Just a few of those little things

One of the great truths is that it’s the small things in life that count, and Venice is one of the biggest places made of small things I’ve ever seen.

"Oh look," I thought, "what interesting reflections." Reflections are my favorite, and the sun was shining just right to make these look like a glittering series of little mirrors on the ground.
“Oh look,” I thought, “what interesting reflections.” Reflections are my favorite thing, and the sun was shining just right to make these look like a glittering series of little mirrors on the ground.  So pretty.  But wait…..It hasn’t rained in weeks, nor has there been any acqua alta.
I had just notified Lino that I was far behind following him down the street because of these wonderful reflections. To which he said... well, it's obvious what he said, when I look at the marks without the reflections.
I had just notified Lino that I was far behind following him down the street because of these wonderful reflections. To which he said… well, it’s obvious what he said, as I realized when I looked again at the marks that weren’t reflecting.
I said, "Oh, you're right. Somebody did just fall in the canal." A canal (check background of first photo) I know too well because I slipped on the slimy green step as I got out of a boat, one nano-second after I, the Big Venice Expert, had told everybody in the boat not to step on the green slime. Only my foot got wet, but I was drenched in feeling stupid. That canal is nursing a grudge against somebody and will just keep attacking people until the right victim finally succumbs.
Yep — somebody had just fallen into the canal, and the walk home was long and thankfully solitary.  I’m already well acquainted with the canal that attacked him (check background of first photo) because one memorable day I slipped on the slimy green step as I got out of a boat just at the moment when I, the Big Venice Expert, was telling everybody in the boat not to step on the green slime. In that case only one foot got wet, but my butt was now slimy and I was drenched in feeling stupid.  In this case, however, we’re looking at full immersion. That canal is nursing a grudge against somebody and will just keep attacking people until its chosen victim finally succumbs.
And while we're on the subject of "Water, Avoidance Of," spare a glance at this clamp. Venetian houses depend on them in order to stay foursquare on their feet.
And while we’re on the subject of “Water, Avoidance Of,” spare a glance at this tie-rod. Many Venetian houses depend on them in order to stay foursquare on their feet.
The house facing our exemplar is in some trouble, though, as we realized glancing up one day at a curious appendage on the wall.
But the tying-together hasn’t been working out too well for the house facing our exemplar, as we realized glancing up one day at a curious appendage on the wall.
The hapless homeowner not only has had to repair the tie-rod (rather, the cement around it), but insecurity about the long-term stability of either the rod, or the plaster, or both, has made this intervention necessary. I hope it makes him or her feel better, because I can offer no certainty that the results desired will be obtained. But I can't offer certainty about many things.
The hapless homeowner not only has had to repair the tie-rod (rather, the cement around it), but insecurity about the long-term stability of either the rod, or the plaster, or both, has made this intervention necessary. I hope it makes him or her feel better, because I can offer no certainty that the results desired will be obtained. But I can’t offer certainty about many things.
A gondola and its -lier made of Lego pieces. I wonder if it floats? Or sings? Or shouts "Oy!" when it gets to the corner of the table?
A gondola and its -lier made of Lego pieces. I wonder if it floats? Or sings? Or shouts “Oy!” when it gets to the corner of the table?
Hoping for the best for everyone in 2017.
Hoping for the best for everyone in 2017.

 

 

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Wait — isn’t Santa supposed to be working?

Only fog could make Father Christmas look so ominous.
Only fog could make Father Christmas look so ominous.

I love charity benefit events; I also love Santa Claus (for the brief period each year in which I give him even one thought).  And last Sunday we came upon — or it came upon us — the third edition of an annual run/trot/stroll around half the city called the “Corsa dei Babbo Natale,” or “Race of the Santa Clauses” (Santas Claus?)

This is not unique to Venice, though the landscape here obviously presents some traits not present in Milan, Brescia, Verona, Savona, Belluno, and undoubtedly lots of other places all over Italy.  Sometimes it’s for charity, sometimes it’s just for fun.  Check your local listings.

In the case of Venice, it was organized to benefit AVAPO, the association of volunteers who assist cancer patients and their families.  The event was managed by The Venice Sport Shop and aided by various sponsors, primarily Mizuna, a maker of running shoes. For a modest fee anyone could sign up, get a number and a Santa Claus outfit and some other goodies, and join the crowd running/trotting/strolling from Rialto to Sant’ Elena and back to our own little lobe of Venice, the Giardini Pubblici, where music and refreshments waited.

I would happily have followed it and made lots of pictures of them running across the Piazza San Marco and other landmark sites, but we were set up to go rowing and join the boat procession of — yes — more Santa Clauses in the Grand Canal.  Curses!  We were foiled by fog! Vast, shifting, impenetrable banks of fog which not only would have spoiled the fun for us, but rowing to the church of the Salute would have rendered us a spectacular hazard to navigation.

But on our disappointed walk homeward, we suddenly found ourselves facing an army of S.C.’s swarming toward us.  They were tired, but they were determined, and it was great to see whole families out together.  And then people started greeting Lino by name as they passed, which was especially nice in the case of those who hadn’t yet removed their sweat-inducing beards because somehow Lino recognized virtually every one of the people greeting him. Was it their voice?  Their glasses?  Jewelry?  Birthmark? But as usual, this came as no surprise.  It’s the call of the DNA, which I can confirm overrides costumes, fog, and the passage of time.

But the quartet on the bridge were only the forerunners -- or forewalkers. They were followed by more and more red-breasted Saint Nicholases, who at this point have begun to ditch the beards which are cute, but undoubtedly hot and damp after a while.
But the Clauses on the bridge were only the forerunners — or forewalkers. They were followed by more and more red-breasted Saint Nicholases, who at this point had begun to ditch the beards which are cute, but undoubtedly hot and damp after a while.
They are not making Olympic qualifying times, but who cares?
They are not making Olympic qualifying times, but who cares?  They’re still in the game.
Man Mountain Santa is a prime candidate for testing for growth hormones. Or for extracting them.
Man Mountain Santa is a prime candidate for testing for growth hormones. Or for supplying them.
I have no idea where this boy got such a burst of energy -- at this point there were children being pulled along on their razor scooters. He may have had a vision of something thrilling, though I'm too old to know what that might have been.
I have no idea where this boy got such a burst of energy — at this point there were children being pulled along on their razor scooters. He may have had a vision of something thrilling, though he may just be excited that the fog has lifted enough for him to see anything.
What an adorable chorus line of little girls who appear to have foregone the provided Santa outfit in favor of something tending more toward Little Red Riding Santa.
What an adorable chorus line of little girls who appear to have foregone the provided outfit in favor of something more like Little Red Riding Santa.
As you see. Who but Italians (or I don't know, maybe they're Albanians. Anyway, they're in Italy) could make this outfit look so cool? Anyway, I know for a fact that at least one of these munchkins is half-Moldovan, because that's her mother smiling at me. She's an amazing seamstress and now that I think about it, she probably made all these outfits. In an hour. In her sleep.
As you see. Who but Italians (or I don’t know, maybe they’re Albanians. Anyway, they’re in Italy) could make this outfit look so cool? In any case, I know for a fact that at least one of these munchkins is half-Moldovan, because that’s her mother smiling at me. She’s an amazing seamstress and now that I think about it, she probably made all these outfits. In an hour. In her sleep.
And Fido makes three. His version of "Ho Ho Ho" was impressive.
And Fido makes three. His version of “Ho Ho Ho” was impressive.
If this Santa hasn't run to Venice straight from the North Pole, she at least must come from Hammerfest, where weather like this qualifies as a heat wave.
If this Santa hasn’t run to Venice straight from the North Pole, she at least must come from Hammerfest, where weather like this qualifies as a heat wave.
Mr. Bibendum has decided to branch out.
Bibendum has decided to branch out.
Santa needs funds, his reindeer need fodder,
Santa needs funds, his reindeer need fodder.
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The finish line for the race is the starting line for the party, just inside the gate at the “Serra,” or municipal greenhouse. They’ve got LAWN SPACE!
And the emergency squad is perfectly garbed in Santa camo. Like they are every day. If you needed an ambulance squad in this crowd, you might have a problem.
And the emergency squad’s everyday uniform blends perfectly with the Santa color scheme.  If you needed to find the first-responders in this crowd, you might have a problem.
People who paid the premium registration fee got the garb, a gadget of some sort, and entrance to the party and rehydration agents. I didn't inquire as to either, but there was music and people looked happy.
People who paid the premium registration fee got the garb, a gadget of some sort, and entrance to the party and rehydration agents. I didn’t inquire as to what they were sipping, but there was music and people looked happy.
And then it was time for Mom-Santa to go the supermarket, get some grub, and take it and the kids home. Back to real life with you!
And then it was time for Mom-Santa to go the supermarket, get some grub, and take it and the kids home. When Santa lands the sleigh, the party’s over.
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interesting new site

As you know, I don’t usually mention other websites about Venice (or anywhere else, actually).  There are many reasons for that, but in this case I’m making an exception for Omio.  Sharp-eyed readers will notice that I have contributed a few fragments to the list, and I hope you will explore other places suggested by their traveling correspondents.

 

 

 

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September 8, 1943

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This is a date which has sunk somewhere below the waterline of general knowledge, but in Italy it still carries serious significance. By which I don’t imply that people commemorate it or talk about it, but it remains one of those watershed dates in European/national/sometimes individual history.

I bring it up — today being September 8 — not to indulge in a monologue about politics and World War II, but because Lino’s father was briefly and importantly involved.

The barest outline is this, with apologies to true experts and connoisseurs of all the fine points:  Italy and Germany were allies at the outbreak of the war.  The war was going very badly for Italy because it had begun to go badly for Hitler, so Hitler essentially abandoned his Italian so-called friends.  Abandoned (as noted), the Italian government decided to forego large amounts of futile bloodshed, and asked the Allies (more particularly General Eisenhower) for an armistice.  One of the conditions of this surrender was that the Americans would land on the Italian mainland. It was an excellent plan; the armistice, known as the Armistice of Cassabile, was duly signed on September 8, 1943.  All this was kept as secret as possible for reasons which even I can grasp.

Except that secrets are tricky.  The change of label from “enemy” to “friend” or vice versa worked fine on paper, but nobody told the army this was going to happen.  Came the dawn on September 9, and the troops didn’t know who they were supposed to be fighting anymore. Even their generals, who were similarly blindsided, basically told their men “Do what you want, we have no idea what’s going on.” So the armed forces disbanded, just like that, every man for himself.  Most just ran away somewhere (not to be confused with “running away”); many headed for home, a good number struck out for the mountains to hide and become guerrilla partisans.  Not everybody made it, however.

The Germans saw the Italians as traitors, i.e. adversaries, and proceeded to occupy the peninsula, up to and including Venice. And here, as elsewhere in Italy, the Germans began to round up all the Italian soldiers they could find to cart them away to Germany as prisoners. Ships were engaged to hold the growing collection as the Germans went up and down the Adriatic coast seeking Italian deserters.  Some of those ships were in Venice.

Therefore, one day in this turbulent and panicky period, a ship was moving along the Giudecca Canal, sailing away with its load of Italian troops, destination: Depths of Hell. Some of the prisoners decided to risk an escape, and jumped overboard.  And that day Lino’s father was rowing back home from an interlude of fishing (there were ten mouths at home to feed), and was crossing the Giudecca Canal when he saw one man hit the water.

Lino’s father rowed over (I don’t know how far he had to go), pulled the man into his boat and threw a spare jacket on him as a makeshift disguise.  He rowed the man home and hustled him upstairs.  His name was Mario Dossi, and he was from Naples. Lino says they used to have a photo of him standing with Lino’s brother, Puccio, on the Ponte della Paglia near the Piazza San Marco.

But the apartment was small (Lino’s sister still lives there, and it’s perfectly fine for one person.  But not for ten — or rather, eleven.)  Some ladies down the street took Mario in, and there the story ends.

Except that it’s a happy ending, because some time after the war, one of Lino’s sister’s boyfriends was in Naples, and looked Mario up.  So he was fine.

A substantial number of films, some of them famous classics, deal with the war and Italy after the fateful September 8. Their common theme is brutality, as you might expect.  I’ve seen Spike Lee’s “Miracle at Sant’Anna” (one of many massacres committed as reprisals).  “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” follows the same thread of warfare between the Italians and Germans after September 8 in Greece.  In my opinion, two films on this theme that belong in the pantheon of great cinema, however, are “Everybody Go Home” with Alberto Sordi (“Tutti a Casa”), and “The Two Marshals” with Vittorio de Sica and Toto’ (“I Due Marescialli”), if for nothing else than the divine scene of the German colonel and the unidentifiable fart.

If you can see those movies, you’ll be glad.  Just remember that there wasn’t anything funny about September 8. But be glad for Mario Dossi.

Pomegranates begin to ripen here in September. I wonder if anybody noticed.
Pomegranates begin to ripen here in September. I wonder if anybody noticed.

 

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