So as I said, I walked and walked and walked and took lots of photos along the way. Taking pictures of Venice is challenging; she’s just too photogenic and it’s easy to get carried away. But I did have my primary focus (churches and campanili) along with my other obsessions: cats, street shrines and tabernacles, holiday decorations, Byzantine details, fossils and floors, Madonnas, mosaics, angels, and funky monsters.
Occasionally my interests converged and it was very cool.
I found this tabernacle shrine to the Madonna inside a sotoportego in Dorsoduro. It’s a nice one and I snapped a few photos. But then I walked closer to look inside and what I saw startled me, then made me laugh.
This black cat is painted in the bottom left corner of the shrine, invisible from a distance. The only way you can see it is to walk right up to the screen on the shrine and look in. It just cracked me up! And it’s so apropos since cats have become elusive in Venice, which used to be one of the great cat cities in the world but now seems to have been taken over by thousands of very cute little dogs. The cats are still around but they’re a bit hidden.
Comments (1)
I love that cat! I'll have to look for it on my next visit (I say blithely as if another visit is right around the corner instead of who knows when!)
I'm so glad you enjoyed your trip and look forward to reading more about it. And seeing more of these really interesting photos!
Posted by Anne | December 14, 2007 1:32 PM
Posted on December 14, 2007 13:32