Venice – Campo Sant’ Agnese and the Purloined Rio

The island of Sant’ Agnese, in Venice’s Sestiere Dorsoduro, is unidentifiable as such today.  On its north end, the island was extended across the pond now remembered by a street, Piscina Fornier (“piscina” denotes “pond”), and land further developed to edge a corseted Grand Canal.  To the south, it was straightened and sculpted to continue the long run of the wide Zattere.

To the east, the ponds and marshes that demarked the sunrise side of the island were also swallowed up by reclamation and development, observed today only by street names Piscina Sant’Agnese and Piscina Venier. 

The island was then extended even further east to be delineated by Fondamente Venier at a realigned and straightened Rio de San Vio (the Venetian “San Vio” is a contraction of Ss. Vito e Modestus).

North to the Carita and Grand Canal (c)2012 Randy D. Bosch

It is on Sant’ Agnese’s west side that the identifying feature has been totally erased.

The canal that was the main focus of island community life, faced by Campo Sant’ Agnese and the Chiesa, has not only been filled in, but renamed – Rio Terra Gesuati and Rio Terra Antonio Foscarini.

The high walls of the Gesuati church (Santa Maria del Rosario) and the monastery of Santa Maria della Carita’ (now the Accademia) complete the relatively new purloining of identity and wall off the neighborhood from the world.

The High Wall - Gesuati (c)2012 Randy D. Bosch

Still, this little enclave founded in the 900′s, perhaps a fill-in community on the broad expanse of less than desirable land between San Gregorio and San Trovaso, survives in a new form with new uses, busy shops near the north end and a major University across most of the middle.

The Rio Terre on the west side have been enhanced to become a very pleasant, tree-line esplanade in the stretch between the high institutional walls.

Campo Sant’ Agnese is a shady, quiet oasis along the major thoroughfare from the Accademia bridge to the shore of the vast Guidecca Canal.  A little view to the Guidecca Canal removes any sense of claustrophobia from the space, while also allowing the cooling breezes to enter into it.  The church also remains.

Campo e Chiesa Sant'Agnese (c)2012 Randy D. Bosch

Chiesa Sant’ Agnese was probably founded sometime in the 900′s.  The basilica form structure with its apse at the traditional east end that exists today is a rebuilding and restoration of a second building erected in the 11th and early 12th Centuries.  After suppression by the French, and a period of private use, the facility is apparently now a chapel/auditorium for a nearby institution.

On a hot Venetian summer day, after a brutal walk on the exposed Zattere or long hours in the Accademia, escape the heat and the noise by venturing into Campo Sant’Agnese, find a shady bench, and ponder its lost identity…

While you ponder your place in the wondrous landscape of Venice.

Venice – Campo San Canzian – Church and Campo are One!

Draped Like a Shawl

Campo San Canzian in the eastern part of Sestiere Cannaregio, Venice, is draped like a shawl around the church dedicated to Santi Canziano, Canzio, e Canzionello, better known around Venice as San Canzian (thank you!).  The ancient surrounding island community was founded by refugees from a major Roman city on the mainland, perhaps Aquileia, before the 864 A.D. date set for the first parish church.  The three commemorated saints, Canziano, Canzio and Canzionello, were martyred around Aquileia soon after 300 A.D.  Between then and the development of that new Venetian village, the mainland inhabitants grew weary of the threats and real depredations of trans-Alpine invaders and sought refuge and a new life in the safe Lagoon.  The church was last rebuilt in the 16th Century and the front facade visible to us today was completed shortly after 1700.

Finding San Canzian

From either the Rialto or Strada Nova, upon reaching the main artery segment of Salizzada San Girolamo Grisostomo, turn northeast at Campiello Corner onto Salizzada San Canzian (some signs and maps call it “San Chianciano”) and a few short “blocks” will bring you to Campo San Canzian.  Campo Santa Maria Nova is a few steps away to the southeast.

The Sign Says Campo – Where is It?

San Canzian - Where is the Campo? (c)2012 Randy D. Bosch

When you arrive, you may ask “Where is the Campo?”, since the open space with pozzi next to the church is quite small.  In fact, the Campo name is also applied to the calle in front of the church and to the small pozzi enhanced open space on the northwest side, a campo so narrow in front that the entirely of the facade is almost impossible to view.  The Church occupies the Campo.  Several commentators, including J. G. Links in his fine book “Venice for Pleasure” (see the “Bibliography” page), note that the narthex of the church is virtually part of the Campo, with the doors on either side linking the segmented open space as well as the street in front of it.  In a rare instance in Venice…

The Campo and the Church are One

Traghetto Terminal (c)2012 Randy D. Bosch

The northwest lobe of the Campo opens onto Rio dei Santi Apostoli, a major route from the Rialto to the North Lagoon.

Immediately across the Rio over Ponte San Canciano toward Calle della Malvasia, Calle de Traghetto was formed as a colonnaded sottoportego/fondamente that was a major “traghetti terminal” for transportation to the island of Murano prior to completion of Fondamente Nova.

What a bustling place this must have been!

Chaotic City, Contemplative Calm

The church provides a peaceful, contemplative respite from the busy traffic moving around it.

Inside Chiesa San Canzian (c)2012 Randy D. Bosch

The interior wall finishes and materials are rather dark and heavy, but instead of making the church gloomy and foreboding, they help the structure itself shine as a wonderful container for the messages shared by the art and through the worship that takes pace within it.  As you step inside, out of the busy stream of traffic, sit a while and consider the purpose of this sacred place, that emanates from…

The Peace That Passes Understanding 

Innovation: What is It?

Innovate?  What does innovate really mean and entail?  When is it useful, even necessary?  In media and in the pubic realm, Innovation has become a devalued buzz-word for anything that you want to do that someone else has already done…even you, with little success or a lot of failure.   We are a stubborn and prideful lot!

In truth you are merely using a different jargon, a different title and proclaiming it a brand as if that really makes it an innovation and you an innovator.  After all,…

“There is nothing new under the sun”. 

There is such a thing as innovation.  The leading student and teacher of “branding” today (no, not cattle, and not the buzzword) is Tom Asacker.  Just the other day he posted an excellent article about the proper perception of, distinction between and applications for branding and innovation on his site A Clear Eye, “Innovate on Purpose” (linked at http://bit.ly/xAXQgc ).  Whatever your pursuits in life, I strongly urge you to read that article, learn and apply.

Are you affronted, insulted by such a proclamation that you are confused about the meaning and purpose of innovation?  Perhaps the Cinderella Theory applies,…

“If the shoe fits, wear it”!  

Architect, urbanist and futurist Leon Krier proclaimed that…

“Innovation = Confusion of Genre”

That interesting definition was discussed in my post of a similar name, “Innovation: A Confusion of Genre” in 2010, and is still worth your time to read (linked at http://wp.me/pVUDj-Jg ).  Leon Krier continued, “Pluralism marks the moment in history when despair and private obsession replace culture.”  Among other affects, that is one outcome of the hijacking of innovation.

Too much talk about “Innovation” seems to have as its goal, whether intentional or not, to turn innovation into something it is not, to convert its use and understanding into a synonym for…what?  Creativity?  Fail Fast?  Just another job title on the “org chart” and a task on the “To Do” check list?  That is the illusion used to promote special purpose, self-centered agendas that have failed on their own merits.

The result is a mutation of our understanding of innovation, a skewed view  that has reclassified it to become “Anything before today that I didn’t think of first”.

Innovating! (c)2012 Randy D. Bosch

How is “innovation” best defined?  Tom Asacker did a great job in his article.  My “low brow” (non-innovative) research had churned up quite a few definitions.  A summation may provide a global definition of innovation that you can sink your teeth into, or too much more than a mouthful to digest!

Innovation

The generating of an idea and subsequent creation of something never done, experienced or created before, a device, product, process or new way of doing something that is advanced, perhaps ahead of the times…

– at best even forward-looking (strive for that!) –

…resulting from study and experimentation and accomplished through either incremental and emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations that translate knowledge into economic growth and social well-being encompassing a range of scientific, technological, organizational, financial and commercial activities implemented by social influence through clear and confident exposition.

Now, if only I can innovate a shorter sentence for that!

Do Something About It!

As I have written before (and probably will again and again), an extremely good start can be found by studying Roger von Oech‘s two eminently readable (and fun!), timeless and forward-looking books about how to innovate (even just how to think and do!), “A Kick in the Seat of the Pants” and “A Whack on the Side of the Head”, listed on the “RenaissanceRules” Bibliography page.

Of course, one final little lesson bears repeating (it is proclaimed at the top of this page)…

Action is the New Competence!

Venice Impressions

A few, incomplete, unranked, unordered impressions that I noted in my Moleskine journal when leaving Venice in early October, 2011, a task like attempting to sketch falling leaves in Autumn.  Ah, the delight of the work their consideration portends!

I would love for you to share yours in return!

1. The contrast between the unurbanized velme and barene and the islands of humanity in the vast Lagoon.
2. The difficulty in grasping images and the lure of fleeting vistas, while traversing the narrow, focused calli.
3. So many striking skyline landmarks glimpsed through the stone forest of buildings.
4. The starkness of campi when not brought to life by cafes, kiosks, markets, and people gathered for food, conversation and play.
5. The unreal peacefulness of the gardens, and the stunning size of older trees.
6. The late hour at which the City awakens.
7. The mysteries of so many untraditional building orientations.
8. The Rii Terra obscuring centuries of urban pattern.
9. The transiency and flexibility of occupancy in buildings sacred and secular, public and private.
10. The immense scale and impact of historical religious communities – chiesi, monastari and monachi.
11. The number and richness of private courts and cloisters.
12. Meaning and grace in the 3-dimensionality of movement – over bridges, into and out of rii and canali, and through campi.
13. The vertical and horizontal modulation of spaces.
14. Formalized casualness.
15. Performance art, both ritualized and spontaneous.
16. The warm, graceful inclusion and celebration of visitors guests who respect and share.
17. Common courtesy in constrained circumstance and its corollary, the avarice of those who deny others’ personal space.
18. Energy and urgency without haste or distress.
19. The hubristic incompetence of the naive or intentionally unprepared.
20. Being a flaneur* in Venice is hard work…

“Venice is Not for the Lazy!”

Caution! - Flaneur at Work - Venice (c)2012 Randy D. Bosch

* flaneur:    One in a process of navigating erudition (Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s ”why I walk” in the The Black Swan – see Bibliography page).  “A person who walks the city in order to experience it.” – Charles Baudelair.  Combine those with “A person with a complete philosophical way of living and thinking”, and you might have it!

 Now go and do!

 

Vivaldi’s Neighborhood

Campo de la Bragora (now Campo Bandiera e Moro) in Venice’s Sestiere di Castello is physically very close to the broad, busy Riva degli Schiavonni, between Rio de la Pieta and Rio Ca’ di Oro, but separated just far enough to maintain an atmosphere of relative peace and tranquility.

Campo Bandiera e Moro (de la Bragora) (c)2012 Randy D. Bosch

The Campo was originally named after its parish church, San Giovanni Battista en Bragora, founded in around 640 on one of the islands Gemelle (The Twins) or “en bragora”, perhaps a reclaimed brushy marshy area just adjacent to the Twins.  It was one of the “Magnus” Churches of eight authorized by Saint Magnus, the first Bishop of Venice.

For a while, the campo was known as Piazza Bandiera e Moro until the early 20th Century, when it was demoted to a mere “campo”!

Perhaps San Marco became jealous!

A brief stroll up Calle del Dose (street of the Doge) leads you into the large space, lined with a few shops and a cafe on the west side and hotels in palazzi on the north side.  Antonio Vivaldi, composer, director and girls’ chorale teacher supreme, reportedly was born in a house adjacent to the Calle and baptised in the church on the campo, San Giovanni Battista en Bragora.  Since he spent almost all of his professional life as a musician-priest around the corner at La Pieta, this is…

“Vivaldi’s Neighborhood”.

Three Martyred Patriots

Brothers Attilo and Emilio Bandiera and their friend Domenico Moro, Venetian patriots, were betrayed, captured in a raid against the Austrian Navy far south of Venice in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and executed in 1844.  Campo de la Bragora was renamed Campo Bandiera e Moro in the honor of this national martyrs after Venice and the Veneto were freed from the Austrian yoke and became part of the unified Italy.

Chiesa San Giovanni Battista en Bragora

The church has been rebuilt several times since its founding, in the first instance to house relics of St. John the Baptist, and the last – the Gothic edifice that you see today – completed in around 1475.  A renovation in the early 1700′s added some Baroque details.

San Giovanni Battista en Bragora (c)2012 Randy D. Bosch

The interior is well worth a leisurely visit, and is where Antonio Vivaldi was baptised on March 4, 1678.

The alterpiece painting is “The Baptism of Christ”, with Christ and John the Baptist, by Cima da Conegliano.

You will notice the lack of a campanile outside – it either fell or was knocked down hundreds of years ago and replaced with the graceful wall-style belfry that you see today.

 

 

Life on the Campo

Campo de la Bragora - Jacopo di'Barberi - 1500 (2)

The Palazzo Gritti Badoer, now occupied by Hotel La Residenza, towers over the north side of the Campo, remarkably intact since Jacopo di’Barberi illustrated it in 1500 as part of his famous “View of Venice”.  The Fifteenth Century facade has Byzantine detailing still visible despite a heavy-handed restoration in the 18th Century.

A copse of trees mid-campo contrasts with the rather austere southeast corner in front of the church.  Yet, that spare corner serves well for children’s pick-up ball games.

A Paradox

Whether coming from Piazza San Marco along the broad Riva, or down Salizzada Antonin from il Greci or Salizzada del Pignator from la Vigna,  stroll into Campo Bandiera e Moro and stay a while.  This a wonderful place to enjoy civilized living in, paradoxically,…

la Bragora.

The Sociability of Art

Buying art as a gift for others is not to be done casually just to convey a “pretty picture”, but to share a message or experience, identify a relationship, demonstrate an understanding, or make a statement – The Sociability of Art!

Hugh MacLeod, of “gapingvoid” (TM)(c) fame (“cartoonist/blogger/provocateur”,  www.gapingvoid.com – caution for occassional “adult” language) stated that there is a “totemic” value to such a gift: to send a message, remind the giver and the receiver of the energy and idea in the artwork for the many years that it might be visible and enjoyed by them.

"The Sentinel" by Randy D. Bosch (c)2011

He intends the definition of totemic to mean a venerated emblem or symbol, not a quasi-religious item.

Hugh MacLeod’s statement is in a broader scope interiew about Hugh’s art and society as he sees it, on ”Rethink with Paul Barron” on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=dQQSXrjjnz0  – an interview about Hugh’s 2011 book “Evil Plans” – a provocative title, but the “evil” is from those who would denigrate your creativity and plans for developing your art (“Evil Plans – Having Fun on the Road to World Domination”, Portfolio / Penguin, New York, 2011) which followed his bestseller, ”Ignore Everybody”.

Both of his books speak to the attacks by critics, competition, even friends and family, on your creative work, and how he learned to overcome them and persevere in his work.

Anything that is gifted merely because an occassion “demands” a gift, and anytime a gift is selected without foreknowledge of a person’s or institution’s values, intentions, aspirations and needs, is an offering unworthy of the giver and an affront to the recipient.

Something to keep in mind.

Mate Winery – Montalcino – Oh, The Wines!

White Roads

At Santa Maria Refugio, along a “white road” that is off of a “white road” between Montalcino and Poggio alle Mura (Banfi) in Tuscany, we searched for Mate Winery.

Monte Amiata Across Tuscan Vineyards (c)2012 R.D.Bosch

The famous “white roads” of Tuscany are those shown as a double black line without color between the lines, almost always unpaved, and often requiring extreme driving!.  For those of you who live in the Rocky Mountains, consider them to just be a normal daily routine, and a barrier to the casual, unwanted tourist.

In those days before formal tastings and visits, before a website with excellent directions for arrival ( www.matewine.com ), we had an e-mail invitation from Candace Mate to visit on one day or another in late September a while ago – just call ahead by cell phone when date and time could be confirmed!  As we approached (with enough pre-journey web-based geographical research to conclude only ”somewhere around here”), contact could not be made, but we determined to persevere!  Once up the “this must be it” road brought us in a cloud of dust into a villa compound where two distinguished gentlemen were in earnest discussion.  The place and the people did not fit the images, so back down the road we went and off to nearby Montalcino for pranza.

Since a visit to nearby Banfi Vineyards is always a special event, back down and up the same roads we went, again into the same concluding courtyard.  The two men were still talking!

Dolce far niente!

…yet such discussions may resolve the mysteries of life and the universe, so do not interrupt them!

Skulking back down the road (can cars “skulk”?), we noted one quiet driveway marked by two cobblestone columns, without signs — the last unexplored possibility.  Up we went into vineyards.  What was the worst that could happen – they could shoot us (well…)?  Near the top of the steep, rocky drive, past vineyards ripe for harvest (in fact, harvest was underway), we saw a tall, distinguished man standing even further up the hill.  He was waving his arms at us in either warning or welcome…

At least, no shotgun was evident!

Approaching, window down, we lurched to a stop on the grade, alongside someone who looked exactly like the picture on the back cover of a book we had read and loved,  Ferenc Mate!  After a little hesitation (harvest was on-going, you know, and who were we?), he directed us to a place to park and toward the Cantinawhere Candace would come to greet us.

Learning from Timeless Tuscany

The best method of learning about this special place and the people who have brought it back to usefulness – and in a spectacular way – is to read Ferenc Mate’s books about the family’s life as expatriates in Tuscany.  How did the hardy yachtsman and fine yacht expert (and author of great books and photography of extraordinary yachts and anchorages world-wide – see their website) and his extremely talented watercolor artist wife Candace end up on this hill, planting, picking, hauling and crushing grapes – and making truly wonderful wine?

Begin with The Hills of Tuscany: A New Life in an Old Land, then follow the story of reclaiming their land for viticulture and home in A Vineyard in Tuscany: A Wine Lover’s Dream, and segue into The Wisdom of Tuscany: Simplicity, Security, and the Good Life for insights into their life in Tuscany, lessons learned, and parallels to your life wherever and however you may live or dream to live (The three volumes were republished in 2011 as “Tuscan Trilogy”, Albatross Press at W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, but are available individually).

Red Wines!  (Oh, The Wines!)

These rugged hills hide 2000 year old Roman vineyard terraces reclaimed and replanted after centuries of neglect, nurtured, coddled, and challenged, were brought back to produce extraordinary world-class wines with expert help – Fabrizio Moltard, agronomist to Angelo Gaja, and clone selections by Pierre Guillaume.

Sheila and Candace at the Cantina, Mate (c)2012 R.D.Bosch

We were extremely blessed to be hosted by talented artist (the labels on Mate wines are her work) and winemaker Candace Mate, who pulled away from the hard and immediate work of prime harvest time to join us in their modern winery – the Cantina.  She led us through a tasting of their most recent releases.  We learned more in an hour than we had during many, many winery visits elsewhere over the years.  And, of course, the wines were far more than remarkable, they were (and remain) extraordinary!

Current releases of what we tasted then include:

Brunello di Montalcino 2005 – a “Top 100 Italian Wines 2010″ (Golosaria), and a Finalist – 3 Glasses – Gambero Rosso (Vini d’Italia);

Brunello di Montalcino 2006 – 95 points - Wine Spectator and James Suckling;

Banditone - Syrah – 92 points – Wine Spectator;

Cabernet Sauvignon – 92 points  – Wine Enthusiast;

Merlot / Mantus – 90 points – Wine Enthusiast (perhaps our favorite, but what a difficult choice!);

Albatro - Sangiovese/ Merlot – 90 points – Wine Spectator;

…and a wonderful Rosso di Montalcino.

Savoring the Best at Mate Winery (c)2012 R.D.Bosch

If you are not familiar with where “Rosso” fits in the Tuscan wine hierarchy, look up Brunello di Montalcino (the Montalcino premium wine) or Vino Nobile di Montepulciano (the Montepulciano premium wine) to read and learn the history, culture and necessity (!) of wine in earlier history.  Both of those wines are made from different sangiovese clones with long lineages, and are related to the sangiovese of the Chianti Classico wine region.

If you acquire some of this extraordinary wine, since we receive no compensation or gratuity for bringing it to your attention or your purchase, think of a truly Renaissance couple, Ferenc and Candace, remember us kindly and…

Save a bottle for us — Please!

Special Recognition for “RenaissanceRules”

The creator of a most wonderful blog about Venice, Italy, has graciously nominated me for the work about Venice that I have posted here on “RenaissanceRules”. 

I am humbled by being included in the roll of past recipients of this honor, and expect that it will impel me to a higher level of content about La Serenissima.  Yvonne’s blog, “Hello World” calls http://ytaba36.wordpress.com/  Home, and visitors are always most welcome – please drop on by and say “Hello” back to her!  I always look forward to seeing it “pop up” in my e-mail and WordPress in-baskets, for I know that new adventures about Venice and other parts of the world dear to her will be shared.

The rules of receiving the award compel me to nominate 5 blogs that I also find very rewarding, and to inform the authors of the recognition I have shared with them.  That is a very difficult and humbling task, given the great people and great blogs out there today.

For example, all of the blogs that Yvonne nominated would be on my list (including hers, of course!), so I will first attempt to broaden your understanding of my favorites – but please also check the “Links” tab to see even more – all excellent!  I have not placed these in any order, neither rank nor alphabetical.  I’ve never found a total list of past recipients, so if I duplicate a nomination, please consider it yet another dose of fondness for your stories and photographs!

Please drop by and taste the wonders of Venice as seen through the eyes and words of a few of its great admirers:

• Churches in Venice: Annie Atwell’s wonderfully written and photographed homage to the fabulous churches of Venice.  She has now been in at least 79 of the 149 still there! http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/annienc/ .
• Fictional Cities – Venice: Jeff Cotton’s encyclopaedic site includes Venice, Florence and London, but of course I am highlighting Venice here:  http://www.fictionalcities.co.uk/venice.htm .  He is on his way toward writing reviews of every fiction book and movie (and a healthy dollop of non-fiction as well) produced about La Serenissima in modern times!  A wonderful resource to guide your own fictional adventures there!
• Italy to Los Angeles and Back: Marie Nardin has lived in Venice for twenty years, and writes wonderful posts about life and travels there and throughout Italy.  A wonderful read, at http://www.italytolosangelesandback.blogspot.com/ .
• Strabela Venexia: A wonderful Swedish writer shares her stories of Venice from a unique and graceful view, at http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fstrabelavenexia.blogspot.com%2F%2F .
• The Other Venice: Walter Fano writes about and shares illustrations of  Venice’s fabulous 1-1/2 millennium history and culture, greatly enriching his reader’s understanding from far away, and provides an informed joy that walks with you when you are there.    http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&langpair=it%7Cen&rurl=translate.google.com&u=http://laltravenezia.blogspot.com/ .

As Yvonne notes, there are too many wonderful blogs about Venice and too little time!  A very nice dilemma!  Please also visit Yvonne’s nominator and nominee sites, too, linked through “Hello World” at http://ytaba36.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/thank-you-fausto-and-maite/ .

And, again,

Grazie mille, Yvonne!

 

The Borgoloco in Venice

Borgoloco is one of the many place names found in Venice that causes continuous conjecture, endless searches in glossaries, attempts to define through translation sites, and absolute mis-representations based upon post-modern business and visitor uses that further obscure something quite important for those interested in the history and community development of Venice.

Someone will have a better “translation”, but “borgoloco” appears to come from

• Borgo for village or hamlet; and,
• loco for native place.

Still, that seems redundant.

Some current writers opine that it must be “place of lodging”, with the only justification that I can find being that there may at one time have been – and certainly are today – places of lodging there.  There is another viewpoint, however.  Throughout much of Italy, Borgo appears as part of the name of many towns and villages.  Borgo San Lorenzo in the Mugello, the upper valley of the Sieve River north of Firenze comes to mind, the ancient market town in the upper valley with an even older church that we visited one night long ago.  In Tuscany, at least, a village that never had businesses or a market is not a borgo.

The name “borgoloco” was applied to few places in Venice.  I have only found two extant applications, with adjacent calle or bridges related to them:

• Borgoloco:  An entire (but small) island in Sestiere Castello just northwest of Campo Santa Maria Formosa, accessed from there across Ponte Borgoloco onto Calle di Borgoloco.  That street intersects the island’s largest open space, Borgo Pompeo Molmenti, re-named in honor of a famous Venetian historian and literary figure who apparently was born in a house adjacent to it and died in 1928.

Borgo Pompeo Molmenti (c)2011 R.D.Bosch

Here is a riddle for Venetian students and wanderers:

What was the official name for that space before it was renamed to honor Pompeo Molmenti?

• Borgoloco San Lorenzo: A calle in Castello on Isola San Severo, running across the island from Rio Di San Severo to Rio San Lorenzo where it crosses a bridge directly into Campo San Lorenzo on the adjacent island to the east.

Pompeo Molmenti’s home Isola Borgoloco is one of the smallest remaining inhabited islands in the main part of Venice, never absorbed into an adjacent community by intention or by creation of a Rio Terra – the filling in of a canal or rio.

Sestiere di Castello – Isola Borgoloco Near Far West (Left) Edge – by “Warofdreams”, CCL

It is the home to a few famous palazzi that reflect in their names the reason that Venetian history is often so hard to follow:

Palazzo Soranzo-Van Axel: Soranzo built this on a predecessor Palazzo Gradenigo, and his house was later owned in succession by members of the Venier, Sanudo, Van Axel and Baruzzi families.  By the way, it is reputed to have the oldest surviving wooden door in Venice.  We were privileged to see the fine corte and stair, along with an upper floor, during the 2009 Biennale di Arte when the extraordinary Mexico Pavilion was housed therein.

Palazzo Castelli: Previously owned by members of the Corner and then Pisani families;

Palazzo Zacco.

The bridges, other than Ponte del Borgoloco, also help perpetuate the fog of history, with Ponte delle Erbe formerly called Ponte Pisani, for example.  The street Borgoloco Santa Maria Formosa, by the bridge Ponte di Ca’ Zusto, leads to the Isola, into Calle di Borgoloco, with a branch of it sometimes called Calle del Dose after Doge Nicolo Martello who was born near it…

Hopefully in a Palazzo named Martello (then).

Venice – The Guilds

In his wonderful book “Venice – The City and Its Architecture” (Phaidon Press Limited, London, 1997, pp.214+ff), Richard Goy sets forth an informative history of the guilds of Venice.

Scuola Grande di San Marco (c)2011 R.D.Bosch

Most of the Venetian guilds supported specific trades, crafts and arts, providing training to neophytes, continuing education to those becoming more proficient at their work, setting performance standards for that work, and representing the specialty to the City and to patrons.  Many of them also had a philanthropic side, related to the Church or to public welfare and education in various ways.

The largest of the guilds, or scuoli, were confraternities that existed to support schools, hospitals, orphanages, poorhouses, and the like.  Members were primarily from the merchant and trader section of society, often wealthy.  Many of their charitable public operations were taken over by government after the Napoleonic conquest whose policy was that dispensing many of those services would best be publicly controlled.

Other guilds were church oriented, not for trades or professions, lay-member groups supporting a specific Order, church, charity, monasteries or monache in Venice and abroad.

Over time, only a handful of Scuoli Grande were authorized, standing out above the 920 piccolo scuoli (small ones – not all at one time), and sometimes several around the city representing the same trade – but over the life of the Republic of Venice.

Two of the “piccolo” were elevated to “grande“, one very late in the life of the Republic, and therefore “rose above” being “mere” trade or welfare guilds.

• San Todaro: The guild of mercers and allied crafts including makers of gloves, hats, mirrors, stationary, luxury goods and the source of the name “Merceria” for a major commercial calle in Sestiere San Marco.  Their building is located on Campo San Salvador near the Rialto in Sestiere San Marco.  The easiest access is during (paid) performances of musical groups, particularly a Vivaldi group.
• Santa Maria del Carmine: Founded in 1594 and elevated to Grande in 1767, located near the Carmine church and monastery in a fascinating free-standing building.  The elaborate, art-filled building – second only to Scuola Grande di San Rocco in grandeur – can be visited for a small fee.

One piccolo ranked with those two at the top of the group in influence, but was never elevated – San Girolamo e San Fantin.

Scuolo di Ss. Apostoli (c)2011 R.D.Bosch

Most of the scuoli did not have the wealth, size or desire to construct dedicated buildings.  Many did endow altars or other works within churches.

The Arsenalotti crafts had a number of guilds based upon ship-building and outfitting specialites, including Ropemakers (1233), Sawyers (1262), Stonemasons (1307), and Carpenters/Builders (1271).

Again, guilds were located all over the City: The mercers and cabinet-makers between the Rialto and Piazza San Marco; goldsmiths and spice-dealers close to the Rialto in Sestiere San Polo, for example.  Many had people scattered all over and picked a spot that suited them for a period of time and then moved on: building trades, boatbuilders, vintners, bakers included.  The Calzolai (calegheri/shoemakers) at San Toma (with the German branch later housed on Calle de la Botteghe near Campo Santo Stefano); the Varotari (tanners) at Campo Santa Margherita after being persuaded to relocate a short distance to allow the expansion of the Carmine complex; more Battjoro (goldbeaters) at San Stae, woolworkers at Santo Stefano, builders at San Samuele, painters at Santa Sofia.  The list is endless, and individual locations often moved numerous times!

Gateway - Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista (c)2011 R.D.Bosch

We have, to date been able to visit the interior of most of the Scuoli Grande: San Rocco(behind the Frari), San Marco (now the Hospital entrance at Campo San Zanipolo), Carmini, Apostoli, and Nuovo Scuolo Grande Dei Misericordia (across the rio from Santa Maria in Valverde, Cannaregio, where the older scuole building still stands, and Carita (now the entrance hall and first gallery of the Accademia).  Although we have poked and prodded around the sixth, San Giovanni Evangelista in western Sestiere San Polo at the site of the extremely old Ospizio Badoer, we have yet to get beyond the fabulous gated courtyard.

Richard Goy shared a pointed condemnation of the over-the-top building and art programs of the Scuoli Grande, written by Alessandro Caravia in his 1541 rant Il Sogno di Caravia (Caravia’s Dream):

“Four-score thousand ducats they happily spend

When no more than six would achieve the same end.”

“What’s due to the poor is splashed out in vast Oceans

On building, but certainly not on Devotions.”

There is no “expire” date stamped on over-the-top expenditure – even when the largess precedes the 16th Century -  and many of the results are still on display to feast our eyes today – outside and inside with the extraordinary work of great masters of painting and scuptor.  Visit the open Scuoli Grande and…

Enjoy the dolci!