how we celebrated the Redentore in Venice on a sail boat: the video!

do you remeber when i told you about the weekend we spent sailing in Venice?

it has been an amazing experience we had the chance to to thanks to Antlos, a brand new start up that was filming a web series in the Mediterranean sea and asked us to play a little part in it.

July, Saturday 18th. Venice seen from a sail boat

it was going to be just a regular weekend for us. but then the phone rang, and i was asked if Marco and i were up to a field trip to Venice. why not?

Venezia seen from the water | Punta della Dogana | kodak ektar 100

Venetian stories: Marisa and her glass beads

Marisa workshop in sestiere San Marco 

© Italian Stories

Venice is small. it has the size of a town. but, behind any door, an entire world could open up for you, like stepping in Marisa's workshop, in sestiere San Marco. 
quirky wallpaper, old books, pictures, necklaces, china porcelain cups filled with glass beads, coral branches made of glass beads, velvet slippers embroidered with glass beads. glass beads everywhere! a small, colorful world. and Marisa sits in the middle of it, her desk well lighted by an old fashion chandelier and a lamp, her hands weaving, embroidering, stitching fast, among hundreds of small variously shaped and colored beads. 

Venezia neighborhoods | San Marco in analogue

from the family photo album - San Marco square

1. my granpa and his father in the 40s | 2. my mum, my aunt, uncle and me, 1989

 3. me feeding pigeons (it is not allowed anymore), 1993 | 4. me and my sister feeding pigeons again (you can easlily understand why it is not allowed anymore), 1996 | 5. marco chasing pigeons, 1985 

Venezia, an introduction

there is a novel, called the Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino, where the venetian explorer Marco Polo has a long conversation with the emperor Kublai Khan, telling him tales about cities and exploring the imagination. then, you'll find this dialogue:

"Sire {Marco Polo to Kublai Khan}, now I have told you about all the cities I know."
"There is still one of which you never speak"
Marco Polo bowed his head.
"Venezia" the Khan said.
Marco smiled. "What else do you believe I have been talking to you about?"

in the venetian lagoon. June, Monday 2nd

we read on the local newspaper that a flock of pink flamingos had arrived to the venetian lagoon, and was staying somewhere over there, near a place called Lio Piccolo. we've actually never heard of the place. like many people, when i think about the venetian lagoon, my thoughts go to Venice, the main island, or to Murano, Burano, Mazzorbo, la Giudecca {for italian readers, a post about la Giudecca here}, il Lido, the smaller but globally known islands, that can be reached with a quick vaporetto {water bus} ride from Venice. but the lagoon is much more bigger than that. there is a whole world made by greens, yellows, blues, birds songs and poetry that stands between the coast and the islands, and we have never explored before. the pink flamingos news was the flea in our ears that made us take the lambretta and ride towards the sea.

hey you

i'm finally ready to be back. back posting, taking pictures, writing, scketching, having adventures on the road.
my head has been a pinwheel in the last couple of months. having a early summer sunday, taking a walk in the sun, with a polaroid camera, just enjoying the landscape and each other's company, felt like a good night's rest for marco and me.

Burano and Mazzorbo. August, Saturday 25th

The one which is maybe our favourite city in the world is the one we cannot reach by Lambretta. Ciao, Venezia.

We both studied at the Venice University so the city means a lot to us. The main island, the "fish", is a wonderful and unique place that everyone should see in his life. But, the magic continues in the lagoon. To explore the little islands, take the vaporetto 12 from the imbarcadero in Fondamenta Nuove, the journey takes 40 minutes (7€ one way).

Burano is colorful as a parrot, simple as a fisherman. Embroidered by the sea, trimmed in lace.

Once you get off the vaporetto, you have a small park on the right side, a nice place to have a pic nic if you brought your lunch, like we did (considering the vaporetto tickets price, is a good way to save some money). I prepared some sandwiches with salame, rocket/sundried tomatoes/grana cheese, gorgonzola cheese/fig/honey (had the last one idea from this recipe).

Walking between the park and the sea, you'll arrive to a wooden bridge, which connects Burano to her quiet sister, Mazzorbo island.
In the early days of Venetian life, there were farmers, too. Somehow they managed to farm this salty, microscopic and stingy land.
In Mazzorbo we can still admire the results of such stubborness: the restaurant & hostel Venissa is located inside a vigna murata (walled vineyard), recently restored.