Has anyone been to the Architecture Biennale ?

We usually visit Venice in June and being keen on contemporary art have seen the Art Biennale as a highlight of our previous trips during the years when it's been on, but this year we are visiting in September when the Architecture Biennale is on. I'm wondering if the exhibitions at the main Biennale sites are likely to be interesting for the layperson, or if (as I suspect) they is really aimed at those in the trade.

Thanks.

Anyone ?

I've now sem this article which makes it sound probably not worth doing, for us -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesi...le-2010-review

- but would be open to having my mind changed !

Sorry, I didn't notice your question when you originally posted it. Yes, I've been there this year already. It was my first Architecture Biennale, and I, too, was doubtful whether it would be interesting enough for a non-architect. Well, it definitely was. The difference to the Biennale d'arte was far less marked than I had expected - many installations dealing with space that could as well be exposed at the Biennale d'arte. Plus some really interesting - for laypersons! - exhibitions on city planning, on preservation of historic buildings vs. construction of new ones, on deterioration of building materials (surprisingly, that one was really interesting and good) and so on. And yes, there are some pavilions that are just aimed at those in trade, too, but it's definitely a minority. Don't miss the pavilions of Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia and the Padiglione Italia (its core is that monument preservation exhibition, unmissable) at the Giardini; and in the Arsenale, many great installations (a cloud floating through one of the halls, and you can ascend up to the roof of that hall, walking through the cloud; Olafur Eliason's garden-hose-and-stroboscope-light installation is unmissable; plus many more), and a few national pavilions, among which Bahrain was one of the highlights of the whole Biennale, for me - and later, I read it was actually awarded the Golden Lion.
Obviously, all that is new for the Architecture Biennale, from what I've read - it used to be that trade-persons-only show that you and I expected. But this year, it's definitely different.

Thanks for the review, franco. Caroline, if you end up going, can you also give us some feedback too? DH & I are not architects, but we love architecture designs. Perhaps we'll go at some point in the future.

Thanks Caroline, for alerting us to this. We'll be in Venice in late September and I'm going to start checking what we might want to go to. Did a Google search. It looks quite interesting.

Franco, thanks very much, that's exactly the sort of feedback I was hoping for - you have indeed changed my mind ! We have already seen the Olafur Eliasson work in Berlin but it's good to hear that there are more of those types of installations.

yk, will do. Julie - you're welcome !

Franco, if I still have your attention, could you give me the benefit of your experience on another question, please ? This will be our 5th visit to Venice in 6 years. Previously we have visited for a week each time, but this time we are going for 2 weeks. I hope we will be able to continue to visit every year. Every time in the past I have not been sure whether it was worth it for us to buy Venice cards but have always concluded it was not, although it's sometimes been a close call. Usually we spend some days not taking any vaporetti, just walking, so find it cheaper just to buy 24 or 72 hour passes when we need them. But I've just been checking this site to help me decide for this visit - http://www.actv.it/en/movinginvenice/movinginvenice - and it seems to list an option I hadn't heard of before. Am I correct in understanding that as non-residents we can each buy a CartaVenezia, which lasts 3 years, for €40, then buy unlimited books of tickets at €10 for 10 tickets ? If that is correct, that would seem to be the best option for us. Thanks very much.

Yes, actually, CartaVenezia is what I'd suggest - even better, those 40 Euros are not just for three years, since renewing the Carta will only cost 10 Euros the next time... so 40 Euros once, and then 10 Euros every three years, plus 1 Euro per ticket (for vaporetti - if you buy a carnet of mixed bus-boat tickets, that's 14 Euros, hence 1.40 per ride - that's if you have to go to the Lido or the mainland).

Fantastic, thanks very much for that quick response Franco ! I can't believe I've never read about this before. We are off on Friday so I've printed out the relevant section of the ACTV website in Italian in case there's any argument at the HelloVenezia! desk at the airport

Thanks for all your help - as we'll be renting an apartment for the first time, for the second week, I've also printed off your shopping & recipe suggestions after being directed to them by Peter_S_Aus. Can't wait !

Sorry guys, can't add anything as we didn't make it - if we'd have had *just one more* day we would have. Still, we'll know if we are ever there again in the autumn in an even-numbered year !

Franco, I have to thank you particularly for your mazzancolle con lardo recipe recipe, though - it was the culinary highlight of our trip ! Our local deli (Pantagruelica) was out of lardo, though, so instead we used something I didn't get the full name for - coppa di p........ ? - which worked very well too. Before being (very thinly) sliced, it looked like a kind of rolled ultra-streaky bacon with very thin, quite dark slivers of meat - raw but cured ? Also thanks for your support for the idea of getting CartaVenezia cards - we don't even have Edinburgh travelcards but are now the proud owners of Venice travel cards ! Over 2 weeks we took about 12 vaporetto journeys each so that was much better for us than any of the tourist cards. It was just a bit of a palaver to get them - the office at the airport said we had to get them in town, we tried the Accademia ticket office (which the website listed as selling them) who sent us to Rialto. And it's only 1 kiosk at Rialto, the one furthest from the bridge. Still, now we know. (I expect you know all this, Franco, but just in case anyone else sees this & is interested.)

Caroline, I'm glad that you liked the mazzancolle recipe, and though I'm not sure which kind of coppa they sold you, I trust it was a fine substitute for lardo di Colonnata, or they wouldn't have (I hope) recommended it as such. Mostly fat, with just thin dark meat slivers sounds fine. Raw but cured, of course, that's what lardo is. No, I didn't know which ticket offices sell the CartaVenezia - I always try to get to Tronchetto for those matters, where there are hardly ever any lines, and the best-informed staff (which is very obvious in comparison whenever I don't have time to go to Tronchetto and have to use the Piazzale Roma ticket office instead).
A pity that you didn't go to the Biennale; who knows whether it will ever again be like this year, or whether it's going to return to what it used to be so far?

A question for Caroline - the CartaVenezia - was this the "residents card" which costs about 40 euro, and allows you to buy vaporetti tickets at about one euro per?

We're thinking of getting these cards.

How was the apartment?

Yes, that's the one, Pietro. It's so handy to load with fares for only one euro each. The re-loading can be done at tabacchi shops with the Actv sign. You can also buy a monthly pass, if you're going to use the vaporetti (and Actv buses) often, so you could do that for December. It was 28 euro/month in March, and gave me unlimited trips all that month. I'm not sure whether they would sell you a monthly pass when you arrive in November, you can check that out.

You don't get tickets. When you get your personal Cartavenezia, with your smiling face on it, the fares you have bought are loaded onto the card. Then each time you use a vaporetto or bus, you swipe the card in front of an electronic reader, and it tells you how many more fares you have loaded onto the pass. (And, that's how the Inspectors can see if you've done the right thing before boarding the vaporetto). I LOVE mine, even with the lousy passport photo on it.

Franco, somewhere I read that we can renew our Cartavenezia online, but I can't find a reference to that anywhere. Do you know if that is correct? Thank you.

Hi Peter ! I have been meaning to post further to say we enjoyed staying at 'your' flat and to thank you for all the help you gave us - sorry I hadn't had time before. I printed off and took your trip report with us, we both read it all at leisure while we were there and very much enjoyed it. You were a most engaging, funny, informed and thoughtful companion, so thank you very much ! You are a very good writer and it's hard to believe that is not your profession - perhaps a new career awaits when you retire from the day job ?

We did like the flat and after seeing the others, thought that the 2nd floor one was the best for summer, at least, as it is lighter and has aircon and the terrace. It doesn't look as though the garden or the 1st floor balcony ever get any sun. And we got used to risking our necks every time we went up to or down from the bedroom In fact I emailed Annamaria as soon as we got back to try to book for our next trip, but she can't give availability for June yet as she has friends and family to accommodate then and work to be done. Since it sounded doubtful that she'd be able to fit us in for 2 weeks then and it's getting quite late to book IMO, I've just gone ahead today and booked a different flat - http://www.trulyveniceapartments.com...?id=76&orseolo. More expensive but looks very nice and still cheaper than most.

So as you'll gather we've decided an apartment is the way to go in future. We really enjoyed shopping each morning and it was a good opportunity to engage more with local people and to work on our Italian. We didn't understand everything that was said to us (sometimes wondering if it must be Veneziano !) but we understood enough. We went up to Rialto to buy fish once but otherwise just went to the friendliest of the guys in Camp Santa Margherita. We bought bread and sometimes cheese and cold meats from Pantagruelica, wine from the draught wine shop along our street and fruit and veg from the nice chap on Fond. San Basilio. I did attempt to buy once from the famously rude man on the boat, on our first day in the flat when we'd missed everywhere else, but people aren't kidding ! The attempt went like this...

I waited by the boat for several minutes - nobody there.
I then noticed a guy serving someone at the shop so went & waited there.
I carried on waiting & smiling pleasantly as that customer finished and the guy served a man he evidently knew who'd arrived after me.
That customer left, I smiled even more nicely and said 'buongiorno'.
Fruttivendolo reluctantly and suspiciously said "buongiorno".
I said "un mezzo chilo di pomodorini per favore".
Fruttivendolo said "chiuso".
End of transaction.

We passed him quite a lot subsequently so I got a bit of satisfaction from scowling at him, for what that was worth

This time we had a week in a hotel eating out all the time and a week at the flat eating in all the time (for dinner) : next year with 2 weeks in a flat I think we'll proabbly alternate.

Oh, and of course we went to the supermarkets for some staples. If you find any remaining flour / polenta / rice / spaghetti / Earl Grey teabags marked "comprato 24/9/10", we bought it : thought that might be useful as you never know how long things in a rented place have been there.

We also followed your suggestion, Peter, to have breakfast at the Bar Ai Artisti. Well, our 2nd breakfast - we tried to be healthy by having juice & fruit before going out, then would have a hot drink and a pastry at the bar. I'm not a coffee drinker but their hot chocolate is lovely ! (I thought it would be just too embarrassingly British for words to ask for a cup of tea. And of course we all know foreigners can't make a proper cup of tea )

Confusingly there's also the Osteria / Enoteca Ai Artisti not far away, which we'd never managed to find open on previous visits, for some reason, but which we ate at twice in our first week and it's now our favourite restaurant there.

Re the CarataVenezia : yes, as Yvonne says this was the card at €40 for non-residents (€10 for residents). We took the precaution of printing off the relevant section of the ACTV website in Italian, to brandish in case anyone claimed it didn't exist or we weren't allowed to buy it, but once we found the right kiosk at Rialto we were fine. It's in here - http://www.actv.it/muoversiavenezia/tariffeinvigore - look under TARIFFA CARTAVENEZIA, although it seems to have changed since I last looked. You need to take your passports and the person in the kiosk can take your photos.

Yvonne, that's interesting about reloading the card at tabacchi & being able to get a month's unlimited journeys, so thanks for that.

Franco, yes, whatever coppa we bought was very good too. Thank you for all your advice, too, and I will look up your recipes again when we go in future.

Yvonne, as far as I understand it, the online renewal is for residents only. They ask for the number of your (Italian) ID card... so that was where I stopped, and instead of calling and asking what I should do as a non-Italian non-resident, I simply went to their office for renewal, where, after a really long wait in line, it was done smoothly and quickly.

Caroline, on the subject of apartments, I have to add that if you're not going to stay at "Peter's apartment" next time, you should really look into "franco's apartment" before booking anywhere else: this is where all those recipes are usually being prepared - www.rosadivenezia.com

Caroline, thanks for the feedback, and it sounds as though you had a great time. And all, thanks for the info on the CartaVenezia - we'll need that soon.

Cheers

Peter

Hi Franco - thanks, I had checked out your apartment & other recommendations before, but we prefer to be in Dorsoduro. Also, living in Scotland, it's really important to me to have a decent amount of space for sitting outside - since we can never do it at home ! (Where do you live btw ? Are you originally from Italy ?)

Hi Peter - lucky you, having an imminent stay to look forward to ! How many weeks are you going for this time ?

Hi Caroline, we're arriving on November 20th, leaving on January 21st, so we'll have about nine weeks. And we arrive the day before the Salute festival, which will be fun. We've never had the chance to witness any of these Venetian affairs before.

We'll be heading off to Rome for a few days, and to Bologna as well, rather than spending all out time in Venice.

We're getting a bit excited now .........

Peter, fantastic ! Very envious of you going for such a long stay. I guess you are not too bothered about good weather since you get it at home !

I have booked this apartment for next June - http://www.trulyveniceapartments.com...?id=76&orseolo - although being ground floor, it's obviously not an option for the winter (despite what the blurb says). But it is *on* the same canal as our favourite ice cream shop and cichetti place

Spent quite a lot of time last month looking in estate agents windows, sigh...