Addison Anthony: Italy Vacation, Part 10

5/18/15

Our final day of vacation began with a short walking tour of Venice where we checked out the Rialto Bridge (under construction) and some old churches. The Rialto Bridge was built in the late 16th century and spans the Grand Canal. Even though some sections were under construction, it was still a pretty impressive sight. Next, we walked towards the Friari Cathedral. Some of the sidewalks were quite narrow and I'm sure a fatty has gotten stuck there a time or two. The Friari contained paintings and sculptures by many famous artists, including Donatello, and is the resting place of Monteverdi, along with several Doges. However, the greatest sight in the Friari is the tomb of Antonia Canova. Canova's tomb (pictured below) is shaped like a gigantic pyramid, which obviously led to another Anthony family burial pyramid discussion.

Rialto Bridge.

Another of the Rialto Bridge.

Narrow streets.

Canova's burial pyramid.

After lunch, we grabbed a water taxi and headed to Murano, which shares the lagoon with Venice. Murano is where all glass production takes place, since all operations were removed from the main island of Venice after a series of fires. Upon arriving, we headed to Ars Cenedese where we were given a tour of the glass blowing operations. I was very impressed by the glass blowing process, which is incredibly time consuming and requires an amount of precision I could only dream of. After the tour, we entered their showroom. I found a set of wine glasses that I really enjoyed, and if you ask nicely next time you are at my house, I will show you the $4,000 set of glasses that I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT BUY. Dad bought a bowl, but he is old and can afford that type of stuff.

Ars Cenedese.

The fire got hot.

En route to Burano.

Next, we hopped back into our taxi and headed to Burano, which specializes in laces. I'm not going to go into detail because I don't really care about lace, but Allison bought some stuff. The coolest part about Burano is how colorful all of the buildings are. If I understand correctly, which I don't, all paint sold in Burano has a large question mark on it. Open it up and that's what color house you get. Trust me. If you read it on the internet, then it must be true.

Checking out Burano.

Allison wants a blue house now.

Our final stop of the tour was the island of Torcello, with a population of ~12. Torcello is home of the oldest church in the area and Ernest Hemingway used to hang out there for some unknown reason. Moving on...