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| It's an open secret in Venice that no work of any kind is going on behind that large ad in the background: it is purely a billboard, a money-making venture for i musei civici under the pretense of "necessary maintenance" |
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| Watching the afternoon pass outside Caffè Florian... |
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| ...and on the other side of the Piazza, with a lesser sense of ease, outside Gran Caffè Quadri |
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| Feeding the multitudes (with gelato) |
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| Three soldier boys |
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| Cover charge includes a famous view, but no cover from this afternoon's imperious sun |
Does that Max Mara ad really read "Greed never goes out of fashion"? If so, that, coupled with the 2 signs that flank it (Caro) tell a delicious tale of irony, or something!
ReplyDeleteIs the dreaded ugly encrustation gone from the foot of the campanile?
I was wondering if anyone would notice that, Yvonne, and I shouldn't be surprised that you were the first one: as you don't miss a thing in Venice, even from afar. I actually inserted it after the fact, as a bit of "truth in advertising". Considering that it was a large group of international museum directors & architects who in 2010 vigorously expressed their displeasure with the huge billboards in places like the Piazza, I find it particularly galling that the museum directors of Venice's own musei civici have no problem with hugely defacing it; after all, aren't these the people who are supposed to protect the city's "cultural heritage"?
DeleteBy the way, I now understand that the billboards on the Bridge of Sighs were also kept up long after the work was done. A friend said Il Gazzettino did a piece on this.
But policy is now dictated by "economic necessity", right? "Economic necessity" which is usually manipulated and intentionally created and, if need be, falsified in order to justify the desired privately profitable policy...
And, no, "il gabbiotto" remains, though it appears to be out of business.
Grazie per il giro, you took some wonderful photos. I am reminded now why I prefer visiting Venice in the Winter and avoid it during the summer!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Suzie; I'm glad the pics confirmed the wisdom of your choice of winter as the time to visit. I largely avoid the Piazza for much of the year, except at night or early morning, so I went specifically to see what I usually don't see. It was interesting in that sense but, yes, winter has much to recommend it.
DeleteWe were shocked to see the cut-price gift shops under the colonnade last time we came. It used to have VERY exclusive shops with no prices on anything. Nice to look in the windows though. The new shops must 'pile 'em up and sell' em cheap' to pay what I guess must be exorbitant rents. They're a bit of an eyesore.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to have to make a point of really looking at the shops next time, Andrew, as I've fallen into the bad habit of looking at too much of the Piazza through something like my eyelashes, metaphorically-speaking: not wanting to take in things like the shops in too much detail, perhaps for fear of what I might see (the billboards alone make me want to quite literally close my eyes while I walk through it). I realized that's a silly thing to do, which is one reason I made a point of going to it on a Sunday afternoon, when I normally would have avoided it. I'll have to go in search of those eyesores under the arcade you mention; they're not likely to be hard to find.
DeleteQuadri side
DeleteThat explains it, Andrew. Perhaps because that side tends to be even more crammed than the Florian side, it's only recently that I've really taken in the Gran Quadri itself, as well as the Olivetti store (now museum).
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