We turn right out my gate, onto this street and walk about halfway down
We take the first left and cross the bridge.
On the other side of the bridge, we hang a right. This canal hits the Giudecca Canal at the far end, under the bridge. To the right is the building where Ruskin lived in Venice.
At the bridge on the Fondamenta agli Incurabili, we will hang a left.
Giudecca, across the Giudecca canal.
The stretch of waterfront we are walking along is called the "Zattere agli incurabili." Zattere literally means pontoons or rafts, and the entire south flank of Venice is a continuous waterfront promenade where it was once thick with commerce. The "incurabili" refers to a long gone facility for the terminally infirm.
Carved stone and glass door facing the water
Redentore across Giudecca Canal. Palladio was finally successful in harmonizing his superimposed Roman facades with the nave-and-aisle style of basilica enforced by the Church. The Papacy prevented churches from resembling pagan spaces, i.e., Roman temples; but Palladio trumped them.
On the left, Zattere continues. On the right, Giudecca.
Just another pretty face.
The Zattere doglegs to the left.
Linea D'ombra, a very fine restaurant with spectacular views and prices to match. Beyond their deck, yachts moored off the Punta della Dogana.
Beyond Linea D'ombra, the final bridge. Peeking over it you can see the gold globe upon which Fortune stands, unfurling her sails to the winds.
Down the bridge to the Punta della Dogana
The Punta della Dogana
Medium-sized cruise ship obscures the horizon
To the right, Punta della Dogana offers the perfect view of San Giorgio Maggiore. Here, Palladio planned to go beyond Redentore and actually push the porch out toward the water like a real Roman temple. After he died the Benedictines changed their minds about the uncompleted facade and decided to go no further than Redentore, and had the facade superimposed rather than building it out.
Through the arches of the Dogana, to the left: San Marco.
The Punta della Dogana is shaped like a V, with the Giudecca canal on one side, and the Grand Canal on the other.
The Doge's palace, replete with billboard for Coin Department store, which although it calls itself "the Italian Department Store" is largely owned by Frenchmen.
Walk from the Punta della Dogana on the Grand Canal side, and you are confronted immediately with Santa Maria della Salute. Proust said of Salute that, like many mediocre buildings, it transcended itself by virtue of its location. I think he was right. Its octagonal shape is the closest a basilica had come to the round pagan perfection of the Pantheon; the architect, Baldessare Longhena, was 26 years old when he entered his design into a competition in 1630.
Doesn't look too crowded to me...
St. Mark's Basin
Five-star hotels line the Grand Canal; here, the Monaco, right and the Bauer, left.
Campanile, domes, mint, library, palace, (billboard), prisons, the footprint of the Venetian Republic for 1,000 years.
Salute from the side. The snail-shaped volutes, called "orecchione" -- big ears -- in Italian, are more than decorative; they buttress the supporting walls of the dome.
Santa Maria della Salute from the rear.
If we stand on this bridge behind Salute, to the left, in the distance, Giudecca and the Giudecca canal.
...to the right, toward the Grand Canal
Across the canal from Salute, the former Church of San Gregorio.
Heading back a different way...
Nice water door. Why are the wisteria still blooming in mid-August?
Over the bridge from Salute, heading back to the Zattere. Before we reach the bar on the right, we will hang a left.
One of my favorite streets in Venice.
My favorite house on one of my favorite streets...
...because it has such fine Gothic and Byzantine arches, and amazing timber work.
The light is different on the way back, Redentore is appropriately somber and dreamlike at the same time.
My new favorite ride, the No. 62, which goes from Giardini-Biennale to Zattere without making any stops, the Venice equivalent of an express line.
The Zattere looking toward Marghera, our own private New Jersey.
Back to my street...
Home sweet home.
