Bollards, ‘bricole’ and passion for wood …
Are you familiar with the enigmatic 16th century wooden sculptures ‘hieroglyphs’ by the relatively unknown Venetian virtuoso sculptor Francesco Pianta in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco? Have you [...]
THEATRES: TEATRO OLIMPICO IN VICENZA AND LA FENICE IN VENICE
The oldest theatres in Ancient Greece were open-air theatres built on the sides of hills consisting of orchestra (the centre), skene (backstage where actors could change, originally just a tent, [...]
FUN ALSO FOR CHILDREN NOT ONLY DURING CARNIVAL: CA’ DEL SOL MASK MAKING ATELIER IN VENICE
Children and teenagers travelling to Venice are often already familiar with La Serenissima thanks to two books, Carnival at Candlelight (2006) by Mary Pope Osborne and The Thief Lord (published [...]
Chocolate in Venice in the 18th Century and nowadays
HISTORY OF CHOCOLATE Chocolate has ancient, exotic origins. It comes from an evergreen plant in Mesoamerica, named in the 18thCentury by the Swedish botanist Carlo Linnaeus Theobroma cacao [...]
Alberto Valese, the ‘master’ papermaker of Venice
Shops run by skilled artisans producing their artful hand-made objects are getting rare in a time where shops selling the same junky items can be easily found all over the world. In Venice [...]