Your first visit to Venice – a suggested itinerary Part 6

Your first visit to Venice - Part 1 Monday (day of arrival)
Your first visit to Venice - Part 2 Tuesday
Your first visit to Venice - Part 3 Wednesday 
Your first visit to Venice - Part 4 Thursday 
Your first visit to Venice - Part 5 Friday 

Part 6/ Day 6 - SATURDAY

The weekend will be the busiest in the city of your few days in Venice, and you’ll probably notice how much more difficult it will be to circulate around Venice, and if you go near the Piazza, how long the queues will be to enter the Palazzo Ducale and the Basilica di San Marco, in particular.  

I’d stay away from the Piazza between the hours of around 8.30am – 6pm during these few days.  Instead, take the opportunity to explore some of the less well-known parts of the city.

Rialto markets

Rise early today and catch the action at the famous Rialto markets. 

Traghetto

Now, take a traghetto trip across the Grand Canal from Rialto to the Santa Sofia stop.

The Grand Canal from a traghetto between Rialto and Santa Sofia

Ca d’Oro

Ca d’Oro is Venice’s finest Gothic building.  Its elaborate exterior is clad with white and coloured marbles (including red Verona marble).  Its window traceries and carvings used to be gilded, hence it’s name – the House of Gold.

Highlights of the collection are Mantegna’s St Sebastian, fresco fragments by Titian and Giorgione that used to decorate the Fondaco dei Tedeschi (formerly the main post office and now owned by Benetton and being converted into a large shop).

Be sure to enjoy the views on the balconies on the first and second floor, and the gorgeous courtyard with a beautiful well-head.

Second floor balcony of the Ca' d'Oro on the Grand Canal

Then, head by vaporetto to San Giorgio Maggiore. 

San Giorgio Maggiore

This Palladian complex of San Giorgio Maggiore includes a church, a campanile (which you should climb for magnificent views), and a monastery including cloisters, a refectory, library and garden.  It’s hard to believe that so much serenity can exist just a short hop across the water from the busy Piazza di San Marco.

Giardini Pubblici

Next, hop on a vaporetto and descend at Arsenale.  You could take a small detour to your right to peek inside the Giardini Pubblici – Napoleon razed this part of Venice to create these enormous gardens.  Beyond the public gardens are the gardens of the Biennale of art housing national pavilions of around 16 countries.  However, you can only access the Giardini della Biennale when the art and architecture biennales are being held.

Museo Storico Navale

Pop your head into Venice’s maritime museum to see a replica of the Doge’s ornate Bucintoro (the original was destroyed by the French when they conquered Venice).  My favourite exhibit is Peggy Guggenheim’s gondola.

Arsenale gates

Next, walk up to the gates of the Arsenale.  This area is still patrolled by the Italian Navy but you can stand at the Renaissance gates and gaze at the extraordinary trophies of war that protect its entry – two lions pillaged from near Athens in 1687 and another bald, upright lion with runic carvings.  He is thought to have been carved by Scandinavian mercenaries who in 1040 fought for the Byzantine empire.

Gates to the Arsenale, Castello

La Pietà

Continue to walk along the Riva degli Schiavoni.  You’ll pass the Metropole hotel.  Turn right and walk a short distance between the Metropole hotel and La Pieta.  You’ll see the wall of the Metropole’s bar incorporates a foundling wheel, which allowed mothers to anonymously leave their children at the orphanage that used to operate on the site of the Metropole hotel.

Pop your head into the La Pietà, somewhat erroneously known as Vivaldi’s church - he worked as choirmaster at La Pietà from 1704-1740 and composed many works for the choir – but the present structure was built from 1745-1760 so Vivaldi never actually set foot inside this newer building.   The church is mostly used for concerts, and it’s well worth popping your head inside to see the 1755 ceiling by Tiepolo, Triumph of Faith.

San Zaccaria

We’ll change the pace at San Zaccaria with Bellini’s Madonna with Child and Saints, some 15^th century frescoes by Vivarini and an atmospheric and slightly eerie waterlogged crypt where eight doges are buried.

For things to do tonight, please refer to my suggestions from yesterday’s itinerary.

Your first visit to Venice - Part 7 Sunday

Back to reality

Well hello there, do you remember me? 

Thank you for hanging in there so patiently and I apologise for my long silence.  I'm now six months into my new job, six months that have been both all-consuming and incredibly satisfying.  I finished my six month sprint and then took off on a wonderful week-long holiday in Venice. 

Even writing that sentence feels like a gift.   It was my first experience of travelling to Venice for a holiday rather than work, and it was a privilege to land at San Marco with nothing except the anticipation of beauty, pleasure, good coffee and lots of prosecco - and finding as many ways as possible to have my husband understand why I find Venice so precious and endlessly fascinating.   

I got to show my husband some of 'my' familiar and well-loved places, and to explore new ones. One of the first places that I always go back to is the rear of Scuola di San Rocco near the Frari.  I love the peace, the sound of the water lapping against the canal and the glow of the salmon pink building.

I introduced my husband to the place that first brought me to Venice - the Peggy Guggenheim Collection - and introduced him to my favourite horse in Venice - Marino Marini's Angel of the Citadel on the terrace of the museum.

Then I showed him a very important corner nearby to the Guggenheim Collection - the counter of Da Gino's with their stupendous coffee, tramezzini and friendly welcome.

 And then up to the balcony of the Ca d'Oro to say hello to the lions and admire the view of the Rialto, the Pescheria and the Grand Canal.
 

 
I arrived in Venice with a list that was six pages long of things I wanted to do and see.  I didn't actually get through that list, and instead added more places to find and more things to learn.  So here I am again, back in Sydney, and plotting how soon we can make the next trip.

The House of Gold...then and now

The Palazzo Santa Sofia was built between 1428-1430 for the Contarini family by father and son Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon.  It must have been astonishing in its day with its lavish gilt facade and painted polychrome decorations by French painter Zuan di Franza (hence its popular name, Ca D'Oro).  In addition to the gilt and paint, the Istrian stone was touched up with white lead and oil to resemble marble, and the red Verona marble was oiled and varnished to emphasise its colour.

Ca' D'Oro changed hands several times after the Fall of the Republic in 1797.  During the period 1845-50, architect Giovanni Battista Meduna made dramatic alterations to the building for the dancer Maria Taglioni.  These 'renovations' included the removal of the interior staircase and balconies. 

When John Ruskins saw Madame Taglioni's works he lamented: "I saw the beautiful slabs of red marble...dashed to pieces when I was last in Venice.  Its glorious interior staircase, by far the most interesting Gothic monument of the kind in Venice, had been carried away, piece by piece, and sold for waste marble...".

In 1894, Ca D'Oro was acquired and restored by Baron Giorgio Franchetti.  He later bequeathed it to the State.  Now a museum, Ca D'Oro still houses Baron Franchetti's collection.

Here is Carlo Naya's photograph of Ca D'Oro:

And here is an image of today's pink and white facade (image from WikiCommons):