RonnieAdventures: RonnieAdventure #0698

Since this was our first trip to Venezia, Italia (Venice, Italy), and we were not familiar with the hotels, we selected a hotel we thought was centrally located in the city before we left home. This turned out to be a bad decision because the only ways to get from the train station to the hotel were to walk or take an expensive water taxi. If we were ever to visit Venice again, we would stay near the train station and use the Vaporetto (water bus) system between areas in the city and then just walk to the places we wanted to visit. Vehicles are not allowed on the streets in Venice.

There are two train stations in Venice, so we were careful to get off at Station Venezia Santa Lucia, which is directly across the Canal Grande (Grand Canal) from Chiesa di San Simeon Piccolo (San Simeon Piccolo Church).

The church was built by Giovanni Antonio Scalfarotto between 1718 and 1738 and has a circular design with a metal dome. It was one of the last churches built in Venice. We did not cross the canal and visit the church because we were dragging our suitcases, and parts of the building are not open for public visitations.

Picture by Kolohe

Since it was only a "15-minute walk" to our hotel, we decided to walk, following our two trusted guides (Ashley & Sophia). The tourist information turned out to be a little optimistic because it was more strenuous and farther than we had planned. They forgot to mention all of the bridges with up-and-down stairs that we had to cross. In reality, it was almost a mile "by the way the crow flies" and about a 30-minute walk, dragging our suitcases.

Venice and its lagoons were founded in the 5th century and now spread over 121 small islands, so when walking around, we were continually walking over bridges that connected the islands. There are 435 bridges in Venice, but only four that cross Canal Grande.

Picture by Kolohe

After checking into the hotel, we walked over to the Parrocchia di Santa Maria Formosa (The Church of the Purification of Mary).

The Church was built in 1492 by Mauro Codussi and is located on the site of a previous church that was built in the 7th century. The original church was one of the eight founded by San Magno, bishop of Oderzo. "The name 'Formosa' relates to an alleged appearance of the Holy Virgin disguised as a voluptuous woman."

Picture by Kolohe

There was a mascaron above the campanile's front door that was intended to frighten away the evil spirits and keep them from entering the building.

Picture by Kolohe

Liberia Acqua Alta was founded in 2004 by Luigi Frizzo and is known as "The Most Beautiful Bookshop in the World." At least, that is what Luigi's entrance sign states.

Water occasionally enters the bookshop, so Luigi uses gondolas, canoes, boats, bathtubs, and barrels instead of shelves to keep the books dry when water enters the shop. There is no digital catalog of the inventory, but he claims to know where all of the different books are located by heart.

At the back of the store, Luigi has a "staircase of books" that was originally built to allow visitors to stand on the book stack and view the canal that runs behind the shop. The staircase is made from ruined books that were to be thrown away and is now a famous photo op when visiting Venice.

Picture by Kolohe

As we walked around Venice, there were some interesting shops to visit. One shop sold a wide variety of face masks, which reminded us of Masquerade. There was no shortage of places to find various types of food.

Picture by Kolohe

Campo Manin is a historic square named after Daniele Manin, a revolutionary leader who played a significant role in the 1848 revolutions unifying Italy from Austrian rule. Located in the center of the square is a statue of Manin.

Picture by Kolohe

Compo Sant'Angelo is the site of the former Church of St. Michael the Archangel (St. Angelo), which was destroyed in 1837. Looking south across the square is the bell-tower of Santo Stefano, and the Church's convent is on the right. The white building is Palazzo Trevisan Pisani, where the Trevisan family lived in the fourteenth century, and the tan building is Palazzo Gritti Morosini, which was built in the sixteenth century and is now a museum.

Located in the center of Campo Santo Stefano is a statue of Niccolo Tommaseo, who was one of Italy's greatest writers. He was the editor of A Dictionary of the Italian Language in eight volumes, a dictionary of synonyms, and other works.

Picture by Kolohe

A short distance from Campo Santo Stefano, we crossed over the Ponte dell'Accademia, one of only four bridges that span the Canal Grande. In the distance, we could see the Santa Maria della Salute.

After crossing the bridge, we walked past the Gallerie dell'Accademia ("A treasure trove of Venetian painting"), but did not tour the museum.

Picture by Kolohe

On the way to Santa Maria della Salute, we crossed over Rio di San Vio and passed by the artwork at Collezione Peggy Guggenheim. (Modern art museum in an 18th-century palace.)

Picture by Kolohe

Santa Maria della Salute (Saint Mary of Health) is a Roman Catholic church located on the point of land where Canal Grande meets Canale della Giudecca.

In 1630, Venice was experiencing an outbreak of the plague that killed about a third of the population (46,000 in the city and 94,000 in the area). The city decided to make a votive offering for deliverance from the pestilence and vowed to build and dedicate a church to Our Lady of Health. Construction started in 1631 and ended in 1681. Most of the art objects in the church bear references to the Black Death.

A statue of the Virgin Mary was brought to Venice and placed in its current position on 21 November 1670, the patronal feast day.