Monselice Continued

Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. - Seneca

The past couple of days we have been doing work in mental mapping. Thursday started out well. We arrived in Venice and committed our first crime. We all carefully stowed aboard a Vaporreto (one of the boats that take people around the city along the grand canal) and made it all the way to Salute without paying. Salute is incredible. The church is a massive, incredible piece of architecture that was built as an offering during the plague in Venice. So we began there and were told to walk around Sestier Dorsoduro, paying particular attention to light and space along the different ways, and making a mental map, pointing out the landmarks and objects that stood out to us. It was very interesting looking at the things that stood out. Usually it was for a personal reason, something that was attractive to us individually. Other times though it was simply the largest or most incredible building on the calle or in the campo. My sketching could still use a lot of work but I’m trying, and people are more than willing to help me improve, so I think I’ll take a couple of lessons.

I spent a lot of time that day following the fondamenta zattere, the strip that follows all of the way along the southern edge of Dorsoduro next to the lagoon. It is a beautiful strip. We met up in the afternoon, relaxed a little in Campo Santa Margherita, and then were free to do whatever we wanted. I went with Anisha, Ira, and Mahati to visit Campo Ghetto and the Jewish section of the town. It was a little difficult for us to find at first, but eventually we made it. It was a much quieter part of the city, more personal, but perhaps I was biased. I knew I was in the right place when I ran into the Chabad. There was a man, not too much older than me sitting outside and after we realized that the synagogues were closed, I went to speak with him. He was a Hassidic Jew from New York who had come to Europe for a friend's wedding and was sitting outside the Chabad inviting people to Shavuot services that night. He of course invited me, but unfortunately the services were after the last train out of the city and I couldn’t go. But when he asked me if I wanted to put on tefillin, I couldn’t refuse. There was just something about being in the place that made me want to don a tallis and the tefillin, and it was a very powerful experience. It made me feel comfortable, connected, in this city that was filled with tourists looking for a cheap carnivle mask to take home with them. I think perhaps the Venetians feel the same way about their traditions. Though the tourists may take the Gondola rides, and buy masks, to the Venetians, these things are art forms, badges of pride that define them and bring them comfort. So while much of Venice is being lost in tourism, there are pockets of tradition, which is a comforting thought.
So my friends watched as I did this, curious as to what it all was, and what the Hebrew I was speaking meant. It made for a good conversation on the way back to the train.

The next day I decided to try a little experiment. My goal was to test silence. How much more did I notice, did I pay attention when I didn’t talk. People knew what I was doing, and I had a little communication through other means, but apart from that, I didn’t speak. It was an interesting experience. It calmed me and helped me focus and I was able to notice things that I had not on previous days, even when traveling alone. We had a personal tour from a woman Shun knows named Valeria who took us from Campo San Toma to the Rialto. We went along a lot of back ways and she told us stories about the meaning of the streets, and the histories of many of the houses. It was fascinating. After that we broke into pairs so I decided to start speaking again so as not to leave my partner alone. Anisha and I explored that path from the Rialto back to San Toma again and learned the ins and outs of that section of the city. Much of the mapping we were supposed to do was visual, but Shun told everyone, though directed at me I believe, that we could do verbal mapping, or other kinds. My goal was to map the flow of people and languages. My work is incomplete, but I have at least made some interesting observations. It is not to surprising that along shopping strips you will hear American English, Italian, German, British English, French, etc, but it is also more prevalent in main campos and in calles that lead to important places. However the many other calles that lead to random places, little Cortes, or shortcuts, usually have Italian if not exclusively Venetian. As for the flow of people, the narrower the walkway, the darker it tends to be, since the buildings are very tall and connected, so people tend to walk very quickly down these calles. I think people feel trapped or oppressed by the lack of space and light and seek to escape into a brighter area, whether it be a porte or a campo. In that way it almost seems like the long, dark, narrow calles direct people to brighter places. The most incredible part of the day though was our visit to a mask shop by Campo San Toma. I was curious to know why these people made the masks. Was it for the tourists, was it to make money, was it a passion? This shop attracted my attention because I could see the owners making the masks inside by hand. One of the women there explained to me that if people were looking for a carnivale mask to take home, they were in the wrong shop. Traditional Venetian mask makers spend several months to a year researching new designs for masks before building them. These masks are for the love of Venetian tradition and are sold to native Venetians for carnivale and for decoration in their homes. It was very interesting to hear her passion. She then explained the marionettes hanging in the shop. In the past, the marionettes provided an opportunity for people to anonymously criticize the Doge and the noblemen in caricature. Apparently this is still done today, though not nearly as often.

Today we spent the entire day in Monselice at the Villa. I love this place; it is absolutely inspiring. A sixteenth century villa facilitates a lot of creativity. We went shopping at the supermarket in the morning to collect fresh food for lunch and dinner. At the villa we went over the past couple of days and retraced and rethought our maps. It is very difficult to describe the impact that this program is having on people, but it is there, sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious.

We made lunch in the Villa together, a fun experience with delicious results. The ingredients here are so fresh. The fruit is better, the cheese is better, the bread is better, and all of it is relatively cheap, especially for its quality. We did the same for dinner and it was fantastic. We spent a lot of time exploring the Villa and taking pictures for a profile that we are all developing, which provided great entertainment. Everyone shared pictures, and cameras, and stories. Mahati played her fiddle first in the courtyard, then inside the Villa, and later in the evening along a rooftop pathway, which is one of my favorite spots. The villagers though provided the most exciting moment of the night. Many of the people grouped together with torches and candles, singing Ave Maria and walking up to a shrine in a public part of the villa. It was amazing to watch, especially from the rooftop. And now as we finish up our profiles and listen to Shun’s Italian music, I am excited by our day tomorrow, our free day. I don’t know what I should do yet. I am tempted to go back to the city and sketch more and explore, and “catch up” on a lot of work that I wasn’t sure I might want earlier on. But others will go to the beach or explore the city so I will see. I also got an invitation from Massi, the guy who has been helping us a lot in Monselice and works as a librarian in the castle, to show me around the town and some of the better nature spots, so perhaps I will take him up on that. For now though, I will end my work and walk back down the hill soon.

Buona Notte