1. Hard Edges
2. Plan
3. Museum – Gallerie dell’Accademia
4. Churches
5. Architecture / Palaces

Hard Edges:

• Destination: Venice – Italy
• Time: arrive @ Hotel Thursday around 14:30 – April 19, leave Sunday from Hotel around 1230
• Hotel: = Splendid Venice
• Main focus: Walking around, St. Mark’s Square, St. Mark’s Basilica, Doge’s Palace, Rialto Bridge, Accademia, Frari Church.. great fun, great food  & wine.
• Social circumstances: Group of ~30 people traveling together.
• Guide & Tours: Walks of Italy

Plan:

Thursday:
~1430 – @ Splendid Venice Hotel
~1500 – Welcome to Venice mini tour by myself (Rialto Bridge & St. Mark’s Square)
~1600 – Snack & wine @ Gran Caffè Quadri – St. Mark’s Square
Menu -> Gran Caffe Quadri menu
~1700 – Church of San Zaccaria
~1930 – Dinner @ Restaurant Terrazza Danieli

Friday:
0800 – Rise & shine, juice, coffee
0900 – Breakfast @ Hotel
1000 – “Venice City Stroll – Famous Canals, Bridges & Palaces”
~1300 – Frari Church
~1400 – lunch @ Venice Restaurant Impronta Cafe
~1500 – Scuola Grande di San Rocco
1930 – Dinner @  Le Maschere (Hotel Resturant)

Saturday:
0800 – Rise & shine, juice, coffee
0900 – Breakfast @ Hotel
1000 – “Legendary Venice – St. Mark’s Basilica & The Doge’s Palace”
~1300 – drinks @ Caffè Florian – St. Mark’s Square
~1400 – Lunch @ Pizzeria Accademia
~1500 – Accademia Museum
1930 – Dinner @ Ristorante Ai Due Vescovi  

Sunday:
0900 – Rise & shine, juice, coffee
0930 –  Breakfast @ Hotel
1000 – walk around
1230 – Leaving from Hotel

Google map -> Venice 2012

Facts about Museums, Artists, Churches, Museum & Palaces mostly from Wikipedia & Rick Steve’s Venice 2012

Seleceted artwork inspired by many different sources… books, websites, TTC videos & personal taste.

6 Districts:

Rick Steve’s highlights:

General Experiences

• just walking around  –  get lost on purpose
• St. Marks Square – listening to duelling orchestras
• Picnic

Museum – Gallerie dell’Accademia

The Anoo (Gallerie dell’Accademia) is a museum gallery of pre-19th century art in Venice, northern Italy. Situated on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro, it gives its name to one of the three bridges across the canal, the Ponte dell’Accademia, and to the boat landing station for the vaporetto water bus. It was originally created as an art school.

The Most important museum in Venice, and it’s loaded with Venetian Renaissance art.

Highlights:

Churches

St. Mark’s Basilica

The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark (officially known in Italian as the Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco and commonly known as Saint Mark’s Basilica) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city’s churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. It lies at the eastern end of the Piazza San Marco, adjacent and connected to the Doge’s Palace. Originally it was the chapel of the Doge, and has only been the city’s cathedral since 1807, when it became the seat of the Patriarch of Venice, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, formerly at San Pietro di Castello. For its opulent design, gilded Byzantine mosaics, and its status as a symbol of Venetian wealth and power, from the 11th century on the building has been known by the nickname Chiesa d’Oro (Church of gold).

Rick Steves:  “Among Europe’s Churches St. Mark’s is Peerless. From the outside, it’s a riot of domes, columns and statues, completely unlike the towering Gothic churches of northern Europe or the heavy Baroque of much of the rest of Italy. Inside the decor of Mosaics colored marbles, and oriental trasures is rarely seen elsewhere. The Christian symbolism is unfamiliar to western eyes, done in the style of Byzantine icons and even Islamic design…”

Highlights:

Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

Franciscan church featuring Renaissance masters

The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, usually just called the Frari, is a church in Venice, northern Italy. One of the greatest churches in the city, it has the status of a minor basilica. It stands on the Campo dei Frari at the heart of the San Polo district. The church is dedicated to the Assumption (Italian: Assunzione della Beata Virgine). The Franciscans were granted land to build a church in 1250, but the building was not completed until 1338. Work almost immediately began on its much larger replacement, the current church, which took over a century to build. The campanile, the second tallest in the city after that of San Marco, was completed in 1396.

(very) Important art in church:

Church of San Zaccaria

San Zaccaria is a church in Venice, northern Italy, dedicated to St. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, whose body it supposedly contains. It is a large edifice, located in the quiet Campo San Zaccaria, just off the waterfront to the south east of St. Mark’s basilica.

The present church was built in a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance styles between 1444 and 1515. Antonio Gambello was the original architect, who started the building in the Gothic style, but the upper part of the facade and the upper parts of the interior were completed by Mauro Codussi in early Renaissance style.

Two ohter great chuches:

both by the great:  Andrea Palladio

• Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore
• San Giorgio Maggiore

ART

When people admitting their ignorance of art, say, “But I know what I like,” they usually mean, “I like what I know.”
– Rick Steves (in his book: “Europe 101: History & Art for the Traveler”)

Artists Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516)

Giovanni Bellini (c. 1430–1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it towards a more sensuous and colouristic style. Through the use of clear, slow-drying oil paints, Giovanni created deep, rich tints and detailed shadings. His sumptuous coloring and fluent, atmospheric landscapes had a great effect on the Venetian painting school, especially on his pupils Giorgione and Titian.

Highlights in Venice:

• The San Zaccaria Altarpiece (also called Madonna Enthroned with Child and Saints), executed in 1505 and located in the church of San Zaccaria, Venice.
• Frari Triptych (1488) – Oil on panel Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice

Highlights in Venice:

• Assumption of the Virgin is a large oil painting by Italian Renaissance artist Titian, executed in 1516-1518. It is located on the high altar in the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, being the largest altarpiece in the city.
• The Pesaro Madonna (Italian: Pala Pesaro) (better known as the Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro) is a painting by the Italian Renaissance master Titian, commissioned by Jacopo Pesaro, whose family acquired in 1518 the chapel in the Frari Basilica in Venice for which the work was painted, and where it remains today.
• Pietà is the last painting by the Italian master Titian (c. 1575). It is housed in the Gallerie dell’Accademia of Venice.

• The Tempest (Italian La Tempesta) is a famous Renaissance painting by Italian master Giorgione dated between 1506 and 1508. Originally commissioned by the Venetian noble Gabriele Vendramin, the painting is housed in the Gallerie dell’Accademia of Venice, Italy.
• La Vecchia (Old Woman) (c. 1508) – Oil on canvas, 68 x 59 cm, Accademia, Venice

Paolo Veronese  

Paolo Veronese (1528 – 19 April 1588) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance in Venice, famous for paintings such as The Wedding at Cana and The Feast in the House of Levi. He adopted the name Paolo Cagliari or Paolo Caliari, and became known as “Veronese” from his birthplace in Verona.

Highlights in Venice;

• The Feast in the House of Levi or Christ in the House of Levi is a 1573 painting by Italian painter Paolo Veronese and one of the largest canvases of the 16th century measuring 555 x 1280 cm (18 x 42 feet). It is now in the Gallerie dell’Accademia, inVenice. It was painted by Veronese for the Dominican order of SS. Giovanni Paolo as a Last Supper, to replace an earlier work by Titian destroyed in the fire of 1571.
• The Battle of Lepanto (c. 1572, oil on canvas, 169 x 137 cm, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice)

Tintoretto

Tintoretto  (September 29, 1518 – May 31, 1594), real name Jacopo Comin, was a Venetian painter and a notable exponent of the Renaissance school. For his phenomenal energy in painting he was termed Il Furioso. His work is characterized by its muscular figures, dramatic gestures and bold use of perspective in the Mannerist style, while maintaining color and light typical of the Venetian School. Highlights:

• Paradise @ Doge’s Palace (Hall of the grand council) – the largest oil painting in the world
• different paintings in “Scuola San Rocco” – Great Hall
• The Miracle of the Slave (also known as The Miracle of St. Mark, 1548) @ Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice, northern Italy, it was originally commissioned for the Scuola Grande di San Marco, a confraternity in the city.