Piano Rialzato, Venice, 14th September 2003
We set out to walk from the Campo de la Bragora to San Pietro di Castello via Campo San Martin, Fondamenta Arsenale, Giardini Garibaldi, Ponte Santa Anna, a trail described in the excellent Venetian Legends and Ghost Stories. This was a slightly contrived way of seeing a place – following someone else’s footsteps – but it was instructive and gave strolling a bit of purpose. Not that it should have purpose and direction, of course , but when you are sharing a walk it is impossible to pretend to be a flaneur, giving no explanation a the decision to turn left or right. And it got us into quiet streets and campos where the only movement was washing waving in the breeze, the only sounds voices from upstairs rooms and the gentle harmony of piano practice. Elsewhere, children played on scooters, elegant women walked their dogs and old men sat dreaming on benches or joked with comrades outside labour clubs.
Back at San Marco and on the Riva degli Schiavoni the tourist crowds were packed thick among the souvenir sellers. A giant cruise ship – ‘Brilliance of the Seas’, registered in Nassau – loomed multi storied over the buildings along the Riva dei Sette Martiri. It was on a 12 day cruise taking in Barcelona, France, Naples, Venice (one night), Livorno, Corfu and Croatia. Pity poor Venice.