lagoon.
During the Venetian Revolt against the Austrians in 1848, he participated in Daniele Manin’s Provisional Government. He was a promoter of the railways at Turin, and was Chairman of the first committee for the planning of the Suez Canal. By 1859, owing to his failing eyesight, he was obliged to give up his position in the Public Service and died in Turin on 13 February 1869.
The Mayor of Venice enjoying a bottle of the city’s precious tap water.
- Quotations from Jonathan Keates’ The Siege of Venice published by Chatto & Windus 2005.
Friday
06Jun
Egyptians in Venice
Friday Italian State Law no. 54 of 1989 states that local municipal authorities are required to provide camping grounds for Rrom. The cost of this operation is covered by taxation. Hard-working citizens pay their taxes, large companies pay their lawyers, and all can claim a share of heaven.
Rrom account for 0.20% of the Italian population. It is believed that 70,000 of these are Italian citizens, 80,000 are from the Balkans, with recent migrants from Bulgaria and Romania, both of which are members of the European Union. 
The Council of Europe approved the term “Rroma (Gypsies)” to be used in its official documents (CLRAE Recommendation 11 - June 1995) referring to the Romani people. Europeans used to think that Rroms came from Egypt, hence the English term “Gypsy” - how wrong can we be? - whereas, “Gypsies” originally dwelt in northwest India (today’s Pakistan) and migrated to Persia around 224-642 AD. Until 900, they lived in the Middle East, eventually arriving in Constantinople, and from thence drifting into Western Europe.
Unforgiving and vindictive Christians over the centuries have been hostile to Rroms: the Diet of Augsburg ruled in the 16th century that it was legal to kill gypsies. Adolf Hitler and his heinous cronies shared a similar view.
Recently, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe describe the Rrom as “the poorest, least healthy, least educated and most discriminated sector of…society.”
Exact figures on Rrom communities in Europe are unobtainable, but a further 50,000 people are expected to transfer to Italy in the near future, although the figure could climb much higher. The Veneto Regional Government was supposed to be activating 140 courses to help 1500 of these newcomers to learn the Italian language. One of the problems is that Rrom of different ethnic groups do not wish to live in each other’s vicinity or share facilities, and in this they are rather like the Sheriff of Treviso who also does not wish to share his territory with other tribes.
“…some people arrived from the borders,
and said that there are no longer any barbarians.
And now what shall become of us without any barbarians?
Those people were some kind of solution.”
and said that there are no longer any barbarians.
And now what shall become of us without any barbarians?
Those people were some kind of solution.”
“We stopped near one of their picturesque encampments in order to repair a tire and I took a picture of 
a young woman with a child in her arms, but when I declined to pay her the five lei she demanded for the privilege, she flew at me like an angry cat, screaming curses and maledictions. But her picture was not worth five lei, as you can see for yourself. “
a young woman with a child in her arms, but when I declined to pay her the five lei she demanded for the privilege, she flew at me like an angry cat, screaming curses and maledictions. But her picture was not worth five lei, as you can see for yourself. “Poetry by Constantine P. Cavafy (Alexandria, 1904).
The girl with the Mandolin in Constantinople is by Fausto Zonaro.
A Cairo Street scene (where the English thought Gypsies came from) is by Ipolitto Caffi: both are Venetian artists. The photo of the Madonna and Child and accompanying quotation are by E. Alexander Powell (1922).
Monday
02Jun
A Technological Park
Monday A technological park, as far as can be ascertained, is a combined scientific research station and production centre (set in a landscape vaguely resembling a Zen car park) where inventions, goods and services make money and spin the globe.
Approaching Venice
Vega, Parco Scientifico Tecnologico at Porto Marghera is that long new glass-rimmed building we see on our right as our limousine is driven towards the bridge to Venice. The park started off in 1996 as 35 hectares, replacing old industrial plants like Montecatini Nord and Vetro Coke. There are now about 150 companies, 1500 persons, research laboratories, and even a day nursery.
The Project under way
The project is managed by a no-profit Società Consortile, financed by the European Union. The consortium members include ENI, Syndal and Veneto Innovazione and the areas of interest include restoration, cultural heritage conservation, information technology, multimedia technology, glass, bio-technology, and the environment. The area of the old Agip petrol plant has been cleaned up and the site is planned to provided premises for Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, a Palace of Music - which sounds a bit hopeful - managed by Guaraldo, and textile innovation.
Around the lagoon
The tecno park area stretches around lagoon to Fusina. The Vega buildings will be connected to the airport via the new tramway.
Saturday
17May
The Theatre of Anatomy
Saturday 
The Theatre of Anatomy in Venice
For many years there was a pleasant trattoria here under the vine. The vine was badly damaged when some Public Body (not to keep harping on the subject) took over the management of the ground floor. Next came the local ARCI-Gay, a sort of social club (since the 1960s gay or “happy as can be” has assumed other overtones). Some of the corpses must have been fairly turning in their closets as, in those good or bad old days, you could be burned alive for being too social.
