There are 20,000 entries under “Venice” on amazon.com. (I’d have thought there were more, actually.) But that’s only the English-language site. Amazon Japan lists “over 6,000.” In any case, whatever your language, Venice is going to be there somehow. Histories, novels, travel guides, poetry, cookbooks, memoirs and, for all I know, limericks and postcards and old flight boarding cards.
Add to that mighty flood the tributary streams of academic studies and research and theses, the reports from national and international committees, the torrents of daily news and opinion pieces and blogs. Anyone during the past millennium with a brain and a pencil seems to have written something about Venice and there is no end in sight. It would appear that you cannot be a warm-blooded, live-young-bearing creature that is alive who has not written something about Venice.
But within this Humboldt Current of ideas and facts and fantasies there are plenty of other thoughts and feelings that flow through daily life here. Letters to the editor are fine, but it’s much simpler (and cheaper) for the vox populi to make itself heard through signs. These come in all sorts of ways, but they’re everywhere.
There are the personal messages from the heart. The heart above is in wonderful shape, but there are many that aren’t.
Neighborhoods bubble with exasperated reminders of some basic rules of civility, in varying degrees of sharpness. One eternal theme is dog poop.
On to the hazards of maintaining a small earthly garden in the street.
On a happier note, there is a little old man named Valerio who continued to work in his carpentry shop for decades, or perhaps eons, considering how extremely old he looks. But he kept at it until one day…
Not many days later, a sign appeared on the workshop door:
Tourists do not pass unobserved.
So much for signs for tourists. For locals, almost no details are necessary for communication:
On a similar neighborhoodly note:
Moving into the realm of city government, or lack thereof, the Venetians in our neighborhood (and others, I can assure you) have plenty to say. The comments tend to run along the following lines (and I’m not referring to clotheslines):
Continuing with the runic messages delivered by T-shirt: “Venice is an embroidered bedspread.” This one is complicated and I have no hope of clarifying its evidently metaphorical significance. I do know that there is a song that begins “Il cielo e’ una coperta ricamata” — the sky is an embroidered cover, which is lovely. Is the intention to say that Venice is as beautiful as an embroidered cover? I think there is some irony here, but it eludes me. Maybe I’ll run into this person again (I saw him at the fruit-vendor one afternoon) and I can just ask him. Meanwhile, on we go.
“Venice is a casin thanks politicians.” A casin (kah-ZEEN) is a brothel, where gambling also went on, and sooner or later tumult ensued. And not tumult of any polite, Marquess of Queensberry sort. It’s now the usual word for any situation that entails chaos, perhaps danger, racket and rudeness. It appears to many that Venice is speeding downhill with no brakes (again, motondoso comes to mind) and nobody at the wheel. Some people also refer to the city as “no-man’s land.” Literally everybody is doing whatever they want, and the result is pure casin.
Lastly, “Venezia is dead Thanks politicians and Gigio.”
While we’re talking about citizens’ discontent….
And this handwritten cri de coeur summarizing the profound crisis in the public health system. The people of lower Castello are persevering in their apparently hopeless struggle to obtain a reasonable supply of doctors:
There are also signs without words that hint at approaching events or persons.
An approaching event I never thought I’d see. The city’s greatest housewares/hardware store having its final sale before closing. They tried to keep going after Covid. They stayed open all day (as opposed to closing in the early afternoon, like every reasonable store used to do). Then they stayed open all week. Unheard-of. It wasn’t enough. I can’t tell you how bad this is. I haven’t gone by recently to see what’s taking its physical place; not much can replace something so great. It used to be that useful stores (butcher shop, fruit and vegetables, etc.) would suddenly begin to sell masks or Murano glass. Now they will be either a restaurant or bar/cafe’. That’s my bet for the once-great Ratti.
The arrival of certain foods are reliable harbingers of seasons or events, though seeing clementines for sale in October is not normal. But this is absolutely the moment for torboin (tor-bo-EEN).
In a class by itself is this astoundingly inappropriate offer of a room with perhaps an undesirable view.
Above the chorus of voices on the walls there come a few magical notes from mysterious poetic souls.
So by all means stroll through Venice looking at palaces and canals. Just don’t forget the walls.
Absolutely fascinating, so well-observed and recorded! Well worth waiting eagerly for your latest. I enjoyed trying to make out the sense before looking at your translations!
About the “Dog-poo Delights” – we all suffer from that, our front lawn, unfenced, is a magnet. The law is that dog-owners or dog-walkers should carry, and use, plastic bags for it, inverted over the mess to pick it up, then tied and taken home to dispose of, or put in one of the dog-mess bins thoughtfully provided.
However, many still prefer – perhaps they are preparing for Christmas decorations? – to festoon shrubs, bushes and trees with them!
Wonderful.
Thank you, sharp-eyed reader. I should have investigated more deeply before rending my garment (though at the time it looked like it was going down with all hands. It happens so often that it’s not one’s first instinct to imagine something more positive).
That said, Ratti has been divided into two shops, though I haven’t gone to investigate how they’ve divided the merchandise. One, as you say, is at the so-called Ponte delle Paste (official name Ponte del Pistor) at Calle del Pistor 5979 (Cannaregio) and the other on the Riva del Carbon in front of the Rialto #1 vaporetto dock 4641 (San Marco).
I will be more cautious with my garment next time.
Erla, this is marvelous! Thank you for your fascinating perceptions. Can’t wait until December, when i can look for signs in person!
Along with art and teaching, I’m now a dog-walker (who always cleans up le cacche). Very difficult to stop a male dog from lifting his leg where others (hopefully canine) have peed before. And I doubt that tiny little pissotte di cani (hope that’s right-learning Italian) would work. The dogs I know wouldn’t care about a bit of splash-back.
The text “Buongiorno bell’Anima” always seems heartfelt and in a way cheerful every time I pass it. It must have been there for ages since I seem to remember it even before the pandemic. Thank you for a lovely glimpse of, yet another batch of, things that I fail to see. In general I think that the grafitti/scribbles in Venice are at a higher level than the profanities and vulgarities that are commonplace elsewhere. Somewhere near Fondamenta Nove I seem to remember the text “mamma ti amo” in a heart hastily sprayed on a wall. What was lacking in artistic execution (and legality) was in a way compensated by the message in my book.
I like the name “magna e tasi” also. When I was little and possibly chattered more than was good for me I was told to “låta maten tysta mun”, to let the food silence the mouth. Makes kind of sense, doesn’t it. 🙂
All the best from Solna
/Andreas
Yes,your whirl around the city is wonderfully entertaining. Moreover, your approach reminds me of a proud New Yorker who laments for the decadence, and the uncivilized creatures who trash the city.Yet, there is always a ray of buried optimism that pokes its stubborn head.Brava Signora!!And grazie!!!!!!
Disaster: the ever-essential Ratti is gone! But has it really closed? Today I was told by a friend it has simply relocated with the upstairs in one new location, the downstairs in another? I will be home in a few days to see for myself. Fingers tightly crossed that is indeed the case.
My informant says the latter new shop is close to Caputo’s wonderful electrical emporium- there’s another local institution it would be a tragedy to lose… fingers crossed for the continuing presence of the only shopkeeper in Venice who appreciates the excellence of Rega and Naim (and where else within our increasingly tourist-oriented city could you possibly hope to buy decent HiFi equipment?)… Long live our few remaining proper shops – if that isn’t too much to hope for!
See my reply to Maggie on the same subject. Ratti is reborn as twins, apparently. Amazing!! Kudos to your friend, and a black mark to me for not investigating further.
Since I can’t seem to reply to your reply on towering Venice, I’m replying here: Thanks, Erla. I do try to moderate my delving 😊. On the other hand I would love to know where I can see the foundations of Pietro Tribuno’s bastion…
Do you know that the foundations, or even parts of them, still exist? My search has turned up a good number of lagoon digs that have revealed evidence of the Roman period, but not anything of the year 900 A.D. (Actually, the Treccani encyclopedia mentions him only as overseeing a great development of buildings and monuments, not the walls that I presume you are referring to?). I am guessing that, considering how much of the city has been constructed and expanded since that date, whatever might still exist is extremely buried. I don’t know your source for the term “bastion,” but keep in mind that in Venetian the word bastion means not only “fortification,” but also — according to Boerio — “a large osteria where wine was sold retail.” I leave my explorations there and move on….
Oh that is hilarious 😊. No the bastion I’m looking for is definitely a wall. According to John Julius Norwich’s history of Venice it ran from the castle on the eastern side of Olivolo down to what is now the Riva degli Schiavoni and then all the way along to Santa Maria Zobenigo. You can see the corner of it – just – at the southern end of rio dell’Arsenale on de Barbari’s plan from 1500. According to Norwich the crumbling remains were still there in the 70s. Obviously they aren’t there now, but we met someone who said you could still see the foundations but they didn’t have time to say where! Considering that, as you say, pretty much everything has been built over, I was wondering about the overgrown part of San Pietro. Rabbit holes. Probably literal and figurative.
Sounds like Norwich pinpointed the spot fairly precisely, so your someone who said you could see them would have to be talking about there. Conclusion: Go to the southern end of the rio dell’Arsenale and settle this pesky question. I’m off to other rabbit holes now….
We couldn’t find anything there, unless that little park was made in the footprint. Happy digging.
“signs and wonders” indeed , Erla. Thank you for another fabulous observational dander through your beautiful city. Am counting down the sleeps myself (just a few left, yay!) until I can see some of Venice’s many wonders for myself again. Grazie mille.
Erla, It’s been years; today, I was looking for a reminder of the shape of a mascaretta, and I was reminded what a joy it was to read you. Yes, it *still is!
I’ll just *have to catch up!
Goia per tutti— indeed.
17 Comments
Absolutely fascinating, so well-observed and recorded! Well worth waiting eagerly for your latest. I enjoyed trying to make out the sense before looking at your translations!
About the “Dog-poo Delights” – we all suffer from that, our front lawn, unfenced, is a magnet. The law is that dog-owners or dog-walkers should carry, and use, plastic bags for it, inverted over the mess to pick it up, then tied and taken home to dispose of, or put in one of the dog-mess bins thoughtfully provided.
However, many still prefer – perhaps they are preparing for Christmas decorations? – to festoon shrubs, bushes and trees with them!
Wonderful.
Wht a lovely long post Erla! It made my day. The world seems to be falling apart, but you’re still there, observing…thank you!
Ratti has reopened at Ponte delle Paste.
Thank you, sharp-eyed reader. I should have investigated more deeply before rending my garment (though at the time it looked like it was going down with all hands. It happens so often that it’s not one’s first instinct to imagine something more positive).
That said, Ratti has been divided into two shops, though I haven’t gone to investigate how they’ve divided the merchandise. One, as you say, is at the so-called Ponte delle Paste (official name Ponte del Pistor) at Calle del Pistor 5979 (Cannaregio) and the other on the Riva del Carbon in front of the Rialto #1 vaporetto dock 4641 (San Marco).
I will be more cautious with my garment next time.
Erla, this is marvelous! Thank you for your fascinating perceptions. Can’t wait until December, when i can look for signs in person!
Along with art and teaching, I’m now a dog-walker (who always cleans up le cacche). Very difficult to stop a male dog from lifting his leg where others (hopefully canine) have peed before. And I doubt that tiny little pissotte di cani (hope that’s right-learning Italian) would work. The dogs I know wouldn’t care about a bit of splash-back.
The text “Buongiorno bell’Anima” always seems heartfelt and in a way cheerful every time I pass it. It must have been there for ages since I seem to remember it even before the pandemic. Thank you for a lovely glimpse of, yet another batch of, things that I fail to see. In general I think that the grafitti/scribbles in Venice are at a higher level than the profanities and vulgarities that are commonplace elsewhere. Somewhere near Fondamenta Nove I seem to remember the text “mamma ti amo” in a heart hastily sprayed on a wall. What was lacking in artistic execution (and legality) was in a way compensated by the message in my book.
I like the name “magna e tasi” also. When I was little and possibly chattered more than was good for me I was told to “låta maten tysta mun”, to let the food silence the mouth. Makes kind of sense, doesn’t it. 🙂
All the best from Solna
/Andreas
“Let the food silence the mouth” is excellent! Evidently this is a universal concept (Venice and Sweden, that’s universal, right?).
Yes,your whirl around the city is wonderfully entertaining. Moreover, your approach reminds me of a proud New Yorker who laments for the decadence, and the uncivilized creatures who trash the city.Yet, there is always a ray of buried optimism that pokes its stubborn head.Brava Signora!!And grazie!!!!!!
Disaster: the ever-essential Ratti is gone! But has it really closed? Today I was told by a friend it has simply relocated with the upstairs in one new location, the downstairs in another? I will be home in a few days to see for myself. Fingers tightly crossed that is indeed the case.
My informant says the latter new shop is close to Caputo’s wonderful electrical emporium- there’s another local institution it would be a tragedy to lose… fingers crossed for the continuing presence of the only shopkeeper in Venice who appreciates the excellence of Rega and Naim (and where else within our increasingly tourist-oriented city could you possibly hope to buy decent HiFi equipment?)… Long live our few remaining proper shops – if that isn’t too much to hope for!
See my reply to Maggie on the same subject. Ratti is reborn as twins, apparently. Amazing!! Kudos to your friend, and a black mark to me for not investigating further.
Since I can’t seem to reply to your reply on towering Venice, I’m replying here: Thanks, Erla. I do try to moderate my delving 😊. On the other hand I would love to know where I can see the foundations of Pietro Tribuno’s bastion…
Do you know that the foundations, or even parts of them, still exist? My search has turned up a good number of lagoon digs that have revealed evidence of the Roman period, but not anything of the year 900 A.D. (Actually, the Treccani encyclopedia mentions him only as overseeing a great development of buildings and monuments, not the walls that I presume you are referring to?). I am guessing that, considering how much of the city has been constructed and expanded since that date, whatever might still exist is extremely buried. I don’t know your source for the term “bastion,” but keep in mind that in Venetian the word bastion means not only “fortification,” but also — according to Boerio — “a large osteria where wine was sold retail.” I leave my explorations there and move on….
Oh that is hilarious 😊. No the bastion I’m looking for is definitely a wall. According to John Julius Norwich’s history of Venice it ran from the castle on the eastern side of Olivolo down to what is now the Riva degli Schiavoni and then all the way along to Santa Maria Zobenigo. You can see the corner of it – just – at the southern end of rio dell’Arsenale on de Barbari’s plan from 1500. According to Norwich the crumbling remains were still there in the 70s. Obviously they aren’t there now, but we met someone who said you could still see the foundations but they didn’t have time to say where! Considering that, as you say, pretty much everything has been built over, I was wondering about the overgrown part of San Pietro. Rabbit holes. Probably literal and figurative.
Sounds like Norwich pinpointed the spot fairly precisely, so your someone who said you could see them would have to be talking about there. Conclusion: Go to the southern end of the rio dell’Arsenale and settle this pesky question. I’m off to other rabbit holes now….
We couldn’t find anything there, unless that little park was made in the footprint. Happy digging.
“signs and wonders” indeed , Erla. Thank you for another fabulous observational dander through your beautiful city. Am counting down the sleeps myself (just a few left, yay!) until I can see some of Venice’s many wonders for myself again. Grazie mille.
Erla, It’s been years; today, I was looking for a reminder of the shape of a mascaretta, and I was reminded what a joy it was to read you. Yes, it *still is!
I’ll just *have to catch up!
Goia per tutti— indeed.