Churches in Venice

A sculpture at the NC Museum of Art - I'm not sure who the artist is but I'm sure you'll agree, it works for this week's theme!

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend.

See a list of upcoming Saturday Photo Hunting themes on Gattina's website here.

Another lovely street shrine in Venice. The inscription on the top, Regina Pacis Ora Pro Nobis, translates from Latin to "Queen of Peace, Pray for Us."

There's a black-and-white print inside the shrine showing the Mother and Child with Saints, surrounded by a number of ex-votos, little metal ornaments with ribbons on top. These votive offerings of devotion are given in gratitude for an answered prayer.

Also inside this shrine, nestled in the bottom corner surrounded by pink roses, is a statue of Santa Rita da Cascia (1381-1457) - an Italian nun who became a saint.

And a charming little quirky detail - the yellow tulips are in a vase with a picture of a cartoon donkey kicking up his heels. Not sure who he is!

Electric power cords on one side, graffiti on the other~

Hard to see because the glass caught reflections of the buildings across the street from the shrine, but you can see another saint down at the bottom behind the tulips. This is San Pio X (Pope Pius X) who was pope from 1903-1914. Before he was pope, he was the Patriarch of Venice for ten years. He was canonized in 1954.

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend.

See a list of upcoming Saturday Photo Hunting themes on Gattina's website here.

Sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, on the North Carolina coast~

Sunset in Venice~

Another sunset in Venice, behind the church of San Giorgio Maggiore~

Thanks for visiting and have a great weekend. It's almost Spring!

See a list of upcoming Saturday Photo Hunting themes on Gattina's website here.

Last night I watched some of the coverage of the papal conclave in Rome. I wonder how long until we see the white smoke coming out of the Sistine Chapel chimney? It's exciting, and there are a couple of Venice connections that I thought I'd share.

The Papal Conclave of 1799-1800 was held in Venice (and that was the last time that it wasn't held in Rome). At that time, Rome was occupied by Napoleon who had given Venice to the Austrians; they allowed for the Papal Conclave to be held in the church and monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore.

In my post about that church, I wrote about the kind monk who allowed me to go upstairs to the chapel where the conclave was held. I wanted to visit this chapel not because of the historic conclave but to see the Carpaccio painting of St. George and the Dragon over the altar. It was interesting to see that the chapel still commemorates the conclave with the names of the cardinals on the tables.

The Venetian Papal Conclave was a long one - 105 days, from November 30 1799 until March 14, 1880 when Pope Pius VII was elected. A charming little detail - because all the papal treasures were in Rome, they had to make a papal tiara in Venice from papier-mâché. Venetian noblewomen donated jewels to decorate this make-shift crown for the new Pope, and a few subsequent popes continued to wear this tiara because it was light-weight and comfortable. This Venetian-made tiara is now in the Vatican museum.

A view of San Giorgio Maggiore~

And another Venice connection - one of the leading candidates to become the new Pope is Cardinal Angelo Scola, who was the Patriarch of Venice from 2002-2011 (he left Venice in 2011 when he became the Archbishop of Milan). I actually attended Mass with him a few times in Basilica di San Marco when he was the Patriarch. Oddsmakers have him as the front-runner, though some people think it's time for the Church to shake things up with a younger and/or non-European pope. But it has been 35 years since the last Italian pope - perhaps that's the direction they'll go?

A 2009 photo of Angelo Scola celebrating Mass in the cathedral on Torcello~

A couple of shrines in the Rialto Market area of Venice~

This first one overlooks the Pescaria (fish market). The tabernacle with gothic columns dates back to the early 1300's, around the same time that the market began. The Madonna and Child relief inside the shrine dates to the 16th century. The "Ave Maria" inscription is faded but still legible, and there are always flowers on this shrine.

This Madonna can be found in the Sotoportego L'Erberia overlooking the outdoor dining area of restaurant Bancogiro. At one time, this area was part of the wholesale market which is now mainly on the other side of the building. The book, I Capitelli di Venezia, reports that at one time, the caretaker of this shrine was a gentleman named Terzantonio Gavagnin who had a wholesale booth underneath the shrine. Mr. Gavagnin was an activist in favor of continuing the tradition of blessing the fruit and vegetable market (erberia) on San Iseppo's (St. Joseph's) feast day which is coming up soon, on March 19.

The capitelli book says that this shrine was restored in 1920. I have a feeling that it's been restored again since then because it has those "go away pigeon" spikes on top. What are those things called?!?

When in Venice, do as the Venetians do and eat cichetti, delicious little bar snacks usually eaten standing up and enjoyed with a glass of wine or two. One of the best places for cichetti is shown in the photo below, Cantinone gia Schiavi (also known as Al Bottegon), an eatery ranked in the Top Ten restaurants in Venice on Trip Advisor despite the fact that it's not a "sit down" restaurant at all - it's an osteria (a wine bar that serves food). It's a lively place, filled with both locals and tourists, and the food is wonderful. You can also buy a bottle of wine to take back to your hotel or apartment.

I love that this place has its very own shrine to the Madonna next to the entrance. She has a halo of electric red lights around her head~

The photo above was taken in 2007 while the one below is from 2010. The blue paint outlining the shrine had chipped off but she does have some flowers this time~

Another view of Cantinone gia Schiavi. This osteria is across the canal from the church of San Trovaso in Dorsoduro.

See a list of upcoming Saturday Photo Hunting themes on Gattina's website here.

Happy Saturday! Here are a couple of scenes from a recent daytrip to the North Carolina mountains (Ashe County).

You can see why they call them the Blue Ridge Mountains~

See a list of upcoming Saturday Photo Hunting themes on Gattina's website here.

One of the oldest and most breath-takingly beautiful palaces on the Grand Canal in Venice, Ca' d'Oro (golden house) was built in 1420-1431 by the Contarini family in the Venetian Gothic style.

Over the next four centuries, it had at least a dozen different owners until 1894 when it was purchased by Baron Giorgio Franchetti. He did an extensive restoration and left the palace plus his fantastic art collection to the state.

Today it's an art museum: Galleria Giorgio Franchetti. Well worth visiting if you are in Venice!

See a list of upcoming Saturday Photo Hunting themes on Gattina's website here.

Some vivid yellow flowers next to a street shrine in Venice~

See a list of upcoming Saturday Photo Hunting themes on Gattina's website here.

I learned about this artist while reading Hugh Honour's Companion Guide to Venice (a fantastic book organized as a series of thematic walking tours).

Before he reached the church of San Sebastiano in Dorsoduro, Mr. Honour pointed out a red Gothic palazzo and said that it had been the home of artist Filippo de Pisis (1896-1956), "one of the few modern painters who has successfully caught the flicker of Venetian light." High praise indeed!

I was happy to find (via Google) many of de Pisis' paintings on the web. He was born in Ferrara, lived in Paris and Rome, and then spent most of the 1940's in Venice. Sounds like he was quite a character - he would set up his easel in the calli and campi, and paint with his pet parrot, Coco, sitting on his shoulder. He also owned his own gondola and employed a full-time gondolier.

He painted many Venetian scenes including a number of churches (and not only the most famous ones). I like his work a lot.

I posted his painting of the church of San Lorenzo here and a few more are below.

San Moise

San Pantalon

Santa Maria della Salute

Gesuati

Thanks so much to Bert for sending these photos of the palazzo where de Pisis lived. The plaque above the door says that the artist lived there from 1943-49. If anyone knows anything about the other degraded plaques on this house, please let us know!

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season. Best wishes for a wonderful new year - I hope that we all will be able to spend some time in Venice (or anywhere else on your travel wish list) in 2013.

I wanted to let you know that A Lover of Venice has a new game in progress: Campanili! 56 photos of bell towers and belfries to identify. It's challenging but I'm having lots of fun with it.

Here's a mini-quiz, not too hard. Can you identify the three towers in this photo?

I love looking in to the street shrines of Venice to see what sacred image is inside. Most of the shrines are dedicated to Mary, and she has many many faces.

The second most popular saint honored in Venetian shrines is San Antonio (St. Anthony) who lived in nearby Padua (Padova), part of the Venetian Republic.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a very happy New Year.

Like so many of you, I've been heavy-hearted about this latest mass murder here in the USA. So I decided to join the 26 Acts of Kindness campaign to honor the children and teachers from Sandy Hook Elementary. Right now, I'm 17 out of 26, and plan to complete the rest before the new year.

See a list of upcoming Saturday Photo Hunting themes on Gattina's website here.

This photo just makes me smile. Thanks so much to Andrew for answering my call for someone to check this out, and also for sending the photo to me and giving permission to post it here. Andrew took this photo on November 21, 2012, the day of the Festa della Salute. Happy to see such beautiful blue skies for that lovely celebration.

What cracks me up is that if you look at my photos from 2007, 2008, and 2010, and compare them to Andrew's photo, it is clear as a bell that NOTHING is happening here! Decorative scaffolding, a project completely stalled for some unknown reason. We'll continue to monitor the "progress" on this one. :)

And speaking of Venice and towers, I stumbled across this article about Pierre Cardin's controversial plan to build a "futurisitic" tower in Porto Marghera. It wouldn't be in Venice but would be visible from Venice. What do you all think? I vote yes.

Many people visit Murano to shop for glass, but there are a couple of churches on the island that are well worth a visit. One is the Basilica di SS. Maria e Donato and the other is this church (these are the two remaining parish churches on Murano). Like Venice, Murano is a cluster of islands with its own Grand Canal of sorts; it's larger than you might think as you can see in this lagoon photo taken from the International Space Station.

San Pietro Martire was founded in 1348 and originally dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. For over four centuries it was the church of an adjacent Dominican monastery. The original church was destroyed by fire in 1474; it was quickly rebuilt and in 1511 was rededicated to a 13th century Dominican priest/saint from Verona, always called St. Peter Martyr to distinguish him from the more famous St. Peter the apostle and first pope. That second church is the church we see today which is a large brick structure with both late Gothic and early Renaissance elements. The church has a wooden ceiling inside and of course, elegant Murano glass chandeliers which are a nice contrast to the old wood and the folk art frescoes above the arches.

The monastery was largely demolished in 1840, but you can see remains of the cloisters in the Corte de la Chiesa behind the church, where there's also a vera da pozzo that dates to 1348 when the place was founded. There was a locked gate the day I was there; I would have liked to have gotten a closer look at that well-head.

The campanile was built in 1498-1502 and is visible from many parts of Murano. Looks like it tilts a little bit.

Murano wasn’t immune to the suppression and destruction of churches that happened in the 19th century after the fall of the Venetian Republic. At one time there were at least 18 churches on this island, but today there are only three active churches plus a couple of oratories.

San Pietro Martire and its monastery were closed in 1808, and the church was stripped of its art. But amazingly, the church reopened very quickly, in 1813, and was redecorated with some of the best art from other suppressed and destroyed churches on Murano. So today, you can see works by Tintoretto (Baptism of Christ), Veronese (two small paintings, one of St. Jerome and one of St. Agatha), and Giovanni Bellini.

The two paintings by Bellini are the Virgin in Glory with Eight Saints (1510-1515) and The Barbarigo Altarpiece (1488), commissioned by Doge Agostino Barbarigo who can be seen kneeling in front of the Madonna in the painting. At one time this painting was in the doge’s apartment, but he bequeathed to the Murano convent, Santa Maria degli Angeli, and it ended up in San Pietro Martire.

Also worth seeking out if you’re a fan of musician angels like I am is the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Saints by Giovanni Agostino da Lodi. The Madonna is lovely and the little angels adorable.

And check out the 17th century carvings by Pietro Morando in the sacristy, described by EV Lucas in A Wanderer in Venice:

“It is an odd room, with carvings all around it in which sacred and profane subjects are most curiously mingled: here John the Baptist in the chief scenes of his life, even to imprisonment in a wooden cage…and there Nero, Prometheus, Bacchus, and Seneca without a nose.” See a photo of one of these carvings on Yvonne’s blog.

One of the most interesting attractions in this church is its ancient icon of the Madonna (photo below). I know nothing about her, but the residents of Murano pop into this church often, light a candle and say a prayer in front of her, and then leave without looking at any of the church’s more famous art. She’s in the chapel to the right of the high altar.

Continue reading "San Pietro Martire" »

Ognissanti means “All Saints” which is a dizzying concept. It covers all the bases, for sure. And it’s a happy accident that I'm writing about this church today on All Saints’ Day!

The history of this church begins in the mid-15th century when a group of nuns from the convent of Santa Margherita on Torcello moved to Venice to escape the malaria epidemic overtaking that lagoon island. They established a small convent in a Dorsoduro neighborhood in the parish of San Trovaso.

The nuns brought a miracle-working image of the Madonna which attracted miracle-seekers giving alms, and soon the nuns had enough money to enlarge their convent and build a church. They first built a small wooden church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and All Saints (Vergine Maria e a Tutti i Santi) in 1472 and then later the church we see today, which was consecrated in 1586. The facade looks very similar in shape to another convent church built in the same century, Santa Croce on Giudecca.

Like many Venetian nuns, the Ognissanti sisters were not without scandal. Paolo Giordani (Venice) reports that in 1505, it was discovered that the abbess and several nuns were all pregnant by the same priest. Virgins of Venice shares another sad story. In 1610 the Patriarch of Venice visited the convent to investigate reports that some of the nuns were hoarding chickens in their living quarters so that they didn’t have to share the eggs. He ordered the abbess to slaughter all the chickens and serve them to the convent at large, as a reminder that all food was communal not personal property. Poor nuns, poor chickens!

I was standing under the barco (nuns' gallery) when I took the photo below.

In 1806, the religious complex was suppressed, and the church was stripped of its art treasures and closed. Its Coronation of the Virgin by Veronese was taken to the Accademia where it remains today. The nuns moved to the convent of SS. Biagio e Cataldo on Giudecca (that convent was later destroyed to build the Mulino Stucky factory).

Then in 1810, nuns from the demolished Capuchin convent in Castello moved to this convent and brought some new art. Later in the 19th century, the convent closed again and was converted into the Ospedale Giustinian, a geriatric hospital, and the church became its chapel. Today, the former hospital houses public health and social work offices, and clinics. In 2001, Giampaolo Onesto published a book about the restoration of this church.

Ognissanti is so pretty inside with lots to look at. I visited for evening Mass, and there were two Venetians in attendance, the priest, and me. Both of the Venetians got up to do readings during the service. The priest had good vibes, and the church is worn but warm. I’d like to visit again in the day time when the light is better – I walked around when Mass was over but couldn’t see the art very well.

The interior of the three chapels in the photo below are covered with some colorful frescoes, including one of the Last Supper above the high altar. Some photos of the frescoes are here and for a really good look inside Ognissanti, check out this video of a 2011 Mass. You can see the frescoes, some nice close-ups of the altars, and all the charming clutter inside this church.

Here’s another video of the Ognissanti choir performing Jacques Arcadelt's Ave Maria.

I didn’t visit the sacristy and it’s on my wish list since I read about it in Secret Venice. The sacristy is decorated with 17th century carvings brought from the island church of San Clemente in the late 19th century. The current priest of Ognissanti, Father Carolo, has written a book explaining the mystical symbolism of the designs in the inlaid wood.

The apse of the church faces Rio Tera Ognissanti. Whenever you see "rio tera" that means that you're walking where a canal was filled in. So at one time, this church had canals on two sides but today, only one.

Continue reading "Ognissanti" »