Best View in Venice (Day 15)

This afternoon we caught a vaporetto over to San Giorgio Maggiore to visit the church. It was originally built in 790 but collapsed in an earthquake in 1223. The version that stands there today dates from approximately 1500. It was designed by Andrea Palladio who believed there was a correlation between maths and music. Hugh Honour, author of ‘The Companion Guide to Venice’ states that there is a harmony to Palladio’s churches. I’d be inclined to agree. It’s not ornate or decorative as you might expect, in fact it’s quite bare by Venice standards, but it’s calm, peaceful and creates an atmosphere that could not wrongly be described as harmonious.

There is a great floor in front of the main alter (probably not so harmonious) that seems strangely modern for its time. I suppose retro is cool at the moment, but even still.

There is also a carving of the Madonna and child by Girolamo Campagna that seems to have a contemporary twist. The crowns on the figures heads seem a bit out of place to me, as if they are a later addition. Maybe the priest decided to play a joke, only in today’s language the crowns would have been substituted for traffic cones.

So back to the point. We had gone there to see Anish Kapoor’s ‘Ascension’. I was keen to see it as I’d heard it was posing structural problems for the church, due to operating via a vacuum, and was possibly going to be switched off. It also hadn’t worked on its opening night so was behaving like a real diva of an artwork. I was intrigued.

It was definitely a spectacle and well worth a visit but you do have to suspend belief slightly and blank out the four massive columns hiding ten fans each, large grubby cylinder from which the water vapour escapes and loud noise. Some of his other simpler pieces are maybe more effective, but if you stand at the bottom and look up to see a whirlwind of floodlit water vapour rise and be consumed by a massive black hole meters above you you can almost manage it. In ten years time when technology has advanced this piece will be stunning. Although in ten years time it will be easy to create this kind of spectacle so maybe it wouldn’t be so impressive. Or maybe we’ll all have one in our bathrooms. I enjoyed it anyway.

Afterwards we paid €5 to go up in the lift to the top of the tower. I had been told and read in many guide books that this is the best view of Venice by far. Well I can’t confirm as I’ve not ascended many towers in Venice, but it’s very impressive. You can really see how the city rises out of the water.

As we were leaving the church another massive cruise ship was skulking through the Giudecca Canal. It was massive, almost as tall as the tower we had just been up. I paid €5 for my view, and these passengers probably paid thousands, so I felt very thrifty indeed.

We walked back past the only remaining gondola workshop in Venice and had an ombra and some chicetti overlooking the canal.