Category Archives: General comment
Isola San Giorgio Maggiore – Palladian style, Papal Chapels and much more beautiful Venetian glass to admire …
A five minute boat ride from Saint Mark’s and you are dropped off on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. We didn’t know what to expect, and got so much more than we thought. Sublime architecture, trees, architect-designed Papal Chapels of startling composition, a colourful, curvy glass wall and a stunning collection of glass in the museum. Well worth the excursion.
Categories: General comment • Tags: Glass, Isola San Giorgio Maggiore, Papal Chapels, Venice
Padua/Padova – fantastic markets, cathedrals and Europe’s oldest Botanic Garden, laid out in 1545 – with later glasshouse
A short train ride from Venice to Padua/Padova (for the natives). Very strange to have to deal with cars and bicycles after a few days entrenched in Venice. A beautiful city, especially under continuing clear blue skies. Absolutely fantastic markets in the centre of town – a foodie’s dream – and at last a nod towards my horticultural heartland. Padua’s Botanic Gardens were laid out in 1545 and remain pretty much unchanged in plan throughout the intervening centuries. Meticulously […]
Categories: General comment • Tags: fruit and vegetable markets, Italy, Padova, Padua, Padua Botanic Garden, Venice
Ai Weiwei & Memphis at Palazzo Franchetti, Venice
Last seen in Amsterdam at least 25 years ago, it was good to meet up with the insanity that is Memphis, 80s furniture and fabrics in brilliant and bold colour and pattern. Especially when sitting in, in striking contrast, in such a beautiful building. Perfect timing for us as the exhibition is due to close next week. Ai Weiwei’s Gilded Cage overlooking the Accademia Bridge over the Grand Canal.
Categories: General comment • Tags: Ai Weiwei, Gilded Cage, Memphis, Palazzo Franchetti, Venice
Murano and Burano
Murano first and a good look inside the Glass Museum, the permanent collection as well as the Mario Bellini exhibition. Then on to its more colourful neighbour, Burano …
Categories: General comment • Tags: Burano, Glass, Lace, Lagood, Mario Bellini, Murano, Venice
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection/Palazzo Cini, Venice
A modest mansion on the Grand Canal, one floor, with a wide stone terrace fronting the canal, and a courtyard garden behind, and what a collection. Palazzo Cini is nearby, with much to admire in both the building and its contents –
Categories: General comment
Carry on up the Campanile … a bird’s eye view of Venice – and a Vaporetti along the Grand Canal
Definitely beating the crowds, in Mid November. Bright beautiful blue skies, warm in the sunshine but quite nippy out of it, but space to breathe and get around. It is over thirty years since I was in Venice – more likely around 1985 – and then it was only a day trip from the camp site in Florence. This visit was a full eight nights, plenty of time to explore, get lost, get lost again, and to soak up the […]
Categories: General comment • Tags: Venice
A little tour of Venice …
Well, rather more than a little tour – and this is part one from a week’s holiday in Venice. I have edited, seriously edited, these images from just slightly more than 3000, to a few hundred. And horticulture is, I have to admit, quite limited in these watery parts. Some beautiful balconies, and one or two private gardens that can be glimpsed through ornate gateways. One park, a tree-lined island and in a new post a trip to Padua, and […]
Categories: General comment • Tags: Venice
