Simply..birth, death and politics....

24/4/2018

..in Venice which is still a living city of some 57,000 people.

I had read of this tradition to announce the arrival and the sex (blue for a boy, pink for a girl) of a new baby by attaching a ribbon to the door.

Graffiti on the hoarding around the Accademia Bridge which is being restored.

I had planned to visit the church of SS Giovanni e Paolo on our last morning but a funeral was taking place.

I have been following this blog about Venice with interest for a few years. The writer Steven Varni, wrote a post about the very funeral I mention above.

4 Comments

Mary

25/4/2018 01:54:18 am

One of the most memorable things I saw in Venice in the early 1960s was an amazingly ornate funeral gondola going through a small back waterway. I was standing on a bridge as it came along and passed underneath. I was amazed it could float because it has so much marble statuary on it. After reading the blog piece you linked to, I realize just how exceptional it was that I saw this particular funeral gondola. The closest photo I could find is in this link: https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/funeral-barge-island-of-san-michele-venice

It reminded me of the horse-drawn funeral carriage used in my grandmother's funeral in London just a few years earlier in 1960. Similar to this: http://horse-drawncarriages.co.uk/funerals

Freda

25/4/2018 12:25:16 pm

Wasn't that amazing to see? I was comparing the landscape desigh of cemeteries in Sweden and Italy - they could not have been more different - and the size of the floral tributes in Venice meant it took two strong men to carry them. All fascinating as is your grandmother's funeral (i couldn't get the links to work though I'm afraid)..

cathy

25/4/2018 12:56:36 pm

the various customs in different countries is interesting. when I lived in Germany, many years ago, I put a wreath on the door for decoration. my neighbors stopped to give their condolences...to them, a wreath meant a death had occurred.

Freda

25/4/2018 02:01:18 pm

Isn't it interesting Cathy - so much to learn when you live in a new place.

Simply..birth, death and politics....

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