Day 7 Saturday San Zanipolo

I got off to a slow start today because Signora France ( the apartment’s owner’s agent) came around, as arranged, to do some light cleaning and change the bed. She is learning English so we talked for a while about children, grandchildren Venetian sights, London, etc. I tried to speak in Italian and she spoke in English. I had to revert to English more often than she reverted to Italian but it was interesting.

San Francesco della Vigna was on the way ( well, one of the many possible ways) to today’s main sight. It is way off the beaten track and I saw no other tourists in the time I was there. It is named because of the vineyard that it was built on. I like it already, I thought. ( Can you imagine in Canberra - St Fred of the Sheep Paddock) According to the book it is typical of simple Venetian High Renaissance style – I must do an architecture course- but has a newer façade built by Palladio. Palladio was a Venetian architect from 1508to 1580 who designed large buildings with simple, elegant, classical lines. They are usually symmetrical – this one is, but you cannot see it because of the neighbouring buildings. Anyway, inside was interesting. It clearly had active parishioners – there were heaters like in outdoor cafes scattered amongst the pews. (Maybe they weren’t so active but the inside of the churches has been noticibly colder than outside) I sat down to get out my book and the printed info I had to read. I glanced at the neighbouring side chapel – Per I Defunti. I always smile about that word – John, my late husband, in Italian is mio defunto marito as in defunct. In this case I think Departed would be a better translation. I wasn’t sure whether to giggle – John would have smiled at calling a church after a vineyard, and then the defunct word – but then I read another sign that said in Italian ‘Remember them in the hand of God’. Right, time to concentrate on the famous paintings and statues and things, not emotions. Which I did.

Zanipolo is the Venetian abbreviation for Giovanni and Paolo. It was huge. At much the same time that the Franciscans arrived in Venice and built the Santa Maria dei Frari I saw on day 3, the Dominicans arrived too. They also got given some land to build a huge church. Apparently these 2 groups have theological differences and do not always see eye to eye, so the land had to be a fair way distant. They had problems building too – the Dominicans wanted a roof like the Franciscans but had marshier land and knew then (1300’s) that the building would sink if they did so they had to come up with a different solution. The marble columns in the main doorway came from Torcello. There were lots of nice paintings and carvings. There are many tombs of the dead Doges. I am reading a book called With a Gemlike Flame by David Adams Cleveland. It is not high class literature, but it is about an art historian and a few others who discover a lost Raphael in Venice. The main character has written a book about the Lombardi family of sculptors – father and 2 sons. I have enjoyed looking out for their works

Back home, I enjoyed ( almost) leaning out over the balcony to bring the dry sheets and towels in. It is not straightforward. You have to pull the line, but take the pegs off and grab the garment in a coordinated movement and if you pull too quickly the garment can get caught up in the pulley. Then, in my case, every few garments you have to bring inside – the ‘balcony’ is about 2ft wide by 6inches deep and is up 2 steps from the kitchen floor - you cannot turn around once you are standing there. Mind you, it is a better view than thru the window. A large group of neighbourhood men were pottering over an engine of a boat. This reminded me that I have never seen a female driving a boat.

I spent some time this evening sitting watching the sun set over the other side of the lagoon.