At Teatro Olimpico for Gian Francesco Malipiero’s Ecuba.
Even just a glancing familiarity with Greek mythology goes a long way in making sense of the goings on onstage. The opera, presented in concert form with no intermission and barely a pause between acts, is based on a 5th century BC Greek play by Euripides. It’s sung in Italian with no surtitles, no acting, and no stage sets. This leaves only Malpiero’s eloquent music to tell the story.
Brilliant as the entire performance was, all onstage were outshone by the very theatre itself. Teatro Olimpico is the star.
A perfect room. It’s a lovely room full of beautiful books and all kinds of interesting things.
I happily spent several hours here waiting to leave for our flight to Madrid.
The hotel staff thoughtfully sent us off with bottles of water and a pretty little box of cookies and chocolates for the drive to the airport.
Wednesday, 14.
I went down to breakfast for the first time in two days.
We then went to the town looking for somewhere to have lunch. A wonderful pastry shop called Il Chiosco- Francesco Ballico was just the ticket for sandwiches and gelato. It took all of our willpower to walk away from the delicious display of pint sized jars of Baba Rhum.
We thought we’d go and see the Duomo but it looked hot out there so we changed our minds, took the requisite pictures, and headed back to the villa to rest before the evening concert.
Tuesday, 13.
Still feeling enervated and I have no idea why. A quick drive was all I was ready for.
The nearby Villa Cornaro didn’t look interesting. And the one in Piombino Dese was at least an hour and a half away.
We knew that my favourite Villa Poiana wasn’t open on Tuesdays but I was happy to see it again even just from outside the gate.
Back in Villa Pisani, they were busy preparing for the evening concert in the garden. I enjoyed watching everything happening right outside our room. Chairs setting up on the lawn for the expected 400 people. Orchestra tuning up. Singer testing the sound system with Someone To Watch Over Me.
And later, it was sheer luxury lounging in my bathrobe, bedroom windows wide open, the orchestra striking up with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Monday, 12.,
Dear sweet Giada has brought me breakfast.
Spent all day in the room. Not feeling well.
Sunday, 11.
Last night’s highly anticipated dinner at the hotel’s restaurant Osteria del Guà, part of the reason we’ve chosen to stay here, was a total disappointment.
Doesn’t matter. The hotel is wonderful.
Saturday, June 10.
We’re staying at La Barchessa di Villa Pisani in Bagnolo di Lonigo, halfway between Vicenza and Verona.
This is a wonderful hotel in a glorious setting shared with Palladio’s Villa Pisani. Beautifully appointed, it is also exceptionally well-run.
Last full day in Lido. Tomorrow we drive to Vicenza.
I’m going to miss a lot of things in this place. The wonderful staff at the Ausonia, evening drinks at Lepanto, the low-level buzz at passeggiata, but most of all, I’ll miss lunch at Parco delle Rose and coffee and almond tart at Al Canton del Gallo.
In the evening, we have drinks at Lepanto then dinner at new place, Africa, as Andri is fully booked.
Wednesday, 7.
We’d planned to go to the Biennale in Arsenale for the Philippine Pavilion. I feel it my patriotic duty to be there, as a Filipino. I must try and appreciate my country’s display of our clogged esteros…
Anyway, in the end, we decided not to bother.
We went to Parco delle Rose for lunch instead. Their spaghetti alle vongole was very good. I’ll never eat at Roxy again.
We watched the final episode of “Breaking Bad” then tried to muddle through Visconti’s “Il Gattopardo”. The picture was no good and there were no subtitles so we gave up and went to Bar Lepanto.
Angio gave his usual salute as we walked in. The younger waiter greeted Stuart with a nod and a bright smile then gave me a pat on my shoulder as he walked past.
It was busy as usual.People at the table behind me were getting really noisy. Not rowdy noisy, just happy noisy. Everybody looked happy. Stuart and I decided that it would really be hard to be miserable in this place.
Dinner was at Andri. I had grilled fish- a local fish. And a glass of local white wine. I asked our waiter what his name is. Alessandro, he and Stuart said together, laughing. He’d already told me just a few minutes before.
It must be the wine, he said cheerfully. I was already drunk when we arrived, I said.
A busker outside was singing Sting's Fields of Gold. It’s that kind of place.
It’s been that kind of day. At the Lido.
Tuesday, 6.
At the Biennale.
Venice is for me always interesting but biennales are not a main draw. I see them mostly as either too disappointing or too difficult to appreciate properly.The crowds, the distances to walk, and the heat all demand the kind of dedication I don’t possess.
This biennale though has been a feel-good experience. A respite from the negativity that seems to be all around these days. An antidote to all the scepticism, fatalism, and pessimism I get from too much immersion in media, whether social or mainstream.
There is genius in demonstrating and displaying humanity’s goodness and its ability to accomplish meaningful things.
I love the Belgium exhibit about building materials manufactured by living organisms. Mushrooms to construction bricks!
I’m intrigued by the finely crafted architectural design models from Africa. They’re a lesson in perfection.
There are different strokes for different folks:
Hungary burnishes its country’s image with a richly embellished gilded pavilion.
Finland on the other hand chooses to demonstrate how to husband our planet’s freshwater resources with the huussi. It’sa dry toilet used in their remote locations and summer cottages.
A giant mobile hangs from the glass roof of the Giardini Central Pavilion. The curators call it “an enmeshed map,a suspended loom, part-canopy part-plan.”
Made of slivers of fragments gleaned from the various exhibits, it’s a fabulous 3D map of this Biennale’s exposition on Architecture.
The Laboratory of the Future.
Monday, 5.
I just had to know what these fascinating wooden structures were. The staff in the hotel wasn’t much help. Trawling the internet for hours yielded scant clues.
At lunch today at Parco delle Rose, I showed my pictures to our waiter who happily identified them ascovered boat shelters called cavane. I asked if they were for renting. No, they’re private, he said.
All of which still doesn’t explain why there were so many of them in just that one place. Could they all belong to that big house beside the row of all six of them? Like a huge garage to house a collection of expensive cars but in this case, boats?
Friday, 2.
At Malamocco.
We’re here for two weeks so we’re pretending to be residents. This is our neighbourhood.
Thursday, June 1.
We went to the beach right after it emptied out. The moon was a small bright dot above the water. There were ominous looking clouds above brooding Hotel des Bains.
There was tango dancing on the patio when we got back to the hotel. So we got ourselves drinks at the bar and watched.
Monday, 29.
I slept through most of the weekend. How is that even possible? In Venice?
We’re on the Lido where tourists head to the beach most days. Leaving the rest of the island to Stuart and me.
By Monday, I’m a hundred percent again.
We go across the street to Roxy Bar for lunch. Cozze alla Roxy and Fegato alla Veneziana.
Friday, 26.
It’s an easy walk to the train station from the hotel. So, first a train to Milan Central station then on to Venice on the Frecciarossa.
We had booked a water taxi to take us from the Sta Lucia station to the Lido, our first real destination on this trip. And as our train pulled out of Padua station, we called to confirm and get the taxi number.
We’re not staying in Venice this time. The ride to the Lido afforded us a quick peek at the crowded city. It would be easy enough to take a ferry to the mainland if we wanted to maybe look in on the Biennale. For now, we’re eager to while away two weeks in the relative quiet of the Lido.
We’re once again in Grande Albergo Ausonia Hungaria, third time since May last year.
Wednesday, 24.
After about half an hour circling above Milan in bad weather, we finally landed a little after 9pm.
We stayed two nights at the airport Sheraton to rest then went straight to Venice.
