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The world stops at Venice

Aditi De

It's Venice to us. Venezia to the Italians. But La Serenissima, or the most serene city, to Europeans over the ages.

It comes to life for me during a week at the beautiful Italian lagoon city. Life in Venice skims the sweeping double curve of the Grand Canal and the 180 smaller water passages through the 118 original islands. Blue ambulance boats weave past red fireboats and police speedboats. Grey garbage scows flow with the tide, burdened by their load. Bright soft drink and ice barges vend their wares. Black-tasselled funeral gondolas anchored by hospital bays await a final call.

Aboard a diesel-powered water bus (or passenger boat) outside the Venice railway station, we feel our senses stilled. We catch our breath as, just after dusk, the fights go on in the palaces, churches and public buildings -- some dating back to the 12th century -- along the canalside.

The cupola of Santa Maria de Salute (built to mark the end of the plague in 1630) stands edged against the moody sky. The pastel-hued marble mosaic of ikat-like motifs outside the Doge's or duke's palace exudes an oriental flavour. The basilica of San Marco dazzles with its jewel-rich finish. Even the bustle of the teeming Piazza San Marco, the heart of the city, is hushed at this enchanted hour.

At the very hub of this exquisite city, I'm amazed to find no cars, no trains, no trams or buses, no horse-drawn carriages, not even bicycles. As pedestrians, we're the lords of all we survey! We're told this was even truer until Venice lost its island character in 1846, when a railway causeway first connected it to the Italian mainland. Even today, all wheeled vehicles are garaged at the landward end of the island.

In this pedestrian's paradise, we sense a carefree swing to every stride past hawkers who cry their wares between the ridged bridges - carnival masks, baubles of glass, fans of ethereal lace. Because individualism is the buzzword in this northern Italia n port, from where Marco Polo first set sail to explore the world.

Languid Venice is obviously a lover's haven. Couples nuzzle at the water's edge as their feet trail the lapping waters. Hidden by gargoyles in a cranny, courtship rites wax warm even on winter dawns.

At night, Venice wakes to a secret life. That's when the bridges are crammed with animated folk from around Planet Earth. Often arm-in-arm, trilling raucous songs in unison. Children and adults alike play tag with abandon in the teeming star-canopied sq uares as the sophisticated sip their aperitifs at cafes.

As for the Rialto Bridge, immortalised by Shakespeare's Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, it was the hub of trading when Venice dominated east-west trade in Europe for three centuries, with the Rialto or money exchange at its core. Today, though, the R ialto market deals mainly in fish, fruit, vegetables and other foodstuff.

We watch the gondoliers, clad in striped jumpers over black trousers, often sporting a jaunty beret, glide over the dancing waters. Though only 400 gondolas - all painted black since 1562 to curb public ostentation - survive today, they leave their mark on the Grand Canal that curves through the city like a main street. A grand tour of Venice on a gondola costs the earth. But when your feet start killing you, you might want to try the `traghetto,' a ferry service from bank to bank for 1,000 lire (about Rs. 20).

Even in the present, Venice celebrates the past. Its favourite get-together is probably the Vogalonga on first Sunday of May, in which any Venetian who is oar-savvy can set out in any boat of their choice. We can only imagine what a joyous gathering tha t is! Of course, the Venetians constantly refer to the ten-day Carnival in spring, when social differences disappear behind masks and balls, games and festivities.

Current fashions apart, the contemporary world seems to pass Venice by. This former maritime republic, whose economic and political power was felt for over a thousand years, is rich with cultural history. ``It was at the 16th century Palazza Vendramin-C alergi here that German composer Richard Wagner died, while English poet Robert Browning breathed his last at the Ca' Rezzonico (Ca' is short for casa or house),'' a guide tells us. Lord Byron was often a guest at the Palazza Benson, where Countess Marin a Querini-Benson held her famous literary salons.

American author Henry James was magnetically drawn to the Palazza Barbaro, which inspired scenes in The Wings of the Dove. German writer Thomas Mann set his novel, Death in Venice, (1912) here. American Peggy Guggenheim's extensive collection of contemp orary art is housed in the 18th century Ca' Venier dei Leoni.

Venice, no longer anchored merely in the past, now hosts an international film festival at the Lido island every August, while the Gardens of the Biennale hold an acclaimed contemporary art exposition every second year.

Wandering through these cobbled streets, I saw the cell where the legendary Casanova was once imprisoned. And the Bridge of Sighs, across which undertrial prisoners were earlier led to the duke's court. And the diverse faces of Venice as painted by, mas ters like Titian, Tintoretto and Canaletto at the Museo Correr.

But Venice today is sinking three times as fast as in the past, at 300 mm per century. That's because of the sheer weight of the city on the alluvial silt overlying the solid strata under the lagoon floor.

How was old Venice constructed? ``Originally built on pilings or stone fill over which planking was laid, the bricks of these canal-facing dwellings were often saturated with damp,'' an architect explains. According to local norms, the higher the floor, the lower the social strata of the inhabitant was!

La Serenissima is a city of beauty that may not last forever. It will remain a dream destination unless it vanishes into the ocean depths.

Fact file

By Air: Most European airlines have direct flights into Venice because of its tourist potential.

What to see: Piazza San Marco, Basilica of San Marco, the Doge's palace, the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Museo Correr, Ca' Rezzonico, Scuola Grande de San Rocco.

What to buy: Murrano glasseware, lacework from Burano, masks, coral jewellery, fashionable clothes.

Pic.: A view of the Grand Canal of Venice.