First, let me be one of the last to wish you a Happy New Year! I hope this year is filled with joy and hope-realized for you.
I know I’ve been away for a bit, as many of you have reminded me as you asked and wrote, “Where are your articles on Italy?” But, I’m back now. However, I do feel a bit fickle about my absence because of what I was doing when I wasn’t preparing my Italy, Our Italy articles.
“During the next few weeks, I will be going over the various districts, or ‘sestiere’, of the most interesting, beautiful and mysterious city in the world – Venice.”
I hope you don’t think less of me when you find that I was working on photos from our latest trip – a trip to England, Scotland and Ireland. There were fewer vineyards there (actually, we saw none), less pasta and wine (we made up for the wine with ciders), but the people were just as friendly as those of our Italian encounters. I’d have to say that the countryside of the UK environs was a good bit more cultivated and elegant than those of Italy…but maybe simplicity and magic are what continues to draw us to Italy.
At any rate, it took me a good bit of time to get through the photos from our trip. If you would like to see just a few of the photos from our England-Scotland-Ireland trip, you can see them by clicking this button...
During the next few weeks, I will be going over the various districts, or ‘sestiere’, of the most interesting, beautiful and mysterious city in the world – Venice. I began this journey with the article on the San Marco sestiere on February 16, 2016 in the article titled ‘The Sestiere of Venice”.
As this new year progresses, I’ll cover the other 5 sestiere of Venice. In each, I will give you a quick overview of the sestiere. Then I will cover where to stay and where to eat in that sestiere. If there is something else that I think you need to know of that sestiere, I’ll include that, too.
Here is the simple map similar to the one I included in the article on the sestiere of San Marco.
This map presents a rather modest view of the six sestiere. I say 'modest' because this map just cannot characterize the world that it represents and that awaits you...you will have to experience it on your own.
You will note that the map includes the Giudecca island, which is not actually one of the six official sestiere. Further, not all maps show the same delineations for the sestiere. For instance, some show the Giudecca to be part of Dorsodouro. While others show that orange, polygonal island at the eastern end of Giudecca (the island on which the church of San Giorgio Maggiore sits) to be part of the sestiere of San Marco. For our purposes, we will use the delineations shown in the map above as we work through the sestiere.
Finally, understand that there are many, many islands in the Venetian lagoon (around 117 it is estimated) that are not considered to be within the districts of Venice – islands like Murano (glass), Burano (lace and colorful homes) and San Michele (dead people).
I'm wondering if you remember what the six sestiere and Giudecca have to do with the accouterments of a Venetian gondola. If not, you can review that in the San Marco sestiere article.
Here is a rather different view of the six sestiere of Venice…this in the form of a Google maps satellite view. I want you to see this to see just how large the municipality of Venice is.
Venice is quite huge. Note just how many buildings there are. From east-to-west, Venice is about 3 miles, while north-to-south, it is just shy of 2 miles. Within these six square miles you will find 409 bridges crossing over the 177 canals that divide Venice into 117 islands.
And in this detail view below, you can see churches, gardens, pozzi, restaurants, boats, canals and bridges.
There are places you will never see as you stroll Venice, as they are kept hidden behind walls and locked doors, like the one of which I wrote here. In Venice, intrigue abounds now as it has for centuries!
You've seen our favorite sestiere of San Marco, so tune in next week when we visit our second most-favorite sestiere, San Polo.
Ciao for now,
Steve
ps: The Berlin Foto Biennale is now over. If you missed the significance of that exhibit this past fall, please see my previous article here.