Carnival 2012



CARNIVAL OF VENICE 2012



Image Roberta Carraro 



The Carnival of Venice is one of the most popular and luxurious event that characterize this city. Throughout the period you will meet people wearing masks around the streets, squares and bridges. The city turns into a movie set where fine clothes, big wigs and masks are mixed with modern features. A jump back in the history of this city will let you relive customs and traditions that you can only find here. You also have the opportunity to engage yourself in the beautiful art of disguise. Rentalinitaly.it offers you the chance to get in touch with companies that rent period costumes and everything you need to fully dress your self, following the true Venetian tradition. In addition you can also create your own Venetian mask learning the original art of mask making thanks to local artists that will visit you in your apartment to teach the gentle art of decorating a Venetian mask. To learn more contact us at info@rentalinitaly.com

Apartment Rialto Mercato

Getting out and about in Venice: San Marcuola

Hi, we discovered that tourists need as many information about Venice as they can. So we decided to build up a sort of Bible of Venice. We will create, as we go along, little chapters of each Venetian area. So please it would be nice for you to comment and add things that you think are worth to know in relation to the topic area discussed!! :-)

This time we will explore the area closed to San Marcuola  boat stop.
If you take water bus (vaporetto) number 1 from the Station the second  stop is precisely   San Marcuola.

Vaporetto, Water Bus

This area offers several tourist attractions such as:

Church San Marcuola

The church of san Marcuola, right next to the stop, it was built between 1728-36 and is was dedicated to St ermagora and St Fortunatus, unfortunatelly the facade was never finished.

Casinò di Venezia

Il Casino di Venezia located in the Palazzo Vendramin Calergi. This palace was designed by Mauro Coducci, it is an early Renaissance building. The famous composer Richard Wagner died in htis building in the 1883.

Palazzo Erizzo

Palazzo Marcello

 Palazzo Marcello birthplace of composer Benedetto Marcello in 1686, rebuilt in the 18th century.


Palazzo Erizzo displayes two painting bepicting the feats of Paolo Erizzo, who died fighting the Turks in 1469.

Palazzo Emo

Palazzo Emo belonged to a famous Venetian admiral Angelo Emo.

Palazzo Labia

Palazzo Labia  the Ballroom of this palace is frescoed with Tiepolo's  Story of Cleopatra with a peculiar Venetian setting, it was lately owned by Rai ( italian broadcasting company) now it is  open to tourists by appointment.

San Geremia

San Geremia a church that houses the relics of St Lucy (santa Lucia).

In this area we offer prestigious apartments well located near the Grand Canal. You can find all the photos of our apartments located near San Marcuola on our website or in our facebook fanpage, or you can contact our staff on info@rentalinitaly.com and ask for the nearest apartments to San Marcuola they will be more than happy to help you find the best solution for your needs!
Have a good holiday!

Venice the basics !!

The city of Venice is fairly small, in fact it is possible to visit the whole by foot. The most important tourist attractions are Piazza San  Marco, The Basilica, the Doge's Palace, Rialto Bridge. But many more are the places to visit in Venice, so inthe next post we will try to divide Venice in areas and we will give you information about each of them.
Venice is divided in six Sestieri, (ancient administrative districts) which are Cannareggio, Castello, San Marco, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Santa Croce.

The city is built on a patchwork of many low lying islands in  a lagoon. The way this city was built resulted to be very effective and robust in fact the oldest building is from the 1225.
It is important to remind to all of our tourists that  Venice is a city without roads ( yes many of you came to Venice asking our Hostess: " Can't we not take the car?" "Can we park outside our apartment?").
 For this reason the city developed structures and infrastractures able to fullfill the needs of the inhabitants.
Because the main access to the buiding was via boat from the side facing the canal , this part of the building was usually well decorated compared to the side facing the calle (street), no need to mention that each house has a mooring area, where you or your visitors could "park their boat".

Taxis and Buses

People now adays move on buses and taxis but they are Boats, many locals own their private boat.


This city is also know for its strategical position , for the mercantile life, and also for its ancient tradition of glass, Glass blower can still be seen in the island of Murano, Burano, Torcello.

Stay tuned for the next post as we will talk about Venice attractions in more details.

Today we talk about Gondole!!

Ok today topic is Gondola, the black boat that is typical of Venice.
The Gondola and the Gondoliers are part of the mythology of Venice. It is a tradition passed by from fathers to sons, and it is still a very male art/job.
It's narrow and flat shape is perfectly adapted to travel along the narrow and shallow rivers and canals of Venice. They were used as means of transport but now a days they are mainly an attraction and therefore  a trip on  them is an essential part of the Venetian experience. In fact a journey on them give the tourists a different view of the city, passing by grand palatial homes using a form of transport dated back over 1.000 years. The average cost of  a journey is about 80 euros daytime.

The traditional dress of the gondolier is a striped vest, black trousers and a beribboned straw hat, he usually stands upright at the back of the gondola and he pushes a oar to row the boat in the direction he is facing, he also sings local songs for the tourists' pleasure. The oar stands on a thing called the Rowblock (forcola in italian) it gives the possibility to hold the oar in eight  different positions so the gondolier can steer the boat more easily.
The passsengers sit  on low stools in the center of the boat usually facing forward and giving their back to the gondolier.
The gondolas are hand crafted using techniques from the 1880s, it takes almost a year to build a gondola, nine type of wood are used to  build it: walnut, oak, mahogany, fir, larch, lime, cherry, beech and elm. It's cost is around 40.000 euros.
The shape of the gondola is asymmetrical to counteract the force of the oar. Without the curve on the left hand side  the boat will go round in circles.

Gondolas were used for many different occasion such as funeral, wedding, special cerimonies, some are still used now a days  in races and parades ( like "la vogata del silenzio").
The gondola is rappresented in many  the paintings like the ones of  Canaletto : "Return of the Bucintoro to the Molo on Ascension Day"  "The Grand Canal and the Church of the Salute" , 19 of the paintings of Canaletto are displayed today at the Wallace Collection Museum in London, in fact this type of boat used to be an inspiration for many writers, artists and musicians.

Hope you enjoyed todays' information, post us a comment if you like  and speak you soon.

The Carnival 2011

Another Carnival has left, the "calli" are full of Coriandoli ....pieces of coloured paper that people throw in the air  ( similar to confetti) , the shops are taking down all of the decorations, people are putting away their fantastic customes....that will be used again next year, San Marco square is getting a clean up, and the stage is almost gone!!! 


Another Carnival has gone!!
But we take this occasion to thanks all of our customers  that arrived in hundreds to celebrate this special event in this fantastic city:Venice.


To start with let's talk about the Carnival itself. 
This vibrant  and playful festival usually preceds the abstinence of Lent ( the period before Easter). Its a period  of time where people dresses with Masks and costumes, where, back in the days, social divisions were dissolved, participants played practical jokes and anything goes.
This tradition began in the 11th century but it reached  the peak of its popularity in the 18th century. unfortunatelly too much industrialization took over the leisure time and let the festival to a long and sad decline until 1979 when it was succesfully revived.


The main occasions that are celebrated, apart from masks and costumes, and that  need to be pointed out are:

Il volo della colombina : 
The traditional  Flight of the Dove started in 1500 when an acrobat turkish that, from a boat, managed to reach the bell tower of the Basilica of San Marco walking on a rope. On the way back instead he reached the balcony  of the Doge and gave his greetings to him. This event was so that the  organizers and the public decided to add it in the  official celebrations of the Carnival of Venice.






Il ballo del Doge:  Il ballo del doge  by Monica Cesarato, Official website of this event.












La vogata del silenzio:
During the last night  of the Carnival a  closing ceremony is held: "the row of the silence". Several boats, rowing strictly, marched along the Grand Canal as they glide silently around the buildings are lit by hundreds of candles. Thousands of curious tourists watched from the banks  the passage of boats, observing in silence. 

Theatre Fenice: Il ballo della Cavalchina: a traditional event held in this amazing theatre especially for the Carnival season














Many more are the events held in Venice during the Carnival season so be sure to check out our fan page on Facebook to have all the latest information for this event, for next year of course!!!!

If you have been to the Carnival and have pictures that you like to share with us please feeel free to post them on the comment section, or if you have any thing to say about Venice we are here to listen!!

Happy Carnival to you all!

Welcome

Hi everybody,
This blog is dedicated to all of you that likes to travel and experience the real life of the place you visit!
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Keep us posted on what you would like to know about and we will be happy to answer all of you.

Wishing you a Fantastic Holiday with us.
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