[2019]
OUR FAMILY HOLIDAYS
9984 Venice 1993
From Florence we made our own way across by train to Venice. For once, we stayed in a small hotel where the balcony of our bedroom looked down on the canal where the gondoliers made their way; and every so often a band would also drift by, serenading us. That, at least was the romantic picture you expect of Venice.
Our balcony
Even so, where I'd always dismissed Florence, and loved Venice, I now reversed my opinion and came to be rather more cynical about Venice. Staying there for five days it seemed to me that it was somewhat hollow, almost like a set on some studio back lot. It was full of tourists not workers.
The
stage set
Even so it is a
beautiful city and we explored every bit of it; f
rom
the Doge's palace to the glassworks of Murano.
Murano
It is a city that you can explore on foot, and its charm is the way you follow the narrow passages diving in and out of buildings and across bridges over the canals. Once again, I can't remember the details of the churches but I do remember the memorial to Machiavelli in one of them. He is a sort of hero to me, though most people totally misunderstand him, having never read his book: Il Principe. It is treatise on how a prince should behave. It is one of the best books on politics.
Venice was also full of art, and we looked at all of it. But the most evocative was the modern art collected by Peggy Guggenheim, and displayed in her unprepossessing mansion on the banks of the Grand Canal.
at
Peggy Guggenheim’s collection
We took a side trip by train to Padua to see the chapel that had been painted by Giotto. It was his masterpiece, and fully justified the trip.
Giotto’s masterpiece
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