Acqua Alta

Our trip to Venice and the surrounding area was not only a great way to celebrate my birthday, but David had a meeting to attend concerning the project to protect Venice from flooding. And... we got a taste of acqua alta as there were weather conditions and tides cooperating to flood San Marco. We witnessed a minor flooding event as the water did not extend much further beyond Piazza San Marco and along the canal. Walking around, I could not help but notice that the tourists enjoyed the walking on the raised sidewalks, seeing the water spilling over the quays... personnally, I found it a bit annoying after the first high tide (of course, having managed buildings all these years, I kept thinking of the clean up, the damage, the liability...).

But even on gray days, Venice sparkles!






And... I did get a Venetian birthday gift in addition to the wonderful trip (thank you, D!).



There are serious glass artists remaining in Venice and they now have a DOC-type (like the French AOC --remember the terrior??) certification for pieces made in Murano --and not shipped to Murano from China and thus labelled Murano! This piece is by Afro Celotto... there is a great YouTube video of him at work in his studio... so next year...

December 1, 2008--the highest floods is over 20 years inundated Venice on Monday... the water was over a meter higher than shown in my pictures... now even the mayor of Venice wants the project built (he had opposed it!).

I mosaici

All of us have that list of places that we must see, and sometimes we get tantalizingly close, but just not there. Ravenna was on my list for many years and although I have been in Italy a number of times, and even close by, I did not get to see the mosaics for which Ravenna is famous until 2005 --and last week!

But before we go to Ravenna, I cannot let our American mosaics escape a note. We just elected Barack Obama with an electoral map of the country and each state as dazzling as the mosaics in Ravenna for the message they carry --every small speck of color makes the picture sparkle. And a mosaic of a single color has no impact. While I am squarely in the blue, I can appreciate what a little red can add... the whole world can appreciate this as well... and take a deep breath. The whole world will have a different view of America since this election... let us have a different view of ourselves --and realize that we are a vibrant mosaic of colors-- and not a muddy pot of sameness. Yes We Can. ...and thank you Tina Fey.



The history of Ravenna is the history of the end of the Roman Empire (and this election could have been the beginning of the end of our country as well for many of us...). These great mosaics are from the 6th century, and the churches where they are found are Byzantine in style. A little history here... the Roman Empire as we are familiar with fell in 476 AD when Odoacer, from one of the Germanic tribes (the Visigoths had sacked Rome in 410 AD), deposed the last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus (okay, I did not just recall this history, although like 1066, 476 AD is forever etched in our brains since high school... and thank you, Wikipedia, et al!) Theodoric became the person in power of the Western Roman Empire --the empire was seated at Byzantium (Constantinople), and the emperor was at this time of the late 400's, Zeno. Theodoric had spent time in Byzantium with Zeno and interestingly, this area had been "romanized" in terms of its military and government, and treatment of citizens. Zeno was disturbed by Odoacer, who was not acting Roman but rather like a barbarian, and he sent Theodoric to resolve the problem. After several defeats of Odoacer on the Italian peninsula in the north, Theodoric proposed to make peace with Odoacer. Over a celebratory dinner in Ravenna, Theodoric solved his problem permanently, allegedly with his bare hands (sounds like a Dick Cheney maneuver...).
He then became the de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire.

Theodoric was a follower of the Arian sect of Christianity (Arianism was started in Alexandria by Arius in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Arians did not believe that Jesus was one and the same with God the Father --they believed that Jesus was created by God the Father (unbegotten) as a "creature" as in human being --only begotten-- son, and that together they created the Holy Spirit, who was subservient to them. In short, they did not believe in the Trinity. This dispute was discussed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, called by Constantine I. The Arians were condemned, and the council adopted the Nicene Creed (which all Catholics and most Christians recite from heart at mass with no idea of why it is so important --and interesting!-- in the history of the Christianity). Those words, "eternally begotten by the Father, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father ...We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, With the Father and the Son , he is worshipped and glorified...", confirm the divinity of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Trinity as the cornerstone of belief in most of Christianity.

Theodoric had been rather tolerant of both beliefs until the true believers started persecuting the Arians in Constantinople, and he started retaliating against the Catholics in Ravenna (he died before all the churches were destroyed and there was no equivalent of the French Revolution that battered lots of historic art in French churches). Thus, the mosaics in Ravenna that were completed in churches of Arian beliefs, portray Jesus as more human than divine. And some of these Arian churches were later corrected! There is one baptistery that was "ortodossi" (Catholic) --and not Arian-- surviving.
These pictures showing Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist are from two baptisteries --the top photo is from the Battistero degli Ortodossi and the lower one from the Battistero degli Ariani-- note that Jesus has a halo around his head in the upper photo, demonstrating his divinity... in the Arian bapistry, Jesus is shown without this symbol. The figure in both holding the trident represents the River Jordan.



There are several churches, San Vitale, San Apollinare Nouvo, and San Apollinare in Classe (the name of the city outside of Ravenna is Classe, and it was the old Roman port --now surrounded by land), that we visited.
San Vitale was consecrated in 548 and is built as an octagon --the mosaics below: Jesus, Abraham ready to sacrifice Isaac, the Emperor Justinian, and the exterior of the basilica.


















San Apollinare in Classe was consecrated the year after, in 549.












In San Apollinare Nuovo, the restoration of the mosaics shows where Arianism has been corrected!


















And there are tombs... the oldest is the tomb of Galla Placida --built in the middle of the 5th century for the Empress Galla Placida, who is actually buried in Rome where she died... and it was quite dark! It is hard to see, but the ceiling is covered with deep blue and gold...





I have included pictures of the outside of all of these structures --they are all made of brick and without ornamentation. Of course, entering one of these buildings, you are dazzled... you simply have to raise your eyes to their heights and absorb their splendor --definitely worth the wait to see them-- and even better the second time.

Vicino Venezia

Not all canals lead to Venice!

Venice, embroidered on islands in the lagoon and meandering around the canals, is simply magical. Its historical prominence and architectural beauty can be so dazzling that it is blinding to the areas that surround it. But the magic doesn't end just because you arrive in Mestre, although Marghera, with its refineries and chemical plants quickly bring you into the reality that is Italy. It was in the areas south of Venice (but past Marghera!), along the Venetian lagoon, the Adriatic, and Po Delta that we began our trip back to Venice.


Venice is not the only town or city in this area built along canals... at the southern tip of the Venetian lagoon, the fishing port of Chioggia is also crossed by canals. It has the charm of fishing villages, and gives you a sense of what parts of Venice were like before it became both politically prominent and wealth spread through the city. As in all Italian cities, there are more churches than seem to make economic sense (but that was never the impetus for church building --and they were certainly the economic stimulus packages of their time!).




One of the interesting churches is Church of St. Dominic which is built facing out into the lagoon. We wandered in (and were the only tourists), and the elderly caretaker of the church, once he realized that I understood some Italian, gave us a tour, pointing out all the significant paintings (and there were a few, including a Tintoretto and a Carpaccio). He took us to see the large, wooden crucifix above the altar from the sacristy so that we could see the expressions on Christ's face from different angles (from the left, the face appears in agony and from the right, the stillness of death). This crucifix is probably of Germanic origin and little is known about it --which gives rise to great legends of which there are two with a common outcome. One legend is that of a shipwreck in transit from the Marche, and the other is of the sacking of Constantinople in 1453 when all religious objects were thrown into the sea to prevent desecration at the hands of the Turks. In both stories, the crucifix was found floating in the sea at Chioggia. (He also told us that Marco Polo was born in Chioggia --a fact I cannot seem to find any reference to!)




But what is found in the sea today around Chioggia --and farmed there as well-- is fish and shellfish. There is a large fishing fleet, the restaurants serve all kinds of fish, and there is a fabulous fish market!





As you know, we are able to take these trips to Venice as David is working on the project to build the gates to prevent flooding (more on the flooding coming!). Chioggia, being at the southern tip of the lagoon is one of the construction sites and there is work being done within the town as well. And, all construction projects have signage--

It might be all about the food in France, but remember the Italians brought cuisine to France!
Heading south from Chioggia, you enter the Delta del Po. This constantly changing "land of water" is where the Adige, Reno, the Po drain into the Adriatic. It is a land of marshes, canals, islands, land and marine farming --and human settlement since the time of the Etruscans. This is a transformed area where rivers have been dredged, re-routed, and drained. And the consequences are apparent --islands are now in the midst of fields, ports with navigable waterways are now trees and wetlands. Ravenna, once home to the Caesar Augustus' port for the Empire's eastern fleet in the 1st century, and capital of the Western Empire in the early 5th century, is silted in and not until recently has the access to the Adriatic been reclaimed.



The Abbazia di Pomposa -Abbey of Pomposa- was founded in the 6th century by the Benedictines. It was most prominent from the 10th to the 12th centuries, and one of the monks at that time, Guido d'Arezzo (see, Guido is really an Italian name, not just another Italian everyman like Joe the Plumber!), was the inventor of modern musical notation. He developed it because singers were having difficulty remembering the Gregorian chants. Innovation was not the order of the day, and his fellow Benedictines (the same order that founded the cathedral at Vezelay --see September posts!) were not terribly receptive to his new ideas, forcing him to leave Pomposa for Arezzo. However, Pope John XIX heard of these new ideas and invited Guido to Rome; the Pope was thrilled that he could learn to read liturgical music without a teacher (perhaps the beginning of singing in the shower!). Guido eventually returned to Pomposa for a short time --this time he was asked to stay by his fellow Benedictines! (Guido was really French! He was born near Paris and entered the Benedictine order at St. Maur des Fosses (the abbey was in the bend of the river Marne, east of Paris) --but he died an Italian!).

The abbey was built on an island, but this area is now farm land due to the silt deposits of the Po. The church and campanile (bell tower) date back to the 10th-12th century; the campanile is in a Romanesque style with its window openings increasing as it gets taller (David noted that this lightens the load). The church is in the Byzantine style with a narthex (a portico or vestibule at the end of the church through which you enter) and has fantastic 14th century frescoes and mosaic floors.





The frescoes in the pictures above are representative of both side walls of the church --the top are stories from the Old Testament (here, Adam and Eve), the next row, from the New Testament (The Annunciation), and the bottom from the Apocalypse. The nave has Christ the Redeemer and the rear wall, the Last Judgment.



The Last Judgment tends to be inside Italian churches and frequently as you turn your back to the altar on your way out. The French Gothic churches often have the Last Judgment over one of the doors into the church...does it keep you in or keep you out??