Verona

Returning to Verona in 2012 [photo: Sally Givertz 2012]

This to wish all of you who read this blog a Happy New Year!

In most of the monthly posts of the last two years, starting with the post The Birth of the Piave, I have been writing about one thing: the journey I made in the summer of 1998 from the source of the River Piave, all the way along the course of Italy's third largest river, to the south and Venice. 

I left Venice late in the afternoon of the 6th September.  

Map of Verona, featuring a barely noticeable advertisement for my hotel of choice
[Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura]

That evening I stepped from the train at Verona's Porta Nuova station, assembled my folding bike Una, and cycled down the Corso Porta Nuova until I reached a modest hotel, the Albergo Trento. 

I wheeled Una into the foyer, where the attendant told me regretfully they hadn't anywhere to store bicycles.  

Then he watched bemused as I took Una apart, folded  her up and put her in her sacco.

'Ah,' he said in Italian - which sounds exactly the same as 'ah' in English - 'a sacco is no problem - we can store that in the cupboard under the stairs!'











Then we started on the documentation formalities. 

I handed over my passport and took my folding spectacles from the little pouch fixed to the belt of my trousers, and unfolded them.

'Ah,' he said, 'your spectacles fold up, too!'

After a shower I headed down to the excellent Brek self-service restaurant in the Piazza Bra

There I ate some fine pasta washed down with a couple of glasses of the local Valpolicella. 

The region around Verona [Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura]

You can see (from the map above) that Valpolicella production is located to the north of Verona.

I found the image (above) of this old postcard on the Facebook website 'Italia di una volta, vecchie cartoline' but search as I may, I can't locate the original post - so would the originator, if reading this, please contact me so I might give accreditation?  During the period of the Italian monarchy many streets and squares in Italy were renamed.   During the period royalty ruled Italy, the Piazza Bra was known as the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele (Victor Emanuel in English).  After the monarchy were sent into exile (at the end of WW2) many of the old place names were restored. 

The old photo of the Portoni was taken from inside the Piazza Bra (the name 'bra' derives originally from the German word “breit”- meaning 'broad' - and refers to the broad square in front of the city gates) - the tram seen on the right would have been part of the electric (from 1906 - horse trams before that) tram network serving the old city. You can find here excellent webpages (right click on the pages to translate to English)  describing the tram services that existed up to the 1950s.  

So clearly, these old postcard images (the one above and another below supplied by Luigi Boatto) are from photos taken in the first half of the 20th century

Standing inside the Piazza Bra wearing a T-shirt that vies in colour with the the local buses(that have now replaced the trams) as the brightest in Verona  [photo: Sally Givertz 2012]

In the photo above, I'm standing inside the Piazza Bra  at the same side of the Portoni di Piazza Bra as seen in the previous image. 



The image as seen in the postcard above (supplied as always by Luigi Boatto - thank you Luigi!) was captured from the other side of the Portoni by a photographer standing in the Corso Porta Nuova.  

Looking towards the entrance to the Piazza Bra from the Corso Porta Nouva [Google maps, street view]

Sally in the Piazza delle Erbe [PAG 2012]

For comparison, here (above) is the modern view, as captured by Google's remarkable mapping system. 

The tower to the right of the archways is the Torre Pentagona, part of the original walls of the city. 

But, back to 1998... It was night time, and I couldn't take any photos, as the little built-in flash on my Pentax SLR wasn't powerful enough.  So I gave up all thoughts of photography and took a stroll up the Via Mazzini to the Piazza delle Erbe.  

I visited Verona again in 2012 with my wife Sally -pictured left - and took several photos in the Piazza. 

Behind Sally is the one surviving pillar of the old Roman forum.  

The Lion of St Mark atop the Roman pillar  [PAG 2012]

The Lion of St Mark atop the pillar was added much later - it is the emblem of the Venetian Republic, which came to an end in the Napoleonic era.




The image in the old postcard (below) shows a side view of the Leone di San Marco.   In the background is the Corso Sant'Anastasia.  You can see faint indications of murals on the walls of the buildings.  

When I visited the piazza on that night in 1998, they had been restored all around the walls of the square and were glowing with colour under the floodlights.

The Leone di San Marco [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

To do Verona justice would require several posts in this blog - as I did when writing the posts about Venice. Of the large cities I have visited in Italy, Verona is by far my favourite.  Venice is wonderful - but commercial, busy and and nearly always packed with tourists.  

'Passport Verona' is a booklet available from the tourist information centre in Verona.   This map is featured in the centrefold.

Verona is a place to relax and enjoy that wonderful feeling of being in Italy amongst Italians - for Italians feel that life is for enjoying, and it is an infectious feeling.

The Roman theatre (top right of the map above) is an example of an essential place to visit.  Below is an old postcard (my thanks go again to Luigi) showing the ancient stone seating, with the church of Santa Libera in the background.

  





There is so much to see and do in Verona... but my time in Italy in the summer of 1998 was coming to an end.

On the morning of September 7th I rose very early and paid my bill at the Albergo Trento.  

I said 'grazie' to the kind man on the reception desk who had been on duty all night and, in the hotel foyer, assembled Una for the last time before cycling to the railway station to catch an early morning train to Milan.  

I'd bought my ticket the night before to save hassle.

I had time on that last train journey to reflect on the many events that had occurred during my visit.  

This blog has been read in many different countries around the world, and the feedback I've received from readers tells me that posts about the trip to Italy in 1998 were the ones they found most interesting. 


In the buffet in Milan I bought a latte and a brioche as my breakfast before taking the shuttle bus to Milan's Linate airport.

One thing I've noticed when travelling through Europe is how much more sociable bus passengers are than those in the UK. 

This journey was such a joy as the driver seemed to know a lot of the Italians on the bus, who proceed to harangue him mercilessly - to everyone's enjoyment, especially mine - and his too, for over his shoulder he gave in return as good as he got!  

In comparison, folk in the UK sit statuesque in their seats wearing expressions that would not seem out of place in a funeral cortege.

Airports in Italy are similarly more relaxed.  
To admit Una as hold luggage at the airport in Scotland where I started out on this trip,  I had to follow a strict series of rules laid down on an information sheet. 

She had to be packed in a cardboard box  of a certain set of dimensions, which were checked carefully when I presented Una in her cardboard coffin at check-in.  

There she was weighed, as there was an upper limit on the allowed weight, also recorded on the information leaflet.


In contrast, at Linate when I showed my sacco  containing Una to the lady handling hold baggage, things moved with less formality.  

'What's in the sacco?' she asked.  
'A folding bicycle.'
An appreciative raised eyebrow.  'Hmmm.  Interresante!'

Then with a shrug of the shoulders she threw my sacco  on the conveyor belt, and Una and I were on our way home.  


I'd like to thank Giancarlo Soravia, Luigi Boatto, Padre Maurizio Brioli, Aldo De Bastiani, Franco Baldissarutti, and Enzo Zanvettor for either providing information or supplying images for the series of blog posts that cover my 1998 trip in Veneto, which concludes with this month's post.

This blog supports readers of The Door of Perarolo, a historical novel set in Cadore, Italy in the early nineteenth century.  You can examine feedback from readers in the UK here and in the US here.  The Door of Perarolo is a Kindle ebook comprising 140 relatively short chapters - good for bedtime reading!  It can be downloaded from Amazon sites worldwide. The launch post of this blog gives further details.  The second post provides links to maps, etc. 

If you'd like to track these blog posts, you can follow me, Peter Alexander Gray, on Facebook.

Arrivederci Venezia

A few words to those of you reading this blog for the first time.  Its original purpose was to supply more

information to readers of my book The Door of Perarolo, published initially as a Kindle e-book in 2013.

Early posts provided historical information about real people and places that are described in The Door of Perarolo.  Since then, for most of the monthly posts of the last two years, starting with the post The Birth of the Piave, I have been writing about one thing:   the journey I made in the summer of 1998 from the source of the River Piave, all the way along the course of Italy's third largest river, to the south and Venice. 

The purpose of this journey was to research material for a series of historical novels (one already published, the others in preparation) relating to the zattieri di Codissago - the master raftsmen of the River Piave.  
Around midnight, each day, the zattieri would set off from Codissago to walk upriver, through the night, to Perarolo. There they would build the rafts that would be used to transport all manner of things downriver.  When the rafts reached Venice they were dismantled for their timber.

On the 6th September 1998, at the end of my journey, I had arrived in Venice, together with two Italian friends, Dario and Michele. It was Regatta Day (the Telegraph series of articles and pictures tell the story of the Regatta). That day was to be the last day of my stay in Italy, as I was due to catch a plane from Milan the next morning, heading back to my home in Scotland.  The images above of the Regatta in times past, near the Rialto bridge, were sent to me by Luigi Boatto.  But... the Regatta had been held for centuries before photography was invented!

The following is a quote from one of the Telegraph articles:

On the first Sunday of every September, hundreds of Venetians pile into the long boats that have plied the city's canals for centuries for the 'Regata Storica' (Historical Regatta), a historical procession that commemorates the welcome given to Caterina Cornaro, wife of the King of Cyprus, in 1489 after she renounced her throne in favour of Venice.

San Simeone Piccolo and the Ponte della Croce [Dorling Kindersley: VENICE pocket map and guide]

San Simeone Piccolo  [© P.A.G. 1998]

Dario, Michele and myself made our way back to the Santa Lucia railway station and strolled down the north bank of the Canal Grande, looking in passing at the lovely church of San Simeone Piccolo across the canal.

Boats of the Regatta passing the Ponte della Croce [© P.A.G. 1998]

The Regatta was now in full swing.  

To the right of the photo above is the Ponte della Croce, where the Rio Nuovo joins the Canal Grande.  

The Ponte della Croce [artist: Tonino Caputo] 

It is interesting to compare the photo with this painting by the famous Italian artist Tonino Caputo (b. 1933).

More boats passing the Ponte della Croce [© P.A.G. 1998]

Boats passed by going in all directions...

The Regatta is not just an all-male event...  [© P.A.G. 1998]

...crewed by both sexes...  

A boat from Caorle passing crowds on the steps (top, centre) of San Simeone Piccolo [© P.A.G. 1998]

.. arriving from all localities.  Caorle is a small port on the Adriatic coast to the north of Venice.

Not the size of the Bucintoro, but... [© P.A.G. 1998]

The last Doge, Manin, owned the most sumptuous vessel ever to sail these waters.  It was called the Bucintoro and was covered in a wealth of fine gold embellishments.   After the surrender of Venice to the French troops, Napoleon had it burnt in order to recover the precious metals and to show his domination over Venice.  Only the figurehead survived.

The same boat, viewed from the other side of the Ponte delgli Scalzi [© P.A.G. 1998]

Boats of all sizes came past, some large and impressive...

Not the largest, but they came from afar... [© P.A.G. 1998]

...others more modest.  All seemed to be having a great time...  

So many boats to photograph... [© P.A.G. 1998]

I spent much time and several rolls of film on the Ponte degli Scalzi snapping as many photos as I could - far too many to include in this post.  

Dario, as the lone cyclist of Venice  [© P.A.G. 1998]

Then it was time to go to the station and rescue Una, my trusty folding bicycle, from the station locker.  

Michele goes for speed  [© P.A.G. 1998]

We decided, as she had been ridden all the way from Monte Peralba to Venice, that we could let her have a spin around the station forecourt.


Dario looked very pleased, as well he might - there weren't any other cyclists in Venice!  In the backbround you can see the Ponte degli Salszi and the dome of San Geremia.


Michele went for speed!  No one seemed to mind our exploits, though most people looked puzzled!


I look puzzled myself in the photo below - I was probably wondering where I was going to sleep and eat that night when I arrived in Verona - one of my favourite Italian cities.  


My aim was to rise early in Verona the next morning and catch the train to Milan, and thence to the airport.  I didn't want to spend my last evening in Milan, which most definitely isn't on my list of favourites!

Me, looking puzzled  [© P.A.G. 1998]

So I said  thank you and goodbye to my dear friends Michele and Dario, folded up Una, put her in her sacco, said arrivederci to Venice and made my way to the train.  

It wasn't expensive to travel by train in Italy in 1998!  [© P.A.G. 1998]

I was sad to  be leaving Venice, but boarding the train for Verona was a good feeling.

Note: This blog supports readers of The Door of Perarolo, a historical novel set in Cadore, Italy in the early nineteenth century.  You can examine feedback from readers in the UK here and in the US here.  The Door of Perarolo is a Kindle ebook comprising 140 relatively short chapters - good for bedtime reading!  It can be downloaded from Amazon sites worldwide. The launch post of this blog gives further details.  The second post provides links to maps, etc.

If you'd like to track these blog posts, you can follow me, Peter Alexander Gray, on Facebook.

NEW: I have now added a total of five maps to the Kindle version of The Door of Perarolo.

Venice - the Lagoon

This post is one of the last few in the sequence (starting with The Birth of the Piave) that transcribes an audio diary recorded during a journey down the Piave valley, from the source of the Piave on Monte Peralba to Venice, in the summer of 1998. 

Briccole  [© P.A.G. 1998]

I arrived in Venice on the first Sunday in September - Regatta Day - with my Italian friends Dario and Michele, to indulge in some sightseeing: the Rialto, the Lido and now... a trip around Venice's famous lagoon on a hired motor launch.

One of the most common sights in the lagoon is a set of three (sometimes more) posts used for marking the navigable channels, providing moorings, or both.

These are made from a special oak which has given its name to the posts: briccole.  

The wood decays when immersed in the lagoon and has a natural enemy: the shipworm - a woodboring mollusc that attacks wet or rotting timber.  

Much argument has been made for and against the use of synthetic materials in place of oak.

Recently it has been decided to allow such materials to be used within the lagoon (though not in the canals to replace the wooden mooring poles there).

But one man's enemy is another's friend...

Oak attacked by shipworm [courtesy Antico Trentino]

Oak attacked by shipworm is used in the manufacture of all sorts of beautiful wooden artifacts by Antico Trentino. You can find out lots more by following this link.  

Antico Trentino is the sole owner of the brand Lebrìc, and is the only company in the world that certifies and guarantees Briccola of Venice with a trademark of origin.

Venice Lagoon 9th December 2001
 [NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team]

This view of the Venetian lagoon, seen from space, shows a wealth of detail.  The outflow plume of fresh water from the Piave Nuovo can be seen at the top of the picture.

(The Piave Nuovo was created to divert the river away from the lagoon, a remarkable engineering achievement, centuries ago.  Originally called the Piave Nuova, the gender of the Piave was changed  from feminine to masculine in celebration of the Italian victory over the Austro-Hungarian forces at the Battle of the Piave River in June 1918.  Shortly afterwards, many regions of Italy were overcome by a new fashion: the fluvial sex change.)

Attribution: I have complied with the attribution specification for the the image above at the end of this post.  All other NASA images (like the one below) are simply magnified zones taken from  the original high-resolution image.

Venice Lagoon 9th December 2001 (detail - the Piave Nuovo outflow)
 [NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team]

This magnified view (above) shows shows the outflow of fresh water from the Piave Nuovo in more detail.  

The old course of the river, the Piave Vecchio, still snakes its way around the NE shoulder of the lagoon to discharge into the Adriatic, to the south down the coast, as shown in the further magnified image below.

Venice Lagoon 9th December 2001 (detail - the coastline between the Piave Vecchio and the Piave Nuovo)

 [NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team]

Also visible in the image above are the wakes from individual vessels heading along the coast.  

Showing the route of the Piave Vecchio between Musile and Porto di Piave Vecchia
[Venezia, Carta della Provincia, Litografia Artistica Cartografica]

At Caposile the Piave Vecchia joins with the water from the River Sile which flows down from Treviso.  The Sile, too, has also been diverted from the lagoon (the waterway is marked 'Tagio del Sile' in blue on the map above), in order to prevent the build up of sediment in the lagoon.  At a point just before the river enters the sea at Porto di Piave Vecchia (see map above) there is a lock that connects the Piave Vecchio to a waterway leading into the lagoon.

Venice Lagoon 9th December 2001 (detail - the diversion of the Piave Nuovo (blue) from the original course, the Piave Vecchio)

 [NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team]

To the top left of the last NASA image (showing detail of the coastline between the Piave Vecchio and the Piave Nuovo) you can see San Donà on the left bank of the river and Musile, opposite, on the right bank.  Musile is where, in the opening chapters of The Door of Perarolo, Fortin's horse was stabled .  You can read more about both towns in the blog post entitled A last look at the Piave.  

Also on the right bank below Musile you can see the point where the old river course, the Piave Vecchio, diverges from the present main course of the Piave (shown blue) to head south towards the lagoon.  

Ships can now access Venice via the Porto di Lido [© P.A.G. 1998]

Our trip around the lagoon was a brief one, but took in quite a few things.  The Porto di Lido is now the main entrance for shipping arriving into port at Venice.  The channel is dredged to allow access for quite large ships - this was one of the smaller ships by which we passed.

Boats and ships are passing through the waters of the lagoon at all hours   [© P.A.G. 1998]

Further south along the coast is Porto Malamocco.  Readers of The Door of Perarolo will know that this is where the Rivoli, the flagship of the Italian fleet, was towed out of the lagoon before the start of her fateful maiden voyage.

Venice Lagoon 9th December 2001 - a view the three entrances to the lagoon.

 [NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team]

The town of Malamocco is virtually an island, surrounded as it is by the Adriatic to the east, the lagoon to the west and, to the north and south, waterways that connect the two. 

The island of Malamocco [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

Above is a photo, sent to me by Luigi Boatto, of an old engraving of Malamocco.  You can see briccole towards the left of the picture.

Map of the area of the lagoon [Venezia, Carta della Provincia, Litografia Artistica Cartografica]

The most southerly entrance to the lagoon is the Porto di Chioggia.  (Below Chioggia are the mouths of the Rivers Brenta and Adige.  The Adige is the second largest of Italy's rivers - the Po is the largest by far, the Piave is the third largest. You can judge the Adige's flow from the outflow plume seen in the NASA image.)

Chioggia - Canale di San Domenico early 20th C [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

Chioggia, like Malamocco is surrounded by water.  It is almost Venice in miniature with its canals and calli. A busy fishing port it is, like Burano (see below), famous for lace making.

Another view of the same canal [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

Chioggia - Corso Vittorio Emanuele [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

Luigi's postcards above show Chioggia in the early twentieth century.  The main street is named after Victor Emanuel II, the first king of a united Italy.  The Italian monarchy survived until the end of WW2 -  Italy, nowadays, is a republic.

Our boat trip around the lagoon didn't take in the islands, one of which is Murano, famous world-wide for the exquisite glassware crafted there.  Like Venice, Murano is  a really group of islands connected by bridges. You can find Murano on the map just to the north of Venice.  

Burano canal scene [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

Another island (to the NE of Murano) is Burano, famous in its turn for Burano Lace.  It is linked by a bridge to another island, Mazzorbo, to the west, once an important trading centre but now a place of orchards and vineyards.

Quayside scene, Mazzorbo [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

Just to the north of Burano in the lagoon is the island of Torcello (see the map previous to the one above) which was once (in pre-medieval times) covered by the houses of a town that as a trading centre was more prosperous than Venice.  In its heyday, it is thought that 3000 people lived there.  But the northern end of the lagoon silted up from the sediment transported by the rivers at that time, and the waters around the island became a mosquito-infested swamp.

Aerial view of  Torcello [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

Gradually the population dwindled, and nowadays there are only ten full-time residents on the island. The photo above shows the footprints of buildings since dismantled by the Venetians for their stone.   The most notable building, seen above, is the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta.  

Canal scene Torcello [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

You can see the cathedral to the right in this charming image from Luigi's vintage postcard collection.

Ponte del Diavolo, Torcello [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

The previous photograph was taken from the Ponte del Diavolo (the name indicating it to be an example of a devil's bridge).  The photo above is of the bridge itself.

Despite the tragic decline of Torcello, the island still continues to attract visitors, perhaps the most famous of which was Ernest Hemingway.  It was one of the locations where he worked on his novel Across the River and into the Trees -  an impressively tedious read.  As Alan Coren once said, 'Once I put it down I couldn't pick it up again.'

But our boat trip on the lagoon didn't take us north of Venice, so I have had to rely on Luigi's images to show us the islands there.

Looking across the lagoon at the Venice shoreline  [© P.A.G. 1998]

The lagoon is a big waterway!  These photos were taken from a bobbing boat using my hand-held Pentax SLR.  Above, the Venice waterfront showing the campanile in the Piazza di San Marco, with the Doge's Palace to its right.  Behind, you can glimpse the spires on the roof of the Basilica di San Marco.

You might think that the campanile in St Mark's square has been standing there for centuries.  Not so.  The original tower collapsed in 1902.

1902 - the wreck of the campanile in the Piazza di San Marco  [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

It was rebuilt ten years later, in the same form.

San Giorgio Maggiore  [© P.A.G. 1998]

This photo was taken looking in the direction of view shown by the arrow in the map below.  The other campanile visible, on the left, is that of Palladio's beautiful basilica San Giorgio Maggiore, on the island of the same name.

San Giorgio Maggiore [Dorling Kindersley: VENICE pocket map and guide]

The wide waterway to the left of the image above is the Canale della Giudecca.

Ships moored in the Canale della Giudecca in the 19th C [courtesy Luigi Boatto]

This image, kindly sent to me by Luigi, is a rare one of sailing ships moored on the quayside there towards the end of the nineteenth century.

Regatta day September 1998 [© P.A.G. 1998]

We were enjoying our trip around the lagoon but the time had arrived to return to Venice, to view the Regatta - which is the subject of next month's post.  I'd like, once again, to thank Luigi Boatto for his enthusiasm and generosity - there were even more images received by me via Facebook from Luigi, but I couldn't fit them all into this post.

Note: This blog supports readers of The Door of Perarolo, a historical novel set in Cadore, Italy in the early nineteenth century.  You can examine feedback from readers in the UK here and in the US here.  The Door of Perarolo is a Kindle ebook comprising 140 chapters.  It can be downloaded from Amazon sites worldwide. The launch post of this blog gives further details.  The second post provides links to maps, etc.

If you'd like to track these blog posts, you can follow me, Peter Alexander Gray, on Facebook.

I'm grateful for the use of the NASA image[s]; herewith the full attribution of author as specified by Wikipedia:

"Venice Lagoon December 9 2001" by NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team - http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16314. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venice_Lagoon_December_9_2001.jpg#/media/File:Venice_Lagoon_December_9_2001.jpg.