Today we woke up early and enjoyed breakfast next to the canal. The hotel we are staying is called Ca’Dagrossa and offers breakfast in the morning. It’s front façade faces the Canal di Canarregio and is not far from the mouth of it. The hotel is not in the tourist zone but sits in one of the city’s more historical areas, Cannaregio.
Today Canneregio is mostly residential and hosts a few colleges. More a central focus for those who take long holidays for weeks at a time, living in the city, the odd day travelling tourists still find their way. This area of the city hosts some very important historical landmarks. Among them is Ghetto Nuovo. Today, still a residential area and home to some of the remaining Venetian Jewish community, Ghetto Nuovo was set aside and inhabited by Spanish Jews escaping the Spanish Inquisition. Venice welcomed the Spanish Jewish community that emigrated there as they brought with them great wealth and excellent craftmanship. I had not realized that the Venetians funded their contributions to the Renaissance and their unequaled maritime trade networks through these influential Jewish families.
The Venetian Republic passed laws that allowed the new Venetian citizens to “invest” (the term lend is more commonly used) in Venetian trade enterprises and become patrons of the artworks but also Jewish artisans and craftsmen were commissioned to work on many public and private artworks, including some of the most famous Venetian churches. But the price of course was steep. Venetian Jews were not allowed to live beyond the Ghetto Nuovo boundary and on Venetian holidays (all Christian based) they were not allowed out of their homes.
Of course during the Mussolini years the ghetto became even more ominous and walls were put up to establish a more permanent boundary and turn the ghetto into a prison/ camp. Some of that history remains too.
We also walked through the streets, crossing many bridges to walk towards the Ponte Rialto. The Canal Grande was huge and there was a great deal of shipping that passes through it as one might imagine. From tiny rental speedboats to gondolas to freight barges and bigger. The day was unbearably hot and so we tried to stay out of the main thoroughfares. We walked down narrow sidestreets and alleys to traverse our way to the Plaza San Marco. The markets and small stores and fashion boutiques lined the outskirts of the plaza but itself was a large area packed with tourists. The day we went was considered a light day. It was crowded but nothing like the stories we had heard about where every path in to the plaza was a line and shoulder to shoulder. The Ducal Palace and Saint Marks Basilica was more beautiful than I imagined and movies do not do the whole plaza justice. The detail and opulence surpassed imagination. The use of marble alone was extensive and beautiful.
When you see pictures and movies you remember only the bright colors used and you half expect it to be a little overwhelming and gaudy. The opposite is true. Everything is on a scale that makes it all fit together and belong. The city is immaculate, the streets, the buildings, everything is clean. The buildings and bridges have an old rustic look but they are well kept.
For our first day it was an impressive walk and though it was super humid and very warm we enjoyed our stroll.
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