In early September, Venice hosts two grand events. During the Historical Regatta, boats piloted by rowers wearing old-time costumes fill the Grand Canal with colorful pageantry. It’s a recreation of the city’s golden age, the 14th to 16th centuries. Then the 21st century takes over, as film stars and their directors descend on the city for the Venice International Film Festival.
While Venice isn’t an art magnet like neighboring Florence (home of Michelangelo’s “David”), the sinking city’s museums do contain art worth seeing any time of year. Most tourists crowd into St. Mark’s Basilica and St. Mark’s Square, but there’s much more to Venice.
The Accademia Gallery, facing the Grand Canal, is the greatest museum anywhere of Venetian Renaissance art, featuring grand canvases of bright, spacious settings packed with happy locals in opulent clothes having a wonderful time. The Venetian artist Titian is probably the best-known. While Venetian art is nowhere near as famous as the work of the florescent Florentines, it’s livelier, more colorful and simply more fun, showing historical slices of Venice, ravishing nudes and very human Madonnas. Venetians’ love of luxury shines through in their paintings.
Speaking of a great party, the benefactress of another Venetian museum knew how to meet and greet the beautiful people. In 1948, Peggy Guggenheim retired to Venice, moving into a small palazzo on the Grand Canal. During the 1950s and 1960s, her place was a mecca for “moderns,” including the likes of composer Igor Stravinsky, actor Marlon Brando, painter Mark Rothko, choreographer George Balanchine and Beatle John Lennon.
Today, Guggenheim’s home is a museum, decorated much as it was in her life, with a small but superb collection of 20th-century art. After strolling past graves (Guggenheim’s and her beloved dogs), you’ll wander through styles of art, represented by artists she knew personally: Picasso and Braque (cubism); Dali and Ernst (surrealism); Boccione (futurism); and Pollock (American abstract expressionism), plus a sprinkling of Klee, Calder and Chagall.
Venice has always been a big draw for the modern crowd, even back in the 1700s. You can visit the Ca’Rezzonico palace, once owned by the wealthy Rezzonico family, lavishly decorated with furniture and artwork from the period. The walls are hung with dreamy paintings of Venice by Canaletto that look much like the city does today.
Whether you’re cheering on rowers in the regatta, watching the latest film, puzzling over modern art or wandering through a kaleidoscope of 17th-century Venetian life, it’s easy to be part of the party in Venice.
Rick Steves of Edmonds (425-771-8303, www.ricksteves.com) is the author of 27 European travel guidebooks including “Europe Through the Back Door” and host of the PBS-TV series Rick Steves’ Europe, airing weeknights at 7 p.m. on Channel 9.
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