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| Overlooking the Grand Canal and the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute |
About a month after we returned from our Camino di Santiago adventure, we started to look at other places with a similar pilgramage, when I discovered the Via Francigena, which starts in Caterbury, England and ends in Rome, Italy. Just like the Camino, you can take on this walk which stretches 3000km, all at once or in stages, or you can choose any starting point ultimately ending in Rome where you receive a Testimonium as long as you walk at least the last 100km. After determining that the spring or fall are best from a weather perspective, planning around major holidays like Easter, we decided to start out on an 11 day walk towards the end of April. The next step was to figure out how to get there - and at first we were thinking Venice or Florence. Florence was closer, but I really wanted to go to Venice. That's when we decided, why not both?
With any of these adventures into countries new to us, we try to learn as much as possible before, including the history of the country, the area, culture, food, etc. All we both really new is that Venice was a series of man-made Islands off the coast of northeastern Italy, and oh boy, did we have a lot to learn! One of the best videos we found is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIu4CcNCN-k
While the Gondola ride was a fun experience, there were a lot of them, almost all going the same route. That meant that we enjoyed the music and singers on the private rides for free! If we ever go again I'd do private or a tour around the islands.
On our second day we had pre-booked a walking tour of the Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Cathedral. The Doge’s Palace is a masterpiece of Gothic art, a symbol of the city’s history, and the former residence of the Doge — the highest and oldest magistrate of the Venetian Republic.
The origins of the Doge’s Palace date back to the 9th century, when Venice was beginning to establish itself as an autonomous center. Over the centuries, the building underwent numerous expansions and renovations. Elected by means of a very complicated voting procedure by the Great Council, the Doge was the only Venetian authority to hold office for life.
Our tour guide led us through all of the administrative rooms, each adorned with frescos and works by the most famous artists of the period. Many of the Doges are depicted, as well as St. Mark (the patron Saint of Venice). According to tradition, two Venetian merchants, Rustico da Torcello and Buono da Malamocco smuggled St. Mark’s body out of Alexandria to prevent its desecration by Islamic rulers. To bypass customs, they reportedly hid the remains in a basket covered with pork—a substance the Muslim officials would not touch. Upon arrival, the relics were enshrined in a chapel that eventually grew into the St. Mark's Basilica. More on that later.
One of the rooms had two clocks - included in the pictures below. One clock had 24 nodes and went backward, one had 12 signs of the zodiac. We learned that in the Republic of Venice during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, astrology was not a fringe superstition. It was an exact, highly respected mathematical science. During his 18 years living in Venice and teaching at the University of Padua, Galileo Galilei (yes, that Galileo) operated fully within this tradition. He acted as a mathematicus—a professional role that bound together geometry, mathematics, astronomy, and astrology.
In 1609, Galileo Galilei significantly improved the Dutch telescope in Venice by leveraging the superior, clear glass produced on the island of Murano. By grinding his own lenses using high-quality Venetian "crystal," he increased magnification to roughly 9x and later up to 20x, presenting this superior instrument to Venetian lawmakers. On August 25, 1609, from the campanile of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Galileo demonstrated his "spyglass" to the Venetian Senate, showcasing its ability to spot ships over 50 kilometers away long before they were visible to the naked eye.
After winding our way through each of the administrative rooms, the guide brought us to the Chamber of the Great Council. At 53 meters long and 25 meters wide, this is not only the largest and most majestic chamber in the Doge’s Palace, but also one of the largest rooms in Europe. Behind the Doge’s throne is one of the largest canvas paintings in the world, the Paradiso, at 24 x 84 feet, painted by Jacopo Tintoretto and his son.
Our final stop in the palace was through a corridor which leads over the Bridge of Sighs, built in 1614 to link the Doge’s Palace to the structure intended to house the New Prisons. Enclosed and covered on all sides, the bridge contains two separate corridors that run next to each other. The famous name of the bridge dates from the Romantic period and was supposed to refer to the sighs of prisoners who, passing from the courtroom to the cell in which they would serve their sentence, took a last look at freedom as they glimpsed the lagoon and San Giorgio through the small windows. After seeing the prison cells, often shared by 6-8 men, I couldn't wait to get out of there!
We then walked about a half a block to the entrance of St. Mark's Basilica, which is roughly 251ft in length and 205ft in width, built in the shape of a Greek cross. It features five grand domes rising to an external height of 141ft. The walls and ceilings feature approximately 85,000 square feet of glittering gold and glass mosaics, depicting what it would look like when you enter paradise. The structure contains more than 500 marble columns, many of which were brought from the East as spoils of war. The floor is also spectacular, a 2,099-square-meter marble and glass carpet constructed largely between the 12th and 15th centuries. Composed of over 2 million tesserae, it features intricate geometric designs, meandering animals, and deep symbolic motifs. Sadly, you can see the effect of centuries of flooding and the floor settling.
Honestly this was one of the most beautiful structures I've ever seen. Then again, we were at the beginning of our travels in Italy!
It just so happened that St. Mark's Feast was the next day, and there were crowds of workers setting up for a huge celebration. Luckily we missed it by one day, otherwise we would not have been able to go in. Pay attention to local celebrations when planning travel!
The first image below is from a website - honestly hard to capture what this amazing structure looks like - both inside and out!
One more stop for the day, and that was the island of Murano. After a short 20-minute water shuttle ride, we landed on the island known for glass, and I was in heaven. I didn't even take any photos, since most of the interesting stuff was in shops where they didn't want you to take photos, but here is the website for one of the stores. I needed to get there since, again, I have fallen asleep many times to a Calm sleep story featuring a glass maker from Murano. We already learned some interesting history regarding Galileo, and the fact that in 1291, the Venetian Republic ordered all glass-makers to relocate to the island of Murano. This was done to prevent catastrophic fires from engulfing Venice's largely wooden buildings and to isolate the artisans so the state could protect its highly profitable glass-making secrets. Crazy.
We tried to make sure to have only 'Venetian' food, including Cicchetti sandwiches (small crustini bites). Tim had to try the Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia (cuttlefish ink pasta), not my thing so I had a salad. Of course we had the Caprese, one of our favorites! Another famous Venetian snack is the tramezzino veneziano, a crust less sandwich with a variety of fillings - we had tuna with olives. In one standing-room-only tavern, the Canine del Vino gia Schiavi, customers line up to point at their selection of Cicchetti, and you can get a small glass of wine for 2 or 3 euro - what a find!
We both thoroughly enjoyed our short stay in Venice and would definitely go again! On to Florence!
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