Yes, indeed it is, Yvonne. I thought I had captioned it, but I evidently did not click on 'save caption' before exiting. I have just captioned it. It is the bomb that Peter mentioned above. I put that in the caption, and I have just realised it will make no sense to anyone who finds it by a route other that this thread. Oh well, I think I'll leave it as it is.
PS I hope they have disarmed the bomb, rather than relying on the fact that it didn't go off when it was originally dropped, so it's probably a dud and will never go off.

Now, you've given me something new to obsess about while I'm obsessing about Venice! Will I ever be able to enter that edifice again, without thinking about whether it's disarmed, or not? Thanks a heap, Bert. :) And, I really did want to worship at the resting place of part of my hero, Canova.

ttt

It seems that there are two gondolieras in Venice - well sort of. One of them has failed her steering test three times - no jokes, please! - Alexandra Hai. But she has been employed by a hotel to ferry its clients to and from the hotel. The other is Giorgia Boscolo, who has passed her exams, but she seems to have only been allowed to co-row a traghetto (San Tomà, if my informant was correct). Both have been given primacy by the media.

Bert, - I've been reading all the posts so it might not be Bert - however, I was excited to see the photo of the concentric circles - (x-wells) in San Marco and look forward to finding them on our next visit. My husband and I have spent many many weeks over the years in our favorite city, Venezia. We take our grandchildren there when they reach the age of 11 - perfect age to explore Venice with grandparents. I'm afraid that all my trivia would be that same boring stuff we all know but if i come up with something interesting I'll post it. I'm enjoying this forum and beginning to wish we were spending our month (Janurary) in Venezia invece di Roma! 2011 we'll do Venice.

Grazie, giannetta. Si, sono Bert. Non parlo italiano molto bene, so I'll stick to English. Your English is very good - better than my Italian. Don't be shy about your trivia - perhaps we don't all know it. I read in a book that the word "Calegheri" can be found inscribed on a stone in the Piazza - showing where the shoe-makers stall was to stand. It said it was in front of Quadri's caffè. I've looked and looked but could not find it. But I had never read about the rings showing where the well was, so I felt rather pleased with myself. Perhaps, giannetta, you could explain about touching the hooks - Is it only done for good luck in Venice, or is the custom more widespread? I am so pleased that you find this thread enjoyable!

I read somewhere that in Corte Coppo, off Fondamenta dei Furlani, near San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, is (or was) the home of the first woman to be quartered for murdering her husband of 22 years on 1st May 1521. This obviously wasn't trivial to him or her. I have been there and there is no plaque recording the event.
If anyone else has seen this, I'd be grateful for the source.

Congratulations on this thread, which is really fun, and most interesting at the same time. (I noticed it when it was still recent, but got only now to read it thoroughly. And so though that posting is old, let me say I was pretty surprised to read that bit on Canova and Titian. Maybe it's just me getting it wrong, but... Titian outlived Canova? Ummm - Titian, born no later than 1490, died August 27th, 1576. Canova, born Nov. 1st, 1757, died Oct. 13th, 1822.)

Bert, the Corte Coppo puzzle was easy: http://www.venicemagazine.it/DOCPDF/Talve.pdf

And here's another bit of Venice trivia: the passageway from the Piazza towards S. Moisè, i.e. under the Ala Napoleonica, is divided by two rows of pillars, forming two wide tracks to the left and right of the pillars, and a relatively narrow track between the two rows. Venetians are carefully not to walk along the narrow track, i.e. never to pass between two adjacent pillars "perché porta nero" (it's bringing bad luck). Or, if they ever pass through the "forbidden" area (inadvertently, or forced by pedestrian traffic), the immediate remedy is to touch the so-called Bacco, a neo-classical bas-relief that has in fact absolutely nothing to do with the ancient god of wine. Venetians are very serious about that - "Bacco's" belly is glossy from the many hands that have been, and are still, touching him.

mille grazie Franco for posting the link to that article, jsut before i'm going to eat my dinner.

ciao, ciao.

Ciao, Franco. Grazie. I see that you have made many contributions to Fodor's about Venice. Maybe you could email me and I could ask you some of the questions I have about Venice. [I don't want to bore everyone else with my passion.]
I may have read about Corte Coppo in the Venice Magazine, but I don't think so, as I haven't seen that edition. I think it must have been in a book. I think I read it before I had a computer. Zeppole must have had a "senior moment", or perhaps the error was in his translation. But it does seem odd that "they" decided to erect a monument to Titian so long after he died. Some sources say that Canova's heart went to the Accademia, but I'm sure they are wrong. There is some confusion as to whether his heart is within the pyramid, or in the urn being carried into the pyramid by the figure representing Sculpture. Do you know the facts?
I knew about the bad luck of walking between the columns of the Piazzetta, but not about the columns under the Ala Napoleonica. That must be a relatively recent superstition - I mean it does not go back to the Middle Ages or the age of witchcraft. Perhaps the Venetian "have a thing" about walking between any columns? I will be looking out for Bacco's belly!
Annhig - if Bernardina's fate put you off your dinner, don't read about the chap who bit his wife's nose off on the Ponte della Latte!

Bert - I'll make a special effort NOT to find out about that one.

Bert, you've quite certainly read the story in a book - look at the author: Toso Fei is a very popular writer on, well yes, on Venice trivia. The magazine will certainly have taken that bit from one of the two books mentioned below the article.
As far as emailing, I'm opposed to that on principle, sorry. For me, the charm of a forum like this is that so many people (not just today, but in many years to come) can benefit from seemingly "private" discussions. And if someone feels bored by your or Peter's or my Venice passion, well, nobody is being forced to read this or any other thread... So please keep posting here, but don't suppose that I know everything on Venice - on the contrary: I've no idea on Canova's heart (I plead guilty of not liking Canova at all). What I do know is that "they" were the Hapsburgs (then reigning the Veneto) who commissioned the Titian monument, obviously in reverence to the most famous Venetian painter. Btw, though it's overly fussy, no doubt - I was irritated by "Ponte della latte", which doesn't make sense since latte is male (del latte, quindi), so I looked it up in Giordani's "30 Walks" (a must for Venice trivia lovers and Venice lovers in general!)... and it's actually Ponte de la Late, obviously a distorted (and thus meaningless, as well) form of "del a Lacte", since the bridge was named after a 14th century goldsmith Giovanni a Lacte. A Lacte became (typically Venetian) a Late, obviously, and then the L changed place, from "del a" to "de la"...

Very interesting. So glad we don't have gender in English-it's difficult enough as it is.

Have said on other posts but repeat, it fascinates me to ponder the idea of city-states. Just think about Baltimore being at war with DC! It also makes the difficulty of finding one's way in Venice (and other Italian towns too) all the more understandable. Streets changing names at every block? So much behind closed doors without signs.

Franco, isn't that just the difference between Venetian and Italian? - the Venetians write "de la" and in Italian it is "della".
Can you get into Piazza San Marco when Quadri's do not have their platform outside (where the orchestra plays)? That is the only place I've not been able to look for the word "Calegheri" which a book says is written on a stone in front of Quadri's caffè.
Here's a bit of trivia: San Stefano [Venetian - Santo Stafano in Italian] has been reconsecrated six times between 1348 and 1594 because six people have been murdered there.

I'll try to remember next time I'm in Venice. You're right that Venetian "de la" is "della" in proper Italian. But that was not my point - the point is that "Ponte della latte" is neither Italian nor Venetian; it's just plain wrong because in Italian and in Venetian, likewise, it would have to be "Ponte del Latte", if latte is meant to mean "milk". That's what made me research about that name, which should read (in proper Italian as well as in Venetian, no difference here) "Ponte del a Lacte", like in (one day perhaps, hopefully not) "Ponte del Berlusconi" - a Lacte is a surname!

Friends have told me that Venice (or actually Mestre, across the lagoon and really where most Venetians seem to live today) has one of Europe's most substantial China Towns - i have not seen it and wonder if others who have could comment on Mestre's China Town?

And does the term Venetian Blinds come from Venice and one would obviously think - but why?

Oh, I see. I thought you were saying I had typed it incorrectly and it should be Ponte de la Latte. The derivation is interesting and trivial. It must sound as awful to you when people get the gender wrong as it does to me when so many people say, "There's lots of things wrong with the world" or similar - I mean, not everybody says that - it's just an example. Spanish and French have the same words for "there is" and "there are" ['hay' and 'il y a'], and it looks as though English will soon.:-(
I cannot help with Palenque's questions.

I can't help much with Palenque's questions, either, but I dare saying "one of Europe's most substantial China Towns" will quite certainly be exaggerated. I think the China Town of Paris is almost as large as all of Mestre! (Mestre is actually small.) And for Venetian Blinds, Wikipedia has at least a conjectural explanation of the term: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Window_blind.
Something trivial I might add à propos of blinds - standard Italian blinds (which are not of the "Venetian" type, of course) are called scuri in Venice (as well as in some other parts of northern Italy). Many Italians from elsewhere, though, will take on a bewildered look when you call a "scuro" what, for them, is an "imposta".

There are two sotoportegos in Cannaregio called "del Traghetto". One of them featured in the film "Wings of the Dove" (where Helena Bonham-Carter and Linus Roache shared an "intimate" moment); the other featured in the BBC adaptation of "Little Dorrit". That's quite a trivial coincidence, I'd say.

ttt