Venice, September 2016, a trip report (sort of).
Sep 29th, 2016, 12:56 PM
#21
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So, Forte Marghera.
The Lagoon has a few forts.
Mazzorbetto, designed to hold guns that were obsolete even when the fort was built. If you wanted to lay gunfire on Torcello or Marco Polo airport, then you’d fortify Mazzorbetto. Perhaps that explains why the Mazzorbetto guns never fired a shot in anger.
Forte Malomocco, is at such a low elevation that gun shots would have smacked into the sea wall, the Murazzi, rather than hindering anyone.
Forte Maximillian, a big drum shaped brick edifice on San’ Erasmo, has not fired a shot in anger. During the 1939/45 hostilities, it housed a German anti aircraft battery. One feels for the Germans – they must have been bored to death.
La Certosa, pretty well fortified because it had a gun powder factory and munitions store. It’s been cleaned up a lot now, but there are still signs saying that there might be unexploded ordnance. Lou and I were lucky to visit before the big clean up, and saw the remnants of officer housing. Spiral stairs, balconies, cellars, parade ground remnants.
1797, and which ever fort fired the shot caused a whole lot of trouble. Killing a Frenchman on a French ship, putting cannon balls into said ship was not well received. Poor Doge Manin (who is said to have burst into tears on hearing he was appointed Doge) handed in his Ducal hat and moved to his cottage in the country. I had once felt sorry for Manin, but I have seen his cottage. About 100 rooms, fifteen acres of formal garden, so I am not sorry any more.
The French strolled into the Piazza, pipe clayed and powder stained, probably confronted by a bunch of folk in Carnivale masks and costumes, seized all the tables at Florians and Quadri and put it on the tab, we’ll fix it next week. Declined the offer of selfie sticks and those slime balls that gentlemen from the sub continent sell, we don’t need no slime balls thanks, we’ve already got officers.
Which brings me to Forte Marghera. Built by Napoleon, started in about 1805, and was besieged for a year by the Austrians in 1848, during the Daniel Manin unpleasantness. The layout is so based on fighting last years’s conflict, so there are moats, revetments, all the things that help withstand musket fire and attacks by boats. Unfortunately the Austrians had cannon, and plastered the fort, to little avail. The Austrians ultimately figured that if they took the cannons off their carriages, they could gain enough muzzle elevation to land cannon balls near the Frari. Game, set and match to the Austrians.
And so there is a slightly spooky feeling when one walks around, there’s an expectation that a bugle might sound any minute. You can’t help but know that there’s been a great deal of heroism there, like walking on the Somme or Agincourt for the Brits, Normandy for the Americans, Gallipoli or Kokoda for we Aussies.
But it’s all coming to life. There’s a slide guitar concert there tonight, a huge shed being used by a bunch of artists doing big canvases, a pottery studio, and buildings are being restored to create a historical research centre. There’s a café there “Gatto Rosso”, and a cat sanctuary.
A lot of possibilities.
The Lagoon has a few forts.
Mazzorbetto, designed to hold guns that were obsolete even when the fort was built. If you wanted to lay gunfire on Torcello or Marco Polo airport, then you’d fortify Mazzorbetto. Perhaps that explains why the Mazzorbetto guns never fired a shot in anger.
Forte Malomocco, is at such a low elevation that gun shots would have smacked into the sea wall, the Murazzi, rather than hindering anyone.
Forte Maximillian, a big drum shaped brick edifice on San’ Erasmo, has not fired a shot in anger. During the 1939/45 hostilities, it housed a German anti aircraft battery. One feels for the Germans – they must have been bored to death.
La Certosa, pretty well fortified because it had a gun powder factory and munitions store. It’s been cleaned up a lot now, but there are still signs saying that there might be unexploded ordnance. Lou and I were lucky to visit before the big clean up, and saw the remnants of officer housing. Spiral stairs, balconies, cellars, parade ground remnants.
1797, and which ever fort fired the shot caused a whole lot of trouble. Killing a Frenchman on a French ship, putting cannon balls into said ship was not well received. Poor Doge Manin (who is said to have burst into tears on hearing he was appointed Doge) handed in his Ducal hat and moved to his cottage in the country. I had once felt sorry for Manin, but I have seen his cottage. About 100 rooms, fifteen acres of formal garden, so I am not sorry any more.
The French strolled into the Piazza, pipe clayed and powder stained, probably confronted by a bunch of folk in Carnivale masks and costumes, seized all the tables at Florians and Quadri and put it on the tab, we’ll fix it next week. Declined the offer of selfie sticks and those slime balls that gentlemen from the sub continent sell, we don’t need no slime balls thanks, we’ve already got officers.
Which brings me to Forte Marghera. Built by Napoleon, started in about 1805, and was besieged for a year by the Austrians in 1848, during the Daniel Manin unpleasantness. The layout is so based on fighting last years’s conflict, so there are moats, revetments, all the things that help withstand musket fire and attacks by boats. Unfortunately the Austrians had cannon, and plastered the fort, to little avail. The Austrians ultimately figured that if they took the cannons off their carriages, they could gain enough muzzle elevation to land cannon balls near the Frari. Game, set and match to the Austrians.
And so there is a slightly spooky feeling when one walks around, there’s an expectation that a bugle might sound any minute. You can’t help but know that there’s been a great deal of heroism there, like walking on the Somme or Agincourt for the Brits, Normandy for the Americans, Gallipoli or Kokoda for we Aussies.
But it’s all coming to life. There’s a slide guitar concert there tonight, a huge shed being used by a bunch of artists doing big canvases, a pottery studio, and buildings are being restored to create a historical research centre. There’s a café there “Gatto Rosso”, and a cat sanctuary.
A lot of possibilities.
Oct 3rd, 2016, 09:24 AM
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I visited the Brion Monumental Tomb at San Vito di Altivole today, about ten kilometres north of Castelfranco Veneto. A Carlo Scarpa design, and it is really very special, covering as it does a little over half an acre. Mass concrete, which in Australia we’d label as Functional Brutalist, but here handled with great delicacy. The interplay of grey concrete, brilliant tiles, bronze, water, sun and air makes for a monument that is all about celebrating life rather than death.
There are three main spaces, a little chapel, the tomb of Brion and his wife, and a meditation pavilion. The two main tombs lean towards each other, supporting each other in death as they had in life, and the ocular window has blue and red glazed tiles in their respective circles, male and female, except where they intersect or, in a way, hold hands.
The arch over the tombs serves as both shelter and monument, a Roman touch, concrete on the outside, glazed tiles on the underside.
A host of small details, bronze hinges, a glass door to the meditation area that is raised by a system of counterweights, and the main entry door is a sliding concrete door leaf, like the entry to the school of Architecture in Venice.
Carlo Scarpa is buried there. His grave is just outside the wall of the main monumental area, but in a little revetments, a private space.
In all, a most happy place. Worth the trip.
There are three main spaces, a little chapel, the tomb of Brion and his wife, and a meditation pavilion. The two main tombs lean towards each other, supporting each other in death as they had in life, and the ocular window has blue and red glazed tiles in their respective circles, male and female, except where they intersect or, in a way, hold hands.
The arch over the tombs serves as both shelter and monument, a Roman touch, concrete on the outside, glazed tiles on the underside.
A host of small details, bronze hinges, a glass door to the meditation area that is raised by a system of counterweights, and the main entry door is a sliding concrete door leaf, like the entry to the school of Architecture in Venice.
Carlo Scarpa is buried there. His grave is just outside the wall of the main monumental area, but in a little revetments, a private space.
In all, a most happy place. Worth the trip.
Oct 5th, 2016, 05:52 AM
#24
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Annabelle, train to Castelfranco and then bus to San Vito di Altivole.
That's the short answer, but in fact I fouled up the bus connection at Castelfranco. The bus terminal is remote from the railway station, a good fifteen minutes walk and not sign posted.
I took a taxi from the Castelfranco station to San Vito. When I got into the taxi, and said San Vito, the driver asked "la Tomba Brion?". Too easy, fare was 27.80 euro, and worth it to save time. He dropped me off at the cemetery.
I came back by bus, Route 204. The bus stop is a little past the turn off to the cemetery, say 200 metres. There is a supermarket on your right as you walk away from Castelfranco, and then a little further the bus stop is on your left. There is a timetable on the Autobus sign, indicating Route 204. You can buy your ticket on the bus - 3 euro, correct change is always appreciated - and then you swipe your ticket, a la vaporetto. The bus will not stop unless you hail it. I caught the 15:00 bus back to Castelfranco.
San Vito is pretty quiet - just one of those nondescript Italian towns that closes for lunch.
Bus timetable: http://www.mobilitadimarca.it/ajaxfi...LI2015/204.pdf
That's the short answer, but in fact I fouled up the bus connection at Castelfranco. The bus terminal is remote from the railway station, a good fifteen minutes walk and not sign posted.
I took a taxi from the Castelfranco station to San Vito. When I got into the taxi, and said San Vito, the driver asked "la Tomba Brion?". Too easy, fare was 27.80 euro, and worth it to save time. He dropped me off at the cemetery.
I came back by bus, Route 204. The bus stop is a little past the turn off to the cemetery, say 200 metres. There is a supermarket on your right as you walk away from Castelfranco, and then a little further the bus stop is on your left. There is a timetable on the Autobus sign, indicating Route 204. You can buy your ticket on the bus - 3 euro, correct change is always appreciated - and then you swipe your ticket, a la vaporetto. The bus will not stop unless you hail it. I caught the 15:00 bus back to Castelfranco.
San Vito is pretty quiet - just one of those nondescript Italian towns that closes for lunch.
Bus timetable: http://www.mobilitadimarca.it/ajaxfi...LI2015/204.pdf
Oct 6th, 2016, 04:09 PM
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Thank you very much Peter for your detailed answer and the timetable. I always wanted to go to la Tomba Brion, hope I can make it there next month. BTW, I was in V early in the summer and found some great places open for the Biennale: P Mora, P Michiel, P Bembo (2nd and 3rd FL), P Rosini (exhibition in a claustrophobic area of the bldg., but the courtyard is worth seeing it), Chiesa di S Caterina and Chiesa degli Armeni. Also (not for the Biennale) found that Chiesa S. Samuele was open, Chiesa S Antonin was open on and off (no photography allowed), and S Andrea della Zirada was officially opened after many years closed with a special celebration (don’t know if it has been kept open for visits). If you happen to be at the Arsenal, there is a shuttle boat that takes you across to Arsenale Nord (for free), good view from there, especially to the submarine; also the Mose Building is very close (near the vaporetto stop) and also worth seeing it. La Scala del Bovolo was also open. Capella Zen at S Marco is open for the Giubileo.
Wanted to ask you something else, is the mall by Koolhaas at the Fontego dei Tedeschi open yet?
Wanted to ask you something else, is the mall by Koolhaas at the Fontego dei Tedeschi open yet?
Oct 7th, 2016, 08:52 AM
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A visit to Possagno.
Possagno is where Canova was born, and there’s a museum there of his plaster casts, the Gipsoteca.
I’ve always wondered how marble statues were created. Maybe Michelangelo, with David in his mind, just bought a block of marble and hammered off all the bits that are not, well, David. But the Gipsoteca disabused me of that belief.
Canova produced statues on an industrial scale. The output from just one man is beyond belief, but he had a process.
1. Make a small model in clay, to get the proportions right, and maybe to convince the client that we’re on the right track.
2. Make a full scale, or maybe a nearly full scale, model of the statue in clay. This will need some sort of metal armature to stop the whole thing drooping, but it does not need to be solid. Clay is good for this, as it can be kept moist and worked for months.
3. Once the clay model is finished, take a plaster cast from it. Canova would have contracted this work to others, and there would have been specialists. This is a complex process as the mould would have been in many pieces. This is where the gypsum comes in (in Australia, one brand of dry wall is called Gyprock, and Gypsona make plaster bandages for medical plaster casts).
4. Clean up the plaster model, removing the lines where the moguls joins, and then sink lead nails into the model at salient points, say the tip of the nose, the extremities. On a life size statue, there might be say 200 nails.
5. Get a block of marble, and have the assistants rough it out using the lead nails as reference points. There is huge skill in this, one wrong hammer blow and the statue will be ex-ear.
6. Canova applies his magic touch to the roughed out statue, polishing, scraping, a bit more off here and there.
7. Client handover, champagne and handshakes all round.
So the Gipsoteca is very informing, and somehow I think that you are closer to Canova’s intent when you see the plaster models. Even though many are freckled with lead nails, you can see Canova’s brilliance.
Practicalities:
I took a train from Venice to Bassano del Grappa, train 5708, leaves Venezia S.L. At 6:56, arrives Bassano 8:07
Bought tickets for the bus at the newspaper kiosk just outside the station.
Bus 202 left at 8:40, arrived at Possagno at 9:17. The museum opens at 9:30. There are three Possagno stops – you want the second stop, after the Possagno cross, which is a big granite cross beside the road.
Returned on bus 202, leaving Possagno at 11:35, so that gives one a couple of hours in the Gipsoteca. You have to hail the bus.
Bassano del Grappa is a pleasant town to stroll around, but very quiet at lunch time as all the shops close. The bridge over the Brenta was designed by Palladio, and it’s lovely. It’s been lost in floods and war more than once, and the Alpini soldiers are in the habit of rebuilding it every time it is lost.
Possagno is where Canova was born, and there’s a museum there of his plaster casts, the Gipsoteca.
I’ve always wondered how marble statues were created. Maybe Michelangelo, with David in his mind, just bought a block of marble and hammered off all the bits that are not, well, David. But the Gipsoteca disabused me of that belief.
Canova produced statues on an industrial scale. The output from just one man is beyond belief, but he had a process.
1. Make a small model in clay, to get the proportions right, and maybe to convince the client that we’re on the right track.
2. Make a full scale, or maybe a nearly full scale, model of the statue in clay. This will need some sort of metal armature to stop the whole thing drooping, but it does not need to be solid. Clay is good for this, as it can be kept moist and worked for months.
3. Once the clay model is finished, take a plaster cast from it. Canova would have contracted this work to others, and there would have been specialists. This is a complex process as the mould would have been in many pieces. This is where the gypsum comes in (in Australia, one brand of dry wall is called Gyprock, and Gypsona make plaster bandages for medical plaster casts).
4. Clean up the plaster model, removing the lines where the moguls joins, and then sink lead nails into the model at salient points, say the tip of the nose, the extremities. On a life size statue, there might be say 200 nails.
5. Get a block of marble, and have the assistants rough it out using the lead nails as reference points. There is huge skill in this, one wrong hammer blow and the statue will be ex-ear.
6. Canova applies his magic touch to the roughed out statue, polishing, scraping, a bit more off here and there.
7. Client handover, champagne and handshakes all round.
So the Gipsoteca is very informing, and somehow I think that you are closer to Canova’s intent when you see the plaster models. Even though many are freckled with lead nails, you can see Canova’s brilliance.
Practicalities:
I took a train from Venice to Bassano del Grappa, train 5708, leaves Venezia S.L. At 6:56, arrives Bassano 8:07
Bought tickets for the bus at the newspaper kiosk just outside the station.
Bus 202 left at 8:40, arrived at Possagno at 9:17. The museum opens at 9:30. There are three Possagno stops – you want the second stop, after the Possagno cross, which is a big granite cross beside the road.
Returned on bus 202, leaving Possagno at 11:35, so that gives one a couple of hours in the Gipsoteca. You have to hail the bus.
Bassano del Grappa is a pleasant town to stroll around, but very quiet at lunch time as all the shops close. The bridge over the Brenta was designed by Palladio, and it’s lovely. It’s been lost in floods and war more than once, and the Alpini soldiers are in the habit of rebuilding it every time it is lost.
Oct 7th, 2016, 09:13 AM
#29
Thanks for that, Peter. I'd never really thought about it, but it's interesting to know how it's done.
Am I allowed to confess that I am not a Canova fan? I saw the exhibition in Rome a few years ago and the only one I really liked was of Napoleon's ? sister. And the memorial in the Frari is [IMHO] hideous.
Am I allowed to confess that I am not a Canova fan? I saw the exhibition in Rome a few years ago and the only one I really liked was of Napoleon's ? sister. And the memorial in the Frari is [IMHO] hideous.
Oct 7th, 2016, 11:10 AM
#30
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Ann, I must confess that there was a pretty bad Napoleon at Possagno. Napoleon in the costume of a centurion. But maybe that was the client's brief. And when one is briefed (as you would be aware) .......
Oct 7th, 2016, 12:32 PM
#31
Peter - I didn't expect to like everything, but I was surprised at how few of his works were [to my mind] any good.
Though I like some of the ones that you posted on FB more than the ones I saw in Rome.
Though I like some of the ones that you posted on FB more than the ones I saw in Rome.
Dec 12th, 2016, 02:05 AM
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Hi Peter, did you end up going to Trieste for the day from Venice? There are varying opinions as to whether it is worth the effort and travel time, although I am inclined to do it if just to see Castello di Miramare. I have been to Venice several times and have 8 nights this trip so can afford day trips to Vicenza, Verona and maybe one other. Thanks.
