A few months ago we made a reservation for two sisters, Norma and Cladeen, at Elsa’s B&B, a small place near the Colosseum, owned by a sweet, older Italian woman who started renting out a few rooms in her flat after her husband died. This was Norma and Cladeen’s first trip to Rome, and part of a 70th birthday gift from her family, all organized by her daughter. We had exchanged at least 60 emails with Cheryl, the daughter, hoping that everything would go smoothly for her mother and aunt.
Just before their arrival, at the height of the Occupy protests, some violence erupted right near Elsa’s. Cheryl wrote to tell us that she’d checked in with her mom about what she’d seen on the news and her mother, a trooper, responded:
“I don’t care if I have to hide out in the B&B, I am going!”
Rome had been an afterthought. Initially they’d planned a special cruise through the Food Network, but having collected a good amount of money from contributing family members, they decided to add in Rome, do a cooking class, and then board the boat for what would be its maiden voyage.
After their stay, Cheryl sent us this video, made by Rome Walks, that shows these two sisters thanking their family for making this trip happen.
Though it’s been a few months since I received the e-mail with this video, I kept the e-mail in my inbox and every so often a thought about them will cross my mind: ”close family, they must be.” ”Lots of love going around there.” Oh, and “I guess you’re never too old.”
Originally posted as an answer on Quora.
What people consider the “center” of Venice is really all of Venice – the outskirts are all off the island itself. If you’re anywhere on the actual island of Venice or even Giudecca (essentially, if you’re anywhere other than Mestre), you’ll find narrow streets (some no wider than your outstretched arms), canals at every turn with quaint bridges to cross over them, and very similar architecture (Moorish windows, crumbling facades) most of which date back to at least the 17th century. Staying anywhere in the center, you can’t go wrong in that the main thing to “do” in Venice is to just “be” in Venice. It’s probably the most interesting urban environment you’ll ever experience and it’s no wonder it’s been claimed, time and time again, to be either the most beautiful city in the world or the most romantic — or both.
Anywhere in Venice, views like this are a dime a dozen:
If you find the photos compelling, experiencing it in real life will blow you away – it’s hard to imagine an urban, “modern” city with no sounds of cars. As the largest car-free city in Europe (and maybe the world) you hear the lapping of the waves in the canals and the sounds of people in their kitchens. On the narrow cobblestoned streets you’ll hear heels going clickity-clack from blocks away. On a cold, foggy night, it’s spooky and romantic and beautiful, and amazingly, it’s essentially the same Venice of hundreds of years ago, and thankfully this experience is not exclusive to one high-priced area. If anything, you’ll find this side of Venice more off the beaten path than on it.
If you arrive in Venice by plane, you’ll land in either the Marco Polo or Treviso airport, both of which have a shuttle bus that takes you to Piazzale Roma, which is as far as buses and cars can get into the city and also nearby the main train station, Santa Lucia. From there you have water taxis called vaporetti that go down the Grand Canal or outside the lagoon to stops on the outer edge.
Once in Venice, you’ll get around either on foot or by canal. Expect to get lost often and end up at dead ends. Water taxis are expensive and gondolas, although an interesting perspective to see Venice from, and the original means of Venice transport, are VERY expensive and hard to justify.
As for having the sites nearby, there are some good tourist places to visit, such as the Doge’s palace, the Accademia and the Guggenheim museum, as well as famous monuments like St. Mark’s square and the Rialto Bridge in the southern part of Venice. Farther afield you have the islands of Murano and Burano if you want to see how the glass artisans work. For the most part, you’ll walk and walk and walk, and get lost plenty. If you want to be nearest to the “stuff” you’d probably want to be around San Marco or the western side of Castello, but those are also pretty busy areas where the soul of Venetian life has made way for souvenir stands. Between the Rialto and St. Mark’s is one main thoroughfare that is hard to get away from. You can wander off that beaten path but for some frustrating reason you just end up back on it.
My favorite sestiere (Venice is split into 6 neighborhoods called sestieri) is Cannaregio. It’s one of the few quarters that has a long avenue that goes pretty much from the old Jewish Ghetto (near the train station and worth doing a tour of) down to the Rialto bridge, which is pretty much the geographic center. There are many chicheti bars (Venetian tapas) that are worth visiting. You can also drink a special kind of Venetian champagne called Prosecco, as well as a version I’ve only seen in Venice which is called Prosecco Spento (imagine bubbleless champagne…).
The neighborhoods of San Polo and Dorsoduro also feel less touristed and are great places to get lost in. Giudecca, once the site of palaces and gardens, then an industrial area, and now making a comeback, is also a quaint spot and has nice views of St. Mark’s and the basilica as you enter by a quick ferry ride.
Apart from one B&B in Mestre – because we liked them and thought we should offer an alternative – and a cozy guestroom on Venice Lido, all our properties are central and part of the quintessential Venice experience.
by Alexandra Korey
Much loved in the 19th century, the national museum of sculpture in Florence, better known as the
Bargello, now sees a much smaller flow of tourists than the flashier Uffizi and Accademia. While there
are reproductions of the Uffizi’s colourful paintings and the very famous David on everything from
serious books to less serious mens’ underwear, the duller stone and bronze works housed at the
Bargello seem unable to compete.
The reality is that the Bargello houses more naked men per capita than the Uffizi, and does not lack in
famous names either: with its 3 Michelangelos, one ought not to snivel at it. It’s also pretty colourful,
since it’s got a great collection of maiolica (glazed terracotta). I know that many short-visit tourists don’t
go to the Bargello since there are, apparently, more important options. But I was surprised to hear
that many Florentines have never been there. This museum contains sculptures that put Florence
on the map – works by Donatello that essentially began the Renaissance. How strange that my friends
had never been inside.
While the Uffizi is getting new signage, services and spaces, the Bargello lags behind in modern
museology, making it useful to take a qualified tour (I like Context Travel) if you don’t happen to have
an art historian handy. Museums like this require narration to be understood and fully appreciated. You
could print this post and bring it with you, and that’d be like having an art historian in your pocket. To
complete this effect I’m going to walk you through the space chatting as if you were my best friend. I’ve
turned off my scholarly voice.
There is no map available to visitors of the Bargello, so you’re going to have to use your imagination.
After you purchase your ticket, you’ll enter an open courtyard that has an imposing stone staircase on
its right side. The courtyard is decorated with hundreds of coats-of-arms of the podestà, the head of
Florentine government who resided here. The building dates to 1255, with many subsequent additions
and alterations. This history helps explain the rather illogical arrangement of rooms and the steps that
separate them even on the same level. When the Medici had full control of Florence, the role of the
building and of the podestà turned toward law enforcement, and later it became the city jail. Only in
1840, thanks to the discovery of some frescoes, was this use of the building revoked (the jail was moved
to Le Murate, where it stayed until 1985, and that building has now been renovated and turned into a
cultural complex).
The rooms in this museum are not arranged chronologically, in that the first room to the right,
near the stairwell, houses the Michelangelo and Michelangelesque sculptures. If you were to do
things “right,” you might first head upstairs to the Donatello room, complete the second floor with the
Verrocchio room, and then head down to Michelangelo at the end. This order of rooms would present a
traditional “progressive improvement” view of art history that can be helpful for the simple reason that
students keep styles and artists’ names in their head best if taught things in order.
As you’re not a student, feel free to check out Michelangelo’s Bacchus in that ground floor room first.
He’s a youthful work by Mike, and what I think is coolest is the way that marble is made to look like soft
flesh. Drunkenness requires a softness of focus that is not easy to render in hard stone. The other works
in this room are less spectacular, but the Pitti Tondo is a nice way to see Michelangelo’s work in
progress.
The largest room in the Bargello is on the first floor: the Donatello room contains, as you might
imagine, sculptures by this man who first used the natural contrapposto pose that characterizes early
Renaissance sculpture. Compare two Davids by Donatello with the more famous David by Michelangelo
at the Accademia! Don’t miss the snarky naked putto (cherub) in bronze, sheathed in mystery (we don’t know
when he was made, nor what he really represents).
This room has two possible exits – a door toward the back of the room, or the door through which
you originally came. Take the latter if you want to get to the loggia in which there are some fun bronze
sculptures of animals. Take the former if you like strange Ottoman bronze objects. In the intermittent
rooms are decorative objects in metal, maiolica, and ivory. There is a large glass case that contains
jewelry and cameos that I find particularly fascinating. There is a ring that has a velvet lining for
comfortable wear, an item that particularly intrigued me when I first came here as a student.
There’s a frescoed chapel with a pretty good scene of tortured souls in Hell and what is claimed to be
a portrait of Dante on the altar wall. In the glass cases at the back of the room don’t miss the small
enamel and silver plaques that are some of the most amazing goldsmith work you’ll ever see.
Many people seem to miss the upper level of this museum which houses a huge coin collection, a room
full of miniature bronze sculptures, another dedicated to seriously gaudy maiolica by the Della Robbia
Family, and finally the Verocchio room. The star of this room is yet another statue that represents
David, so of course you’ll want to compare him to the Donatellos you saw downstairs. On the left
wall just inside the door is a fascinating bas-relief that represents the story of a woman who died in
childbirth and the grief of her husband, who commissioned this work. It’s one of the most touching pieces
in Renaissance art history.
Alexandra Korey no longer teaches art history, preferring blog readers to students, since if you’re still
reading this, you’re really interested in hearing what I have to say. You can read more of her ramblings
about life in Florence with an aesthete’s eye on her blog www.arttrav.com
by Marina Camilletti
Chelsea may currently be better known for housing slick European bankers and their über-coiffed wives, but at its heart it remains one of London’s most beautiful neighbourhoods, steeped in history. You can eat anything from high-end alfresco Italian (Manicomio, Duke of York’s Square), to mid-priced Lebanese (Al Dar, corner of Lincoln Street), to the classic “Full English Breakfast” for under five pounds (Mona Lisa cafe – cheap, a little grotty, but one hundred percent authentic).
There are a few boutiques amongst the mid- to high-end shops: Austique specializes in hand-picked accessories, and French Sole, founded in a Chelsea basement, originated the ongoing trend for ballet flats. But the more adventurous shoppers are to be found stalking the cluster of charity shops (thrift stores) at the World’s End, for the best rich-lady castoffs in town.
Parallel to the Kings Road, the embankment to the River Thames houses hidden delights, most especially for those with a penchant for architecture and juxtaposition. From outside Chelsea Old Church, which dates from the twelfth century, one can directly gaze at one of Norman Foster’s modern international headquarters, one of the first glass buildings of its kind in London. Farther toward Sloane Square, past the hidden gem that is the Chelsea Physic Garden, Christopher Wren’s magnificent Chelsea Hospital (home to old war veterans, whom you’ll see walking about proudly in their traditional red uniforms) stands opposite Richard Rogers’ house on Royal Avenue – a perfect Georgian facade which the architect himself gutted and refurbished.
The Kings Walk Mall, directly opposite on the bustling Kings Road, has the perfect drop-in manicure bar and speedy hairdressers. Yoga classes can be found at Triyoga (corner of Beaufort Street). And for a quick burst of nightlife, The Pheasantry houses a rather recherche’ jazz club in its basement music room, beneath its pretty decent pizza restaurant.
For a little taste of Chelsea life at its most typical, one of its original 1960s denizens, Dina Wheatley, houses paying guests in her charming period house on Smith Terrace.
