Venice is a sanctuary for religious shrines. They are in the open, in closed spaces, large, small, stone, wood, enamel, metal, and what-have-you. Today, I present to you several shrines that I’ve come across in Venice.

I have grouped the shrines below into five categories:

Mary as the star;
Mary with a baby Jesus;
Mary with Jesus as a man;
A grown Jesus by himself; and,
Shrines with what appear to be saints of some note — some identified and some not.

Several of the shrines have an added adoring, worshiping crowd around the central figure.

“If only our own society prized such monumental reminders”

I am captivated by the effort that went into many of these works of adoration. Some are grandiose works sponsored by a patron or the Church, and they are large and ornate. Others are more obviously created by lay individuals, and these are more meaningful to me personally.

Many of the shrines are accompanied by flowers — mostly artificial. I’m not too much into artificial flowers, and I don’t see as much adoration in the one-time placement of artificial flowers as I do where fresh flowers have been periodically left by the faithful. In one shrine, flowers are part of the art work itself, painted on the substrate, along with Mary and a baby Jesus.

One shrine has a memorial (placed on a field of blue) that celebrates a family member for whom they are ‘Riconoscenti’, or Grateful, and which recognizes that he was in the war dated 1940-1945. I assume that Armando died in the war.

The oldest dated shrine has the date of 1702.

One of my favorite shrines is dedicated to Saint Antonio. This shrine is appreciated by me not only because the town of San Antonio is my birthplace, but because of the convenient slot for alms, which is labeled ‘Pani per I Poveri’ or “Bread for the Poor” (several other shrines have a less obvious slot, or place for a former slot, for donations). Saint Antonio (or Saint Anthony) is known for his devotion to the poor and the sick, and he was one of the most quickly canonized saints in church history. More importantly for those of us who can’t ever seem to find the car keys, he is the patron saint of lost things…and I’m not sure whether that means that he has found and has these things, or that he can help us find them.

For each shrine, I provide two photos — first will be the ‘snapshot’ as captured in my camera (often from quite a distance), and second will the the snapshot transformed into what I hope you would consider to be more of a work of art. So, this article has both historic content and photo transformation…a duet, of sorts.

Mary as the Star

Mary with a Baby Jesus

In a couple of these shrines, the baby Jesus is a bit obscure, in that He is shown as a medallion at Mary’s breast.

Mary with a Grown Jesus

Mary is a bit more obvious, but grown Jesus is there in the background.

Jesus as a Man

Only one in this category. A well-placed light which illuminates Jesus has been removed in the transformed version.

Shrines with What Appear to be Saints of Some Note

Here are three bonus shrines — not found in Venice, but along the Amalfi Coast and in Tuscany.

I find these shrines to be a gentle reminder: a reminder of my faith; a reminder to stop and reflect when I see them; a reminder to treat others as I want to be treated; and to love and pray for one another - especially our enemies. If only our own society prized such monumental reminders.

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Get Lost!!!

Have you ever been lost?

Maybe you were on your way somewhere important and you were late getting started. Maybe your dinner reservation, which required that it be made 3 months in advance, was about to be released and you've taken some wrong turns and you've lost your bearings. I know these are frustrating experiences.

But it doesn't always have to be frustrating if you're lost in the right places, and have the time to be lost.

“We’ve been lost, only to be found in some amazing place! ”

In Italy, we’ve been lost…hopelessly. And hopefully, we'll be hopelessly lost again soon.

Being lost can be frustrating or it can be fascinating. Our Italy wandering experiences have been of the fascinating variety.

Radda in Chianti

Take the small road just south of Radda in Chianti that we mistakenly took in a driving rain. What we thought was a road (at least it looked like one on Google maps - I learned something from that experience - but to be fair, in retrospect, it did suggest that our driving speed would be only 8mph!) soon transitioned into nothing but a two track trail. Lost again, dang it. Our small, low slung rental was complaining about the high center, but there was no way to turn around. We eventually made it through a circuit on which we really shouldn't have been driving. But, as the rain let up, the estate in the photo below was spread before us, with mist rising from the trees to the left with a villa located on a hillside in the middle of a vast vineyard. Our breath was taken away!

And as we drove on, we came upon other photo opportunities like these two:

Once again, we were lost, only to be found in some amazing place!

Val d'Orcia

Then, let’s take a wrong turn near Pienza in the Val d’Orcia. We should have gone right, but went left. Lost again. We could have turned around, but experience has taught us to go with the flow and continue on down the road. It was getting close to the end of the day, which brought us this gorgeous Val d'Orcia sunset.

Lost again! Only to be found in another amazing place!

Near Castello Brolio

Should we take that little gravel road just before getting to Castello Brolio? After all, we want to see the castle and taste their wine? Sure, why not - we've got time!

We got this nice view of the castle and some images which we would have missed from the highway. Technically, we weren't lost, but as we want to accomplish certain things during the day, we were taking a bit of a risk.

The little country-side chapel just above was found tucked away off the gravel road in the previous photo - just beyond the poppies and before the tall cypress trees - just off to the right. We would never have known it existed if we hadn't dared to take that little gravel road to who-knew-where?

Venice - Anywhere in Venice!

And then there’s Venice, where getting lost is not an art, but a normal occurrence. When in Venice, just plan on being lost. I mean, when you look up and find two signs, both reading “Per San Marco”, one with an arrow pointing left and one with an arrow pointing right, you don’t have much choice but to get lost. But along the way, plan on finding some hidden-away gem. Like the one in this photo below – which I came upon taking a ‘short cut’ after turning into one of those dark, low ceiling’d sotoportego - a tunnel-like passage - this one about 50' long. Once found, I’ve returned many times, whether it is a short cut in my travels, or not.

So, while in Venice, Tuscany, or near the back-roads in your travels at home, forget going from Point A directly to Point B. Once starting toward Point B, don’t worry if you happen upon Point G, Point V or Point R, before making it to Point B. Allow enough time to enjoy the journey.

And then like us, you will find yourself lost, only to be found in some amazing place!

Ciao, for now!