About the Book 'Venice in Transition - Whispers of Loss'

 

I built this site because I love Venice and wanted to share the photographs captured during the several years spent there. In the process of generating the webpages, and subsequently producing the book Venice in Transition - Whispers of Loss, I began to understand more fully what lies beneath the magic of La Serenissima.

Publisher Description

Venice is a city in transition, struggling to balance the demands of modern tourism with the urgent need to preserve its heritage.  In this enchanting photographic documentary, Val de Furrentes penetrates the tourist-friendly veneer, and explores the essence and authenticity of what remains of the past. Globalisation, politics and tourism are transforming the identities of cities across the world.  Venice, one of the most vulnerable tourist destinations, faces the additional challenge of unique environmental changes.  A fragile floating city of canals, bridges and narrow streets, its future is uncertain.  Mass tourism is taking over the city, and reshaping its idiosyncratic features. While characteristic buildings are preserved, their function has changed: noble palaces now offer holiday accommodation; former monasteries house civic offices or learning institutions; and traditional ateliers have given way to fast food pizzerias and gift shops. However, there are still places of considerable beauty to discover and rediscover, many of them off the beaten track.  Val de Furrentes provides a thoughtful and informative vision of the city.  This book will be warmly welcomed by both newcomers to Venice and seasoned Venice veterans.

Ninety-five photographs illustrating the book have been drawn from the Val de Furrentes Photo Library. A selection from the library's images is shown on this site.

Streets full of water

It's rumoured that American journalist Robert Benchley sent a celebrated telegram to his editor at the New Yorker, upon arriving in Venice for the first time. 'Streets full of water. Please advise.'

Originally a collection of one hundred and eighteen small islands amid desolate salt marshes, Venice, rising from the sea, seems to float on the water.  The city's canals, mirroring stone and sky, create a sense of fluidity and radiance.  Charles Dickens in his 1846 travelogue, Pictures from Italy, describes the city as a 'strange dream upon the water'.

The splendour of shimmering reflections in the sparkling canals generates a sense of magic and mystery. But the ephemeral, dream-like beauty of Venice brings with it the negative consequences of damp and decay. Exposure of the buildings to water has caused the masonry to erode and crumble.  Moto ondoso (wave movement) is a major environmental problem both in Venice and in the lagoon.

Rio de la Verona

Ancient Traghetto at San Tomà

The ancient San Tomà  traghetto is one of several ferry crossings which, until recently, served mainly the local population.

Before bridges connected the islands, Venetians moved through the city on foot or by boat.  The Rialto bridge was the only fixed crossing point until the 1850s; anyone wishing to cross the waterway at any other point would use a traghetto or gondola ferry.  

Dionisio Moretti's map of 1828 shows 59 traghetti stopping points, now there are far fewer, and subject to change.

Traditionally, Venetians stand for the short journey.  Since the introduction of steam boats in the late 1800s this customary form of water transport started to fall into decline.

Calle del Traghetto, San Polo

A sign of the times.

In Corte Piossi, adjacent to the church of Santa Maria Mater Domine is a building supported by several pillars.

One of the central columns,dated 1575, is decorated with a relief portrayal of the Madonna and Child.  It also bears a crude but charming makeshift sign directing tourists to Ca’ Pesaro further along the calle. Ca’ Pesaro, originally a sumptuous and imposing residence built in the 17th century and now an important museum.  In the background, a smirking harlequin mask, part of a shop window display, represents the slick commercial ambience of contemporary Venetian street life.  The image embodies the unsettling layers of historical reference and modern retail culture to be found in almost every corner of the city.

Venetian curiosities

Dante and Virgil in the Lagoon

Floating in the north Lagoon are two curious figures aboard a strange boat which rocks with the waves. It recalls a scene from The Divine Comedy in which Dante, on his journey into hell, is directed across the river Acheron, by Virgil. The monumental bronze sculpture Barque of Dante was installed on the lagoon near the island cemetery of San Michele as part of the 2007 Biennale.

Walls with faces.
With a history stretching back to the fifth century, Venice's legacy of the past is written in its walls. At every turn there are signs and symbols tempting the curious to understand their significance.

It's widely thought that the ancient function of carved faces (mascaroni in Venetian) was to scare away evil demons, or even the devil itself.  The stone reliefs are found mainly on the keystones of arches and bridges, and above doorways. An alternative belief is that the mascaroni, placed at the entrance of a building, could be a grotesque portrait of the owner.

El Mascaron

One of the most famous mascaroni, known as 'El Mascaron' decorates the entrance portal of Santa Maria Formosa bell tower. Ruskin described this head as 'huge, inhuman and monstrous - leering in bestial degradation, too foul to be either pictured or described'.

These decorations were created by specialist stone cutters known in Venetian as tagliapietra.

'Cabinets of Curiosities'

Collections of objects which inspire wonder and awe originally became popular in the sixteenth century. Contemporary equivalents can be found in some artists' studios, specialists workshops, and retailers in Venice's winding alleyways.

The house where Goldoni was born

Palazzo Centani

Carlo Goldoni was born in Palazzo Centani in 1707.  During the 18th century Venice was the theatrical centre of Italy, with fourteen active theatres. 

  

Goldoni’s plays were admired for reflecting the lives and conflicts of contemporary society with wit and honesty.

Palazzo Centani, a 15th century gothic palace, has an open stairway leading from the inner courtyard to the upper floors. 
Like many other palaces it fell into a state of neglect  and was bequeathed to the Venice Commune in 1931.  Subsequently restored, the building became home to The Goldoni museum and centre for theatrical studies in 1953.

Angel at the House of Hedgehogs.

In Castello, above the entrance to Sotoportego de l'Anzolo (angel in English) is a beautiful sculpture of an angel flanked by a pair of crests depicting hedgehogs. It is thought the 13th century marble sculpture came from Anatolia in Eastern Turkey. The figure’s right hand is raised in a sign of blessing for those who pass beneath. The legendary cartoonist Hugo Pratt invented poetic names for some parts of his native Venice; his character, Corte Maltese, called this entrance ‘the archway of bad thoughts’.

Sotoportego de l'Anzolo

The 14th century crests (formerly used to designate ownership of a building) are symbolic of a family name. The small nocturnal mammals with a spiny coat symbolise the Erizzo family playing on the Venetian word rizzo, meaning hedgehog.

The archway, officially recognised as being of cultural and historical significance was restored in 1999. 

Former monastery now home to the Tax Man

The 14th century convent church of Santo Stefano has two cloisters. The biggest and most significant was largely rebuilt following a fire in 1529.

The smaller cloister, only partially affected by the fire, retains its fourteenth century Gothic style, with original columns and rosette capitals.

Following the Napoleonic suppression of the early 1800s, the monastery buildings fell into decline, and are now the headquarters of the Ministero della Finanza (Revenue Agency).

Courtyard at Palazzo Contarini della Porta di Ferro

Viewed from above, the sun casts a shadow through the balustrades of a gothic open stairway, creating an abstract pattern in the private courtyard.

John Ruskin commented in The Stones of Venice that Palazzo Contarini della Porta de Ferro 'must once have been among the most magnificent in Venice'.

Palazzo Contarini della Porta di Ferro

The decline of the nobility, and a collapsing economy resulted in historic Venetian palaces falling into dereliction. Subsequently, the need to preserve the fabric of the city has been met by modifying its buildings to accommodate a growing tourist industry. 

Restored in 1998 the 15th century palace, formerly owned by the Contarini family, has been converted into luxury apartments and rooms.

Winged cherubs frequently submerged at Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute

Situated at the entrance to the Grand Canal, Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute ('Salute') is one of Venice's most dramatic landmarks. The minor basilica was commissioned in the 17th century by the republic on behalf of the survivors of the plague. The architect was Baldassare Longhena. It is the most recent of the so-called 'plague churches'. The baroque facade, replete with one hundred and twenty-five statues, gives way to a serene and spacious interior.

A pair of winged angels guard the water steps leading from the Grand Canal to the apron of Santa Maria della Salute.  In earlier times the faithful, arriving by boat, would prepare for worship in the presence of these sacred cherubs.  These winged messengers, guardians of the Kingdom of God, are submerged except at low tide due to a combination of land subsidence and rising water levels.  Today, the art of Renaissance and Early Modern Venice is most ofter associated with painting, yet sculpture and carving also pervaded civic and sacred life.

Secret Gardens

In the dense urban environment of Venice, intimate spaces, hidden behind high walls, thrive in the midst of the labyrinthine alleyways and canals.  Leafy vines and shrubs trailing over high walls are a tell-tale sign of these hidden gardens.  Henry James wrote that Venice without gardens ‘would be too much a matter of the tides and the stones’.  Italian Hours, 1909.  

Private outdoor settings, providing an extension of living space, are often decorated with sculpture and architectural fragments scattered among the foliage. 

Palazzo Malipiero

The entrance hall of Palizzo Malipiero leads to a medieval courtyard with its fountain and Nymphaeum of Hercules, opening onto the garden overlooking the Grand Canal. 
Built in the 11th century, Palazzo Malipiero was where that the young Giacomo Casanova befriended the 76 year old senator Alvise Gasparo Malipiero who introduced him to  Venice’s influential elite. But Casanova’s flirtatious behaviour with a woman desired by the senator himself led to his expulsion from the palace, and exile from Venice.

Courtyard at Fortuny factory, Guidecca

The late 19th century saw the decline and neglect of garden spaces, many of which have since been redesigned or restored to their original ancient splendour.

Grocery shopping at the 'most beautiful supermarket in Italy'.

Former cinema Teatro Italia, Cannaregio, was converted into a Despar supermarket in 2017. Built of iron and concrete in 1915, there has been an attempt to dignify the facade with Venetian Gothic tracery, referencing the windows of the Ducal Palace. There are some Art Nouveau decorative elements, and interior wall paintings imitating frescoes.  The ceiling artwork, titled 'The Glory of Italy', is an allegory by Alessandro Pomi who was quickly forgotten after his death in 1976.  

This building, a quaint pastiche, would not have been suitable for repurposing as a cultural centre because of its lack of architectural authenticity.

       

'Venice Treacle' causes a stir

These mysterious indentations in the pavement of Campo Santo Stefano are easily overlooked, but they give an intriguing insight into Venice's mercantile past.

From the late Middle Ages onwards, Venice was famous for producing a quack remedy known as Theriaca or (in Venetian dialect) Triaca, a panacea that had existed in various forms since the 1st century BC. The Venetians reinvented the potion, using numerous exotic ingredients imported via their trade routes in the East.  The recipe included opium, ginger, saffron, cinnamon, viper's flesh and much else, all combined in a palatable honey base.  Triaca quickly became a best-seller, not only as a cure-all but also as a preventative measure against the plague.  By the 18th century, English entrepreneurs had taken a keen interest and were marketing the miraculous 'Venice Treacle' in London.  Venice tried from the outset to establish and protect a monopoly, licensing only a handful of carefully vetted Venetian apothecaries to manufacture and sell the product.  To strengthen the impression of transparency and authenticity, licensees were required to prepare their Triaca in public, pounding the ingredients in mortars for all to see.  The indentations in Campo Santo Stefano are the result.

The woodcut gives a vivid and noisy impression of the process. It depicts a scene outside the most famous of Triaca outlets, the apothecary and grocery store Alla Testa d'Oro (in English, the 'head of gold'), by the Rialto Bridge near the church of San Bartolomeo. Their Triaca was so good that they held a license to produce it three times a year rather than just once, as was the case with their competitors.

All that remains of the original shop today is this remarkable gilded bust, the original 'head of gold', one of the most striking and beautiful trade emblems in Europe. It is not certain whom the bust depicts - it may conceivably have been one of the owners. But the figure has the confidence and bearing of a Doge, a good marketing ploy doubtless designed to inspire confidence more effectively than a written sign might have done amongst a largely illiterate populace.

There are still some wonderfully preserved examples of the old Venetian apothecaries, notably the perfumery at San Fosca, Cannareggio.

Yet shop interiors like this are rare. Now pharmacies are brightly lit and have garishly modern chain-store frontages. This raises obvious questions about aesthetics and marketing, especially in a city like Venice. The post-war decades have seen the progressive vandalisation of older facades in favour of jarring new-build and intrusive branding. 

Recently, tour guides for the discerning visitor have started to include the treacle trail in their itineraries. 

Public art at the hospital for the 'Incurables'

Commemorating the restoration in 1681 of the Ospedale degli Incurabile in Dorsoduro,  sculptural reliefs of Christ's suffering were created to decorate the four exterior corners.

Originally founded in 1517 when there were no effective treatments for 'the malady of Venus' (syphylis), a special hospital was needed for the incurables.

Two high relief sculptures decorating the north wall, depict Christ at the column where he was whipped by Roman soldiers; his torment perhaps serving to arouse compassion for those suffering chronic disease.  In the 1560s an oval church was built in the courtyard, but later demolished in 1819.  All that remains of the former courtyard are four well-heads representing the original layout.

Today the building houses the Academy of Fine Arts.