It’s not just the buildings — even the canals are getting big repairs.
Simple, but effective, this is how they removed the mud in 1956. This is “dry” dredging, during which a section of canal is blocked by temporary barriers and the water pumped out. If you need to repair foundations of canal-side structures, this is your only option. I really have only one question and that is why are the men wearing white?And this is “wet” dredging, or scavo in umido. They’re here to deepen the canal by removing metric tons of mud — the foundations will have to wait to be checked some other time. Here one man with a mastodontic machine is doing the work of ten or 20 men years ago, except that years ago wet dredging didn’t exist. Progress.
There are roughly 150 canals in Venice, which might sound like a lot, though you probably have many more streets where you live. But whatever they’re made of, streets require maintenance. And often — make that quite often, in Venice — maintenance is conducted only when it has become absolutely necessary.
Canal-beds here are made of mud, and the movement of the tides, plus the thrashing of motorboat propellers night and day, tend to make the mud move around. Sometimes the waves (underwater force of) push it to the sides of the canal where it accumulates, blocking any drains that might be emptying from buildings; the blockage causes the material to build up and over time the chemicals in the material damage the building’s walls. So the mud has been transformed from a water problem to a land problem, and sometimes is the signal that it’s really time to deal with it.
Or the the mud swirls around, carried by the water to wherever the force of the waves diminishes, at which point it eventually drifts downward and is deposited on the bottom. When this process reaches the point where there is no longer enough useful average depth to the water, the dredgers are called in. Just think: High water means that many boats can’t pass under certain bridges until the tide turns, but low water can mean that boats can’t pass at all, bridges or not. This is not a happy situation if the boat in question is an ambulance, or belongs to the firemen. So yes. In your town your roads have potholes. Here we have mud.
One morning in late November, we discovered that dredging of our canal, the rio de Sant’Ana, was imminent. Many copies of the official notice were taped to the red and white striped security tape strung along the pilings. Everybody stopped to read, especially people like us whose boat is in the foreground, therefore directly in the path of danger.Here’s what it comes down to: “Move your boat, we need space so we can dredge between November 15 and December 17, or whenever we finish the work.” Like everybody else on the canal, we had to move our boat somewhere else, which wasn’t a problem. And we soon discovered why the decks, so to speak, had had to be cleared; the dredge would have splintered our little watercraft to kindling. For lots of others, though — for the people who use their boats for work — points 2 a and b were more problematic than where to park it. “From 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM on Monday to Friday, all boats, either by motor or oar, are prohibited from passing this stretch of canal. Emergency and public service boats that have a need that can’t be accomplished by any means other than passing this canal are authorized to pass here but in any case must reach an agreement with the dredging company.” Do not even think about inconveniencing the dredges, this operation costs real money and it needs to get done on time.The next to last holdout moved his boat a few hours after I took this picture. Maybe he noticed the two big dredges ready to start work the next day.As I said, waiting on the other side of the ponte de Sant’Ana to start work, which they will just as soon as the tide goes out just enough to allow them to pass under it. If there is anyone who checks the tides table more than I do, it must be the operators of “Valerio”, the big green dredge, and “Zio Mario” (Uncle Mario), the smaller blue one.Dredging the canals ought to be like painting the Forth Bridge, i.e. continuous. Yet years, sometimes decades, can pass between interventions. Why? (checks notes) Yep: money again. This map announces the conclusion of the canal-dredging program in the 30 above-listed canals. To be fair, dredging the remaining 100 clogged-up canals, at 150,000 per canal, is an impressive line in the city’s future budgets. Frivolous note: I’m sorry to see that I missed the work in the only canal listed here for Castello because it’s a really narrow canal and it would have been fun to see what sort of machine could have gotten in there. Guess I’ll have to wait another 30 years for my next chance.This perspective shows the importance of the accuracy of the tide forecast. Of course the hydraulic arm lies down flat, but there’s the little factor of the deckhouse.
Yes, Uncle Mario did his part.They eventually were working the whole canal together. Here they’ve finished for the day; you can see that Uncle Mario is backing up, stirring up more mud for tomorrow.A good day’s work. Back for more tomorrow. If I had time, I would seriously find someone to tell me how they knew when the job was finished. Metric tonnage of sediment? Strictly by the clock? Fuel consumed?
They were as good as their word: On December 17, they departed, and on 19 we rowed our little boat back to its mooring. When the weather is cold, the water is usually extremely clear, and I can tell you that we could see the bottom of the canal by the wall, and it was definitely deeper. Of course, as always, we’d have to measure it at low tide to know how much deeper it was, compared to two months ago (at low tide). But keeping in mind that now, and for the next month, the lagoon is prone to exceptional low tides, that would also be deceptive.
But the saga continues; dredging is far from over. Via Garibaldi is a rio tera’ — “earthed-in canal” — but not literally filled in, as you might have innocently imagined, because a large culvert was installed beneath the pavement to allow the tidal flux to continue its useful work of fluxing. And over the years the tide had deposited mud in this culvert, too. A filled-in culvert is just as bad as a clogged-up canal.
Conclusion: Considering a new career? Give some thought to dredging Venice. Just regard it as the Humber Canal of cities.
Via Garibaldi is approximately 345 meters long (1,100 feet). That’s a lot of canal to suck dry.The view from the riva dei Sette Martiri onward toward the end of the line at the vegetable boat is impressive. The white barriers snaking down via Garibaldi are guarding the many tubes.The intermittent rectangular interruptions are crosswalks.
This is what’s happening: “Intervention of refurbishment of the sewer network damaged by the high water” — oh, you mean the one two years ago? What’s your hurry? — “and removal of mud in Rio Tera’ Garibaldi.”As you see, the underground canal is getting to be in a tight spot. Opening it more generously will be appreciated by those who have been inhaling that unmistakeable biological aroma at super-low tide. In case you think that just filling in the canal would be a better idea, you should know that a few years ago they did exactly that in a small canal in Cannaregio. It wasn’t long before the residents were up in arms because the tidal flow was blocked and stench ensued. The city had to pay to open it up again.Here you can just make out the top of the street’s arched support. At extremely low tide, which will be here soon, you can see the bottom inside. A bottom which will eventually be much lower.End of the white fences. Let the pumping begin!I’d never given any thought to where this manhole cover might lead. Now I know.The pump is seriously ready to work, moving that mud out of the dark and into the waiting barge. But ask not for whom the mud tolls, because the mud will be back.
To anyone who has ever looked at a bit of crumbling Venice and said, or even thought, “They really ought to fix that,” this is your moment. But if you were to have considered coming here now to see Venice, let me warn you that you’ll be seeing square miles of scaffolding and tarpaulin.
I was fascinated by all this happening so suddenly (or at all), and believe me, at a certain point I stopped taking pictures because there’s no need to publish literally a thousand photos of scaffolding and tarpaulin. But why is it happening now? Like so many questions, the answer is lying at, or not far from, some point involving money because, apart from the cost of the work, there is a phenomenal daily cost merely for the scaffolding. As I understand it, the cost is imposed because the metal towers are occupying public space (think cafe tables inching out into the street), and said occupation comes at a price. Perhaps this is true in the whole world, but because we’re here, I risk invoking my one-size-fits-all explanation: ThisisVenicewheremoneyisking.
For confirmation, I went to Lino, as I always do, and he answered my question with two words: “Bonus casa.” (As I said: Money.) Here is how it works and why everything is happening now, translated by me from a well-informed website. “Extension till December 31, 2021 also for the deduction from personal income tax (Irpef) of 50 percent of the expenses sustained for interventions of building recovery, also known as ‘bonus casa’ or ‘bonus renovation.’ With a maximum limit of 96,000 euros for each unit of real estate.” Fun fact: There is an assortment of additional bonuses for a variety of housing improvements from improving energy efficiency to windows to installation of solar panels to street-facing facades to adding or maintaining “green areas.” There is much more, but you get the idea.
So I’m absolutely correct in supposing that everybody woke up with a start one morning yelling “OMG I’ve got to get started on redoing the entire building today!”
I’m not saying you should bring a hard hat to wear over your woolen watch cap. Just saying that work is booming. Nice, when you think about it. Only slightly less nice when they’re drilling, hammering, sawing, scraping, sanding and yelling next to your bedroom window. And the dust, of course. Now I know why I haven’t dusted the house since spring; I must have sensed that this was coming up. Life is still so far from perfection….
And then there are the beginnings and endings of the work, what you might call pre- and post-encumbrances. Here we go again.Gosh there wasn’t anything going on here. Let’s fix that.You need a place to store all your stuff, so temporary areas are usually set up near the work site.More supplies, on their way to work or to the storage area. In any case, these bags of Portland cement are also out in the street, along with everything else.Over there were bags of cement. Here there are bags of 00 flour, heading into the bakery. I can only hope the same company isn’t making both deliveries.I wonder if there is some supervisor losing his or her mind waiting for these, with no idea where they’ve been left. In any case, if you’re a man from Kosovo and know how to hold a hammer, or know somebody who knows how, your fortune awaits.
A few days ago, this extraordinary assemblage appeared on via Garibaldi. The sign explained it: “No to violence to women.” I didn’t know that in the year 2000 the United Nations had declared November 25 to be the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, arguably the most pervasive human rights violation on earth.
The sign was fine by itself, but bringing a mascareta ashore was a lovely gesture by the Remiera Casteo. It is a classic Venetian boat most commonly rowed by women (and created centuries ago, some sources say, specifically for women during Carnival).The red shoes strewn about — not to be confused with the fairy tale or ballet of the same name — became a symbol of this issue in the hands of Mexican artist Elina Chauvet in 2009, when she staged her first art installation of red shoes representing the bloodshed women face in Mexico because of femicide, domestic and sexualized violence. Her installations have inspired activists around the world to wear red shoes to replicate her protests in their own cities and countries, and to share photographs of their red shoes. Not to be confused with Dorothy’s ruby slippers.“Un Filo che Unisce” (‘A Thread That Unites’) says no to the violence against women.” This women’s association, founded in Trivento (region of Molise), devotes its energies to crocheting; the results are used to promote programs on issues of social importance. Charming, ingenious, gratifying, whatever you want to call it. For me, this creation is beyond amazing.Each flower, and other components, is a marvel of crocheting, not to mention the skill required in putting them all together.Even the hearts have been crocheted, the cats’cradle making it all even more symbolic. These women are unstoppable.
Let me say, before the comments begin to come in, that I am aware that men also suffer from domestic and other forms of violence. I know this. But I don’t want to start some ghastly competition between who is more tormented. Verbal, emotional, physical abuse damages everyone — victim, perpetrator, children who have to witness it. Fun fact: One in three women in the world suffers from some form of violence. November 25 is at least one day in which to acknowledge the violence inflicted on them: grown women, little girls, old ladies, at the hands of men, but also of other women, of their own children, and even whole families who agree to whatever atrocity they consider appropriate.
Revolution, an ad agency based in Macapá, Brazil, created the Star Models Sexual Violence ad campaign in 2014. (Photography by Diego Freire.) There were more images, but this is enough for now.
And then there’s this: Just a few weeks ago, 50 year-old Cosimo Damiano Bologna was having a coffee with a lady friend at a cafe’ in the little town of Canosa di Puglia. She had been stalked for an undisclosed amount of time by a man who suddenly appeared, and began to insult and otherwise assault her verbally. Cosimo intervened in her defense, the aggressor aggressed, and literally beat him to death. Not immediately; it took Cosimo two weeks to die.
So not only is there bride burning, dowry death, honor killing, widow cleansing, acid attack, and let’s not forget breast ironing, to name a few dreadful things at random, now we have women getting hurt by men, and men getting hurt for defending women from men.
I am not saying every woman is perfect. I’m just saying that if you wouldn’t do it to a dog, don’t do it to a woman. And if you would do it to a dog, still don’t do it to a woman. Let’s make this the International Century for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It’s really going to be better for everybody.
“It’s Time You Spoke” was an ad campaign for the City of Hope women’s shelter, New York City. Violence against women fuels global crises such as drug and alcohol abuse, suicide, infant mortality, and poverty.When I took this photograph I thought they looked happy. Now I’m beginning to realize you can’t know anything about people by just looking at them, no matter how much gelato they may be eating.Girls don’t have to be beautiful to be wonderful.
Being beautiful is wonderful too, or at least it seems so to most of us. But as I said, what can I really know about this unearthly being except that somebody spent an ungodly amount of time braiding her hair, and that she was fine with it?
Venetian women who are racing take no prisoners.“Signora del Vento,” a three-masted brigantine built in 1962, is the second largest Italian tall ship after “Amerigo Vespucci.” Her figurehead, created by artists Birgit and Claus Hartmann, appears to be permanently waiting to launch the dove of peace. I’d say any time from now on would be ideal. Especially for women.
The official Italian roll call response, here written on the tomb of one of the multi-thousands of dead Italian soldiers whose name will never be known. This image is from the military cemetery at Kobarid, Slovenia, final resting place of 7,014 known and unknown Italian soldiers and the site of no fewer than 12 lost battles against the Austro-Hungarian empire.
In the United States we observe Veterans Day on November 11, the date of Germany’s formal surrender at the end of World War 1. To be precise, the ceasefire took effect at 11:11 on November 11. We called it Armistice Day when I was a sprout, but now the date recognizes veterans of all wars.
The war between Italy and Austria-Hungary, however, came to an end on November 3, when the ceasefire was signed at the Villa Giusti outside Padova, to take effect on November 4. That date has long been observed here as a national day of remembrance, though by the end of it all, the warring parties had signed no fewer than 16 peace treaties.
It’s bad enough to know who were the casualties, but the nameless ones are what haunt me. In 1921, Italy consecrated its national Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in Rome, and this year marked its hundredth-year anniversary. There are military shrines (sacrario) all over Italy and it is appalling how many of their soldiers are unknown. The monument in Gorizia notes 57,741 Italian casualties, of which 36,000 are unknown. At the shrine at Redipuglia are 100,000 fallen, and 60,000 unknown. At Asiago are 54,286 dead of which 33,000 are unknown. Obliterated.
Which brings me to the sacrario crowning Monte Grappa. The Grappa massif was the site of some of the war’s most violent battles, and where the Austrian advance into Italy was finally stopped.
On even moderately clear days, the low outline of Grappa, here just behind the Murano lighthouse, is visible from Venice. A mere 52 miles/84 km separate mountain from lagoon.The cemetery on Monte Grappa contains not only the remains of thousands of Italian soldiers (foreground), but also many unknown Austrian soldiers in the circular area further back.Monument to the Fallen of Monte Grappa Reigning His Majesty Vittorio Emanuele III Leader Benito Mussolini May 24 1934 September 22 1935 XIII year of E.F. (Epoca Fascista). The plaque on the lower right says: “In this shrine rest the remains of 12,615 fallen Italians of which 10,332 are unknown and 10,295 fallen Austro-Hungarians of which 10,000 are unknown.”Austrians to the right, Italians to the left.Meaning no disrespect to the Italian casualties, but I was surprised to find so many of the enemy interred here.Atop the summit, walking toward the Italian tombs.Looking toward Venice. Lino says that on a clear day you can see the sea. Of course the Austrian army wanted to see it too, even closer than this.Looking northward.The smaller loculi contain identified soldiers, the larger ones contain some of the unknown. In this case, it says “Cento Militi Ignoti”” One hundred unknown soldiers. There are many of these.
The full inscription above reads: Gloria a Voi Soldati del Grappa. “Glory to you soldiers of Grappa.”Most of the streets and campos in the area of Sant’ Elena bear names recalling the First World War.
Two weeks ago — the evening of October 29 — a remarkable event passed through Venice in the form of the “Train of Memory,” a steam train that retraced the route of the train that traveled from Aquileia to Rome bearing the coffin of the nameless soldier chosen to represent all of them to his final resting place at the Altar of the Fatherland. As before, the train left Cervignano Aquileia on October 29, stopped at Udine and Treviso, and arrived at Santa Lucia station in Venice at 9:30 PM. A few hours later it departed for Bologna, Florence, Arezzo, and finally Rome.
We waited at the station, determined to see it despite a delay of 90 minutes. A ceremony had been organized, though it was less majestic than those I discovered had been held in other stations. Music, speeches, uniforms. More music. It was moving in spite of all that; for me, the emotion was compounded by the fact that Lino’s father had been a train driver in the steam era, and that Santa Lucia station was once full of puffing, gasping trains just like this one.
A platoon of cadets from the Morosini naval school were arrayed, along with detachments of veterans of various branches and the band of the Alpini Julia Brigade. The train is coming in on Track 1, as it did in October of 1921.
The original train carried the coffin on an open carriage like this one.It was said that this locomotive was the same that had pulled the original train. I can’t confirm that, but I can certainly confirm real steam.
The original train was something infinitely grander and more solemn, of course. This brief film clip shows scenes from the train’s passing towns and stations on its way to Rome, and I trust that even without your understanding the narration, the images will express something of the magnitude of the experience. It seems as though everyone who saw the coffin gave it something from the depths of their heart and spirit, as each person glimpsed, in a way, their own lost soldier.
So where is the monument to the Unknown Soldier in Venice? There is only one and it’s at Sant’Elena, modestly placed amid a sort of garden, a genteel afterthought. For years this piece of stone just sat on the ground till finally a group of former soldiers managed to get it up onto a sort of pedestal. Some cities, such as Florence, organized ceremonies with the laying of a huge laurel wreath.
Here, not so much. The only wreath was placed by Daniele Girardini, president of a military history association named cimeetrincee (peaks and trenches). Not even a nod from the city government, much less a ceremony. Maybe ceremonies are empty calories, but no ceremonies are worse.
This plot is right in front of the vaporetto stop at Sant’ Elena. It’s officially named the Garden of Remembrance, but plenty of people go by every day who have yet to realize that there is a stone here, much less a memorial, so not too heavy on the “remembrance.”
“I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice, ” wrote Ernest Hemingway. “I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it…Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage…were obscene beside the concrete names of villages… the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates.”
