Italy 2024

August 4th, 2024Posted by Nancy

Flash! August 4th! BLOOD & CHRYSANTHEMUMS is on sale for $1.99, wherever you get ebooks.

Now that’s out of the way …

As a change from book promotion, here are some vacation pictures instead. We went to Italy for two weeks in May. This was our first real travel since 2019 and our third trip to Venice, so it was a good warm-up for trying (again) to go to Spain.

Canal and boat in Venice
Classic Venice

We stayed in the Castello region, near the Arsenale. It was a great area, full of good restaurants, little shops with odd hours, people, dogs (and dog poop), and ordinary life.

We saw no shortage of animals, both real and imagined.

Graffiti of a cat and a flag
Part of a graffiti wall urging us to ‘smash fascism’. I mostly used it as signpost that we were on the right way back to the apartment.
Cat sitting in a window in Venice
Curious cat (possibly anti-fascist) keeps an eye on us on the tour of the old Jewish Ghetto area.
Dog and passengers on vaporetto in Venice
One of Venice’s many dogs guards the vaporetto exit. We got the 7-day passes and put them to good use visiting other islands and avoiding the madness of trying to navigate the center of the city.

We went to our third Venice Biennale, which once again provided a wide variety of artistic experiences, from the beautiful to the baffling and everything in between. Don’t worry, I’m not going to subject you to the many, many pictures we took.

Black and white photos of people in Greenland
One of our favorites this year. Photographer Inuuteq Storch took over the Danish pavilion for Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland). Stunning work (and not just because it made me think of a very old novel by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro).
Statue of a woman with a fish head
The Estonians are reliably weird. We love them. This year’s offering was from Edith Karlson and was set in a church. There was also a two-headed cat I really wanted. (Merchandise opportunity!)
Gilded porcelain fetus sculpture from Venice
I liked this exhibit, by Marzia Ratti, entitled Venetian Donna Boxes, because it featured figures based famous Venetian women, such as the Marchesa Casati and Peggy Guggenheim. I’ve read numerous books about both of them (and they both lived in what is now the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice).
Painting of people against a wall
The great thing about Venice during Biennale season is that the city is full of art. En route to see the Olivetti building by Carlos Stampa, we stopped in at a gallery featuring the art of Andjrez Wroblewski, a Polish artist. The piece about is called “Sketch for Executions” and the rest of the work was similarly powerful.
Elegant clothing from early 1900s in dramatic setting
On the urging of a friend, we also went to the Fortuny Museum. I immediately wanted to move in, invite all my artist and writer friends to come over, swan about drinking cocktails, and wear a different one of these amazing dresses every day. A girl can dream.
Funerary monument of a woman leaning away from a casket
We spent one day doing the “Death in Venice” tour. First up, the island of San Michele, the principal cemetery for Venice.
Beach cabanas on the Lido

Then it was off to the Lido. Sadly, most of the resort beaches seemed to be closed. We trudged our way down to the public beach, paddled our hands in the Adriatic, and then headed back to Venice.

View of vineyards out train window
On the way to Bolzano.

We spent two and half days in Bolzano, a four-hour train ride up into the Italian Alps. We were pleasantly surprised by the number of vineyards (and happily tasted the local wines) and my husband observed that his limited knowledge of German seemed more convincing than his less limited vocabulary in Italian.

Cobbled street at night
Bolzano at night

Bolzano turned out to be a lovely town, with a pedestrian center full of restaurants, food stalls, and the best gelato we’d ever had. (Seriously, Gelateria Portogallo was mind-blowingly good. Go there.)

statue of neolithic hunter
This is Otzi, the reason we decided to go to Bolzano in the first place. He and his worldly possessions are preserved and displayed respectfully at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology We were aware of his story, but after hearing the details on Tides of History, one of our favourite podcasts, we figured we might as well take the chance to learn more. (Also, listen to Tides of History. It’s great.) Absolutely fascinating.

Despite the fact that the tourist board for the region brags that ‘the sun always shines’, our days there were mostly rainy and overcast. But we still managed to slog through the downpour up to Runkelstein Castle. We were rewarded by rooms of beautiful frescoes, a sleepy cat, and an amazing display of handmade musical instruments by the talented and energetic Max Castlunger. He was giving a tour and demonstrations to several wet families and enthusiastic kids who dutifully banged, tapped, and chimed on request. Ok, my husband was also happy to ‘bang a gong’ on cue.

Singing bowls made from old propane tanks.
View down the mountain from gondola

The next day, the weather cleared enough for us to head up to the top of the Rittner horn ski resort, which involved two gondolas, a small train, and a bus. And another bus filled with students on the way back down to Bolzano.

Then it was back to Venice for one more afternoon of art and eating. Still one of my favourite places in the world.

Venice at night, moon over courtyard
Venice at Night

All photos by Nancy Baker

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