Notes from the North 2 2024

I am halfway through a month-long stay in Venice, comfortably settled in a small flat overlooking the Campo de le Becarie which is right by the mercato del pesce, the fishmarket, 

and fifty yards from the erberia, the fruit and vegetable market.

By early afternoon the fish stalls are empty. Only a few piles of ice are still melting back into the flagstones and the men are out with their hoses and brooms, leaving only a raw, watery smell hanging in the air. It is reassuring to hear that the fish come mostly from the deep waters of the Adriatic and not from the polluted, shallow waters of the lagoon. Venice doesn’t stink these days although the city still relies heavily on the ‘gatoli’, the centuries-old system of underground tunnels which take waste water and human excrement from the houses into the canals. 


Twice a day the canals are flushed out by the high tides and the waste sinks into the mud of the lagoon. Despite the enormous increase in human traffic and industry the system still works, but only just. Several thousand septic tanks have been installed in recent years and new businesses must meet stringent guidelines for the disposal of waste and rubbish. The septic tank  solution is a tricky one to manage given the limited empty space close to houses and the need not to interfere with the ancient wooden stakes which hold up the city’s foundations. 

Staying in Venice in the darkest month of the year is to get a taste of the Carnaval – masks and costumes everywhere. 


masks - Pietro Longhi


Then come some days of mist blotting out the lagoon, others of blue skies and day-long sunshine and several of persistent rain when from my upstairs window all I see are umbrellas and hoods crossing the campo. The weeks after the Carnaval through Lent to Easter are low season for the city. Life goes on though, and it is a demanding routine for those who have to deliver goods to shops and restaurants. Barges have to be loaded and unloaded, barrows have to be pushed up and down steps to cross bridges and along winding, narrow calle.



 

It's not just the workers who have to contend with the hundreds of bridges (423 I am told). There are specific websites to help the visitor with ‘impaired mobility’. They are advised to keep to a small number of flat routes, stay near St Marks and preferably avoid visiting in the winter months if they prefer not to get their feet wet in the floods, a regular feature these days. There are piles of raised wooden walkways stacked at intervals all along the grand canal for that eventuality. 

 

After a week I begin to find my way in the San Polo and Santa Croce sestieri. I have found the nearest supermarket over the Rialto bridge and spent more sunny afternoons in the Campo San Giacomo dell’ Orio, the Campo Santa Maria Nova and the Giardini Papadopoli. The streets near St Marks are always congested but it is easy to find calle, corte and campi that are empty, peaceful in the morning light and full of mysterious dark corners on foggy evenings. 


 

I head to the church of San Sebastiano on one of the wet days and, apart from the woman at the entrance, I am alone in there. This happens a lot as the days go by and I visit others. People look in at the door but don’t go any further if there is an entry fee (usually 3 euros). San Sebastiano has some fine Veronese paintings, chief among them the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian over the high altar. 


The much-pierced Sebastian, Mantegna Ça’ d’Oro

Saint Sebastian is a favourite subject for the Renaissance painter. 


And then there are the dogs... Venice is not really a suitable city for dogs but they are everywhere, in every shape and size although with a strong emphasis on the small and woolly. 




Dogs, seagulls and pigeons with the occasional duck or cormorant bobbing about in the water, to add extra colour, as if any were needed – and lions, lots of those too but all in stone. 




 

 

 

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