Thanksgiving 2012 in Venice

Originally the plan was to take the fast train from Napoli to Firenze for the long weekend but then I have ended up being in Grottaglie for the last two months so decided to take the Ryan Air flight from Brindisi to ??? There were three choices and Venice won. So here we are!

What is Venice?
Venice is actually made up of over 100 islands. The canals are natural and so the city has developed around waterways as the "roads" of Venice. During the invasion of the Barbarian hoards in the 500 AD timeframe, the inhabitants of the mainland and north part of this region retreated to the delta and islands. Since the Barbarians were excellent horseman but poor sailors, this provided it's own sort of protection for the fleeing natives.

Venice history

Venice grew to be a major trading port and the wealthy merchants built fabulous homes along the canals.

We learned that the small canals are only 4 - 6 ft. deep, while the Grand Canal is about 15 ft. Still none are deep enough for large boats so the small, flat bottom boats are everywhere and provide all the transportation in and out of the city of islands to the mainland, as well as all the supplies in and out.

At one point in time, the city got its fresh water from collecting rain water in cisterns. This supplied the city for hundreds of years but in the 1800's, the underground cisterns became contaminated by salt water and had to be abandoned. Now fresh water is piped from the mainland.

One of many defunct cisterns throughout Venice

The level of water in the city fluctuates with the tides and low points like the Piazza San Marco flood often, 200 days a year.

People here seem to take the rising water in stride and are prepared with boots, small dams for their front doors, and even raised sidewalks for those times.

Board across the bottom of the door in case of flooding

Raised sidewalks for high tides that flood the Piazza San Marco

The Canals
The canals are an amazing network of "streets" through the city. There are no cars, scooters, busses or bicycles in Venice; only boats and walking. It if for this reason the local people say they have long lives since they eat healthy and walk everywhere.

The canals are mostly narrow, surprisingly clean, and are crossed by dozens of bridges large and small throughout the city. The Grand Canal loops the city and has the larger boats and most traffic. Along the Grand Canal are the former homes of the wealthy merchants of the 16 - 18th centuries when Venice was at its peak. Most of them are now hotels and government offices.

Traffic along the Grand Canal

Vaporetto, or water busses run up and down the canals of venice

The gondolas are mainly a tourist attraction, and expensive at that. The locals and the businesses use other types of boats to navigate the canals.

These people are moving

Typical residential canal with"parking" in the narrow lane

Laundry boat delivering to/from hotels

Gondola parking lot

Our Hotel
We stayed at Al Ponte Antico, a former home of a wealthy merchant family, now converted to a small, seven room albergo. It was built in the 1500s and still has some of the features of the original building, although completely modern and remodeled inside. Since it is in a prime location on the Grand Canal this is considered a premium luxury hotel.

Original ceiling

Entrance from the street

This location is ideal as we are close to the Al Ponte Rialto, one of the main bridges across the Grand Canal. It was constructed in 1520.

Al Ponte Rialto, or the Rialto Bridge

Basilica San Marco
Reputed to contain the bones of St. Mark the Evangelist, this is the most important church of Venice. Originally it was built as a private church for the Doge of Venice. It is not a large church but very rich and beautifully decorated with glass mosaic.

In front of Basilica San Marco

Glass mosaic ceiling

Next to the Basilica is the palace of the Doge, former ruler of the Venetian City-State. Next to the palace is the prison. Prisoners going to their judgment and execution outside the Doge's palace cross the small bridge over the canal. This bridge is known as the Bridge of Sighs, for the sighs of the prisoners seeing their last glimpse of freedom.

Burano Island
This is a lovely island about 30 min. by boat from Venice proper. It is primarily a fishing village but is also known for the beautiful hand made lace and linen. The houses are brightly painted, according to legend, so that the fisherman can find their way home at night after sipping on wine to keep warm during those cool days on the sea.

The lace and linen works are passed down from generation to generation. Like many of these arts, the younger generation is not interested in carrying on the tradition. they are moving away to the cities and so, this fine workmanship is starting to die out.

Colorful houses of Burano

The color of the house cannot be changed

Parking on Burano

Venetian Cooking Class
We had a delightful morning spent shopping in the market with a Venetian chef, and then going to her home to learn to prepare a classic Venetian meal.

For the starter, we had fried vegetables typical of the region: sliced fennel bulb, eggplant, baby artichokes, zucchini, a special later Fall variety of radichio, and sweet red pepper rings. The secret to keeping the veggies crispy is the ice cubes that are put into the flour, salt and water batter at the very last right before dredging the vegetables to fry.

Artichokes are kept fresh in lemon water

Johnnie mixing the batter

Light and tasty veggies

 The primi, or first course, is Risotto with Prawns and Artichokes.  The first step is making the fish stock that will later be mixed into the rice. Celery, carrot, onion quartered with cloves, herbs and prawn shells make up the broth. It simmers 30 min.

Fish stock

The artichokes and shallots, thinly sliced, are sauteed in olive oil. The rice is added and cooked for a minute or so until it starts to grow transparent. From that point, the finished fish stock is added gradually while the rice mixture is stirred constantly for 20 minutes to release the starch and give the risotto it's creamy texture.

Artichoke, shallot and rice 

Our secondo, or second course is the meat or fish course. We chose a salt crusted baked sea bass. This fish had the entrails removed but scales left on. Stuffed with garlic cloves and parsley, it is laid on a pan lined with foil and then baking parchment. The fish is placed on a bed of moistened sea salt and lemon slices and then covered with more lemon slices and finally a total covering of sea salt. It is baked in a 450 F oven for 30 minutes. The fish comes out moist and tender.

Sea Bass or Spigola, c. 800 grams

Nestled in a salt covering

The Dolce or Dessert is Tiramisu. This dish originated in Venice in 1952. Although many variations exist, the Venetian version is a simple dish that uses a mascarpone cheese beaten with egg yolks and sugar and then folded into beaten egg whites. The custard is layered over lady fingers that have been briefly soaked in a coffee-brandy mixture, and then finally topped with chocolate and coffee powder.

Venetian Tiramisu