Wandering in Venice

In Athens I opened a letter from my friend Emma, saying she and her husband were taking one of those two-week-six-country tours of Europe and would spend two nights in Venice. So, after a frustrating week in the wilds of Yugoslavia, I drove on to Venice with a day of sight-seeing on my own before the Hills were scheduled to arrived on their bus tour.

No, I did not ride in a gondola. They are expensive. For a city built on water, Venice is a great city for walking. No cars or trucks to dodge or make noise. I spent a delightful day of wandering around in narrow passageways and climbing steps over bridges and walking on narrow sidewalks beside canals, all quiet and unhurried. I shooed away pigeons on the big Piazza San Marco and discovered hidden squares where little Venetian children played with small dogs.

I had a small book, "Churches of Venice", and a map. I went to the famous ones. St. Mark’s Cathedral with its dazzling mosaics telling stories of the Bible and a terrazzo floor with waves like the surface of a pond, which made walking a dizzying experience. (Venice really is sinking back into the sea.) I especially enjoyed the many smaller churches. That’s relative, some Venetian churches are huge.

I discovered Bellini. I’ve never been fond of Italian art. I go more for French Impressionists. Titian seemed over the top with those hefty pink nudes. In contrast, in museums Bellini was just one of dozens of Italian painters whose Madonnas all looked like the same blonde Italian girl. The Kimball Museum in Fort Worth has one; the U.S. Post Office used it on the first Christmas stamp.

Then I went into San Zachariah’s Church and above a side altar saw Bellini’s Madonna and Child enthroned in a perfect setting, a painted archway within a real arch. Before I went back to my hotel, I stepped inside the neighboring church, Santa Maria del Orto, where tourists never go, and saw an old lady lighting candles before another exquisite Bellini Madonna.

On museum walls Italian Madonnas look insipid. In Venetian churches, where they are meant to be, they filled me, a sometime unbeliever, with religious awe.

That evening I was waiting in the lobby when Emma and Bill walked into a modern hotel with their tour group. The next day we went to all the usual tourist sights, including St. Mark’s and the Doges’ Palace.