Torcello's Population Increases by 1!

From our friends at Buongiorno Venezia: news of a new baby on Torcello!

"There's good news for Torcello, the little island near Burano in the northern lagoon. On 18 July, after 26 barren years, there was a new birth. The newborn is named Federica, and she is the daughter of a young married couple who, just a few months ago, moved from the nearby island of Mazzorbo after being assigned as caretakers of the church of Torcello. It may require a certain dedication to live and to raise their children on an island like Torcello, where the (now) fifteen inhabitants lack any modern conveniences. There isn't a single shop, not to mention pharmacy or doctor, and for every necessity they have to travel to Burano. Buona fortuna, Federica!" 

Great Gondola Site

I got curious about "Ente Gondola" mentioned in the article in the previous posting. So I did a bit of googling and found the Ente Gondola website. It has great photos of gondoliers and info on renting gondolas, why they're black, gondola weddings and funerals, and advice on selecting your gondolier (and lots more).

Gondolas Going Back to the Basic Look

Wow! Where did the month go? Sorry I haven't been keeping Weird Venice up-to-date. I got a new job and, while I really like it, is keeping me busy. I hope this article about gondolas going back to the basics (from our friends at ANSA) makes up for the lag. Anyone been to Venice lately? Got any stories to share?


New rules will cut tacky tourist trappings (ANSA) - Venice, July 25 - Venice's gondolas are set to go back to basics, shedding the glitzy trappings recently tacked on to lure tourists.

The city's gondola association has drawn up guidelines aimed at eliminating "a tasteless and tacky free-for-all."

The body is poised to bar "the garish cushions, multi-coloured seating and flashy decorations which have appeared in recent years."

The question of gondola styling has been on the agenda since last summer, when traditionalists rebelled against a growing trend to glam up the historic boats. "I'm glad tradition has prevailed," association chief Roberto Puppi said Tuesday.

"It shows gondoliers are serious about keeping up the high standards of their calling.

"Clients often prefer a flamboyant craft but the boat has a history and characteristics that must be upheld."

Under the new rules, statuettes on prows and sterns will be cut in number and size and stripped of the gold leaf that has crept in over the last decade.

Seat backs and cushions will have to be made of plain leather, outlawing fancier materials.

Colour-wise, gondoliers will have a choice of black, dark blue or purple for their interiors.

All other parts of the boat must be black.

The drive to apply traditional standards will not cover ceremonial boats used for romantic occasions, which may still carry the ornate and colourful wooden cabins - called 'felze' - that have always kept riverborne Venetians away from prying eyes.

"But the common-or-garden gondola has to recover characteristics in keeping with its history and iconography," Puppi stressed. The proposed return to sobriety will be put to the city council shortly.

Once the new norms are approved, the city's 400 or so gondoliers will have to stick to them under threat of losing their licenses.

In another move, Venice's gondola agency, Ente Gondola, is bringing in new apprenticeships for aspiring gondoliers.

The courses are "aimed at making sure new generations aren't just skilled boatsmen but also know their culture," said Ente Gondola President Antonio Iannotta. The six-month apprencticeships will ensure youngsters are well versed in gondola history and secrets as well as Venetian history and art, he said.

Until now, the main focus of gondolier schools has been making sure apprentices could handle the fine art of gondola-steering.

Black, banana-shaped gondolas have been used to ferry people and goods about the lagoon city for at least a millennium.

They developed over the centuries in response to the Venetians' need for a light, manoeuvrable transport vessel which could be steered around islands and canals by a single person

� Copyright ANSA. All rights reserved 

THE CANALS ARE CLOGGED! CHINESE SEAWEED INVADES VENICE! (even though it's a serious problem, I had to chuckle when I saw the seaweed described as a "tagliatelle-like weed.")

From BBC NEWS:
Venice battles seaweed invasion
Venice is bracing itself for its summer tourist invasion, but an unwelcome newcomer has joined the thousands of visitors filling the Italian city.

This unwanted guest is a huge seaweed, originally from China, that grows up to three metres long.

The advent of summer means it is thriving in the warm shallow waters of the lagoon, near the city.

Scientists are warning that if left to its own devices it could clog up the city's famous canals.

Locals ousted

Researchers say the voracious weed, undaria pinnatifidaea, it was probably brought to the Adriatic accidentally by a ship that dumped bilge water into the sea.

From the Adriatic it spread into the nearby lagoon and has now reached as far as the city itself.

The tagliatelle-like weed is so big and invasive that it leaves little space for local species.

Biologists at Venice's Natural History Museum say that while the seaweed is unlikely to damage the city's historic buildings because it does not have roots, it is almost impossible to destroy and the only answer may be to find another foreign predator to eat it.

The seaweed is the second invader to make Venice its home in recent years. Filipino clams have already virtually wiped out local species in the lagoon.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/5112980.stm

Published: 2006/06/24 13:23:20 GMT

� BBC MMVI 

Who Took My Sidebar???

You may notice that the left side of the page is blank. My sidebar has disappeared. i'm trying to find out why and to get it back. If you took it, please return!

Wow! That's fast service. I posted the message and went to look at the blog. What'da you know? My sidebar came back. Thanks!

Non-Stop Flights from Atlanta to Venice

I hate going to JFK airport. But I'll do it to take the non-stop Delta flight to Venice. I can leave on a Friday night and be in my apartment in Venice in time for lunch the next day. Now, if you live in Atlanta, you can enjoy a non-top. From our friends at Buongiorno Venezia:

Americans are arriving in Venice in ever greater numbers. As confirmation of this two weeks ago, a third non-stop flight was inaugurated between the U.S. and Venice. As of Wednesday 7 June, there has been a daily link between Venice and Atlanta, adding to the daily flights from New York and Philadelphia. Delta is the carrier on the Atlanta and New York routes, while U.S. Air flies from Philadelphia. For the occasion, the new American ambassador to Italy, Ronald P. Spogli, arrived in Venice for the first time and, during his inaugural address, underlined the fondness of Americans for Venice and Veneto. He supported his assertion by pointing out that the new flight, originally scheduled only for the summer months, was extended year 'round.

Venice Looks for an Alternative to MOSES

From our friends at ANSA.it:

Venice considers its options
Push for alternatives to costly flood barrier system (ANSA) - Venice, June 6 -
The city of Venice has asked the government to consider alternatives to the expensive mobile flood barriers that are currently being constructed at the entrances to the lagoon.

After 30 years of debate and testing, work began on the 'Moses' flood barriers in 2003. The massive construction project, due to be completed in 2012, is expected to cost 3.5 billion euros.

But in the wake of widespread concern among Venetians and environmentalists over the impact of Moses on the lagoon, Mayor Massimo Cacciari called on Monday for a "review" of the project.

A measure approved later by the city council called for a pause for thought and "the possibility to test simpler and less costly solutions" to Venice's perennial flooding problems.

Cacciari pointed out that ultimately the government - which is footing most of the bill - will have the final say on whether Moses continues to be built and, if so, in what form.

He argued that first of all studies should be carried out to gauge whether the environmental impact of Moses is sustainable and whether it can be reduced in any way.

An assessment on the impact of Moses in 1998 came to negative conclusions, he noted.

At the same time alternatives to the metal barriers could be looked at to see whether they offered a better - and possibly cheaper - solution.

Work done until now was "not to be thrown away", he said, adding: "It's a question of continuing in a way which is compatible with whatever comes out of the review."

Supporters of Moses saw the mayor's move as a strategy to stop construction work and eventually block the project altogether.

"This is senseless. Its environmental bigotry against the defence of Venice and its monuments," said art critic and former culture undersecretary Vittorio Sgarbi.

Moses consists of 79 barriers, which would lie on the seabed at the three entrances to the Venice lagoon for most of the time. Thanks to compressed air pumped into them, they would rise up when high tides were forecast and so stop seawater entering the lagoon from the Adriatic Sea.

Flooding is a constant problem for Venice and the picturesque St Mark's Square is covered with water dozens of times every year.

The previous centre-right government in Rome adopted Moses as one of the jewels in its nationwide crown of major infrastructural projects but the attitude of the new centre-left government - of which the Greens are a member - has still to emerge.

According to experts, Venice is increasingly subject to flooding for three reasons: the lagoon floor is rising because of incoming silt; the extraction of methane gas in the sea off Venice causes its islands to sink; and sea levels are rising in general because of global warming.

Moses is opposed by environmentalists worried about the impact of the system on the lagoon's ecosystem and by many Venetians who argue that the money could be spent on cheaper, less damaging solutions.

The European Commission opened infringement procedures against Italy earlier this year in connection with the environmental impact of the flood barriers.

The European Court of Justice has already found Italy guilty of breaking a 2000 EU nature directive by failing to set aside protected areas for the birds who live around the lagoon.

The mayor is in an awkward position because he was voted into office last year partly on the back of promises to 'review' the flood barrier project. But not all his allies in city hall agree with the idea of slowing down or halting construction.

With Cacciari's supporters divided and opposition councillors keen to continue building, it was unclear what the outcome of Monday's concil meeting would be.

Cacciari said he wasn't proposing dropping the Moses project altogether, but doing a series of tests and studies to see whether its environmental impact could be lessened and its effectiveness improved.


© Copyright ANSA. All rights reserved 2006-06-06 12:34

Insanity Museum & the Clock Tower Drops Its Veil

Our Friends at Buongiorno Venezia had a lot of good (i.e., weird) news. Here's two for you:

From "BUONGIORNO VENEZIA - The News from Venice" published fortnightly by VENICEWORD
INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SERVICES in Venice, Italy - 22 May 2006


A museum devoted to insanity -- or the treatment of it -- was inaugurated on 20 May in the island of S. Servolo, which is in the stretch of the lagoon between Venice and the Lido and, for 300 years, housed a mental hospital. The name of the museum is "Museum of the Psychiatric Hospital of S. Servolo. The secluded madness". It's divided into different sectors, with a historic introductory section that shows the main curative methods of past centuries, such as chains, straitjackets, handcuffs, and the equipment used for the electroshock treatment, an Italian invention that was first used on this island in 1938. There are also, from the early years of the 20th-Century, some very rare plethysmographs: the first, primitive lie detectors.


AND....
The restoration work on the Clock Tower in St. Mark's Square has ended, and on Saturday 27 May there will be a great fete to celebrate the event. At midnight, the veil that now covers it will fall, and the Moors -- silent for ten years -- will welcome the new day by tolling 132 times. At the last toll, a brilliant display of fireworks will light the tower. The producer of the event, Venetian Marco Balich, was also the artistic director of the opening and closing ceremonies at the Turin Winter Olympics. A few hours before, beginning at 8:30 p.m., actors, acrobats, and jugglers will liven up the scene, and the feast's Patroness will be actress Claudia Cardinale.

Mad Cows May Silence Venice's Music?

From our friends at ANSA.it news:

Music string makers hit by mad cow

Italian world-beaters struggle with gut ban (ANSA) - Venice, May 19 -

Italy's musical-string makers are fighting a mad-cow ban on the use of their raw material, animal guts.

"This ban makes no sense. You can't eat a violin string," said Mimo Peruffo of the Aquila company, the leading Italian producer of strings.

Aquila uses the intestines of sheep and cows, both outlawed under a European Union ban on offal and other animal parts introduced to halt the spread of mad cow disease.

The company, which is based at Caldogno near Venice, has been forced to turn to a gut supplier in Argentina, the only country the EU rates as risk-free.

"It's simply not enough to ensure future production," Peruffo said.

"We're faced with the risk of shutting down because of a lack of raw material".

Peruffo pointed out that, at the end of the production process, his strings are painted or clad with silver-coated copper wire.

"This eliminates all risk for humans. But the ban stands. The extension of the measure to cover strings is absurd. Our product is simply unfit for human consumption - for the right reasons".

Aquila asked the Italian ministry of health if the EU really meant to include musical strings, to be met with the official answer: "The measure applies to all forms of animal intestines, no matter where they end up".

Peruffo now plans to appeal to a court for an exemption as part of an "historically significant" craft.

Italy has long stood at the head of the world's string makers, the small-business association Confartigianato pointed out.

"The skills were handed down for centuries by craftsmen in Rome, Naples and the Abruzzo region, spreading later to workshops in the Venice and Modena areas," the association noted.

"Traditional Italian mastery cannot be jeopardised by a silly ban on eating violin strings," the association said. Animal intestines have been used to make strings for thousands of years. The first proof that the Ancient Greeks used the material came in 1827 when an English archaeologist found harp strings in Thebes that still had a tone after about 2,000 years.

Legend has it that Greek god Apollo stretched tortoise entrails across the animal's scooped-out shell to invent the first lyre.


© Copyright ANSA. All rights reserved

It's Not Venice, But....It's Still WEIRD!

From Our Friends at ANSA.it:

Restaurant fined for lobster abuse
Crustaceans kept on ice rather than in water tank (ANSA) - Vicenza, April 26 -
A restaurant operator has been fined 688 euros for allegedly mistreating lobsters which were on display for potential customers, the local press reported.

The fine was the result of a complaint filed in March 2002 by a former activist from Italy's animal protection agency ENPA.

The 34-year restaurant operator was accused of keeping the lobsters on ice rather than in a water tank.

The fine was levied despite the restaurant operator's request for the opinion of an expert and he has appealed.

According to the restaurateur, four years ago there were no specific guidelines on maintaining live lobsters, regulations which entered the law books only in 2004.

The general opinion of lobstermen is that a hard shell lobster can survive out of the water for 24 hours or more, while soft shell lobsters, those which are re-growing their shells after shedding, are best kept in water.

They also maintain that lobsters, sometimes referred to as the 'cockroaches of the sea', do not suffer, for example when they are thrown into boiling water for cooking. Most lobsters in Italy are hard shells and arrive from northern Europe and North America packed in ice.

The local press here noted that the case has given the restaurant operator some excellent, free publicity.

Kiss the Pigeons, If You Really Have to...

Here's an article from the Associated Press as a follow-up to my previous post about the pigeons in San marco and the bird flu. So, if you really, really, really have to kiss the pigeons...

Apr 23, 10:26 AM EDT

Tests: Pigeons Don't Pose Bird Flu Trouble

By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- City folks, don't worry. Nobody expects pigeons, more common than manhole covers, will bring the deadly bird flu virus. Pigeons are not immune from the virus. But tests indicate the birds pick it up only when they are exposed to very high doses, do not always become infected under those conditions and are carriers only briefly.

"Pigeons aren't a big worry," said Rex Sohn, a wildlife disease specialist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. "But to make absolute predictions that pigeons won't be susceptible to this virus, in whatever form it arises in North America, is not something you want to say."

Government scientists looking for the first signs of the H5N1 bird flu strain in the United States are focusing on wild migratory birds, not resident birds such as pigeons, starlings and sparrows that stay close to home.

In February, a 14-year-old pigeon seller in Iraq died after coming down with bird flu-like symptoms. Authorities said three of his cousins also were hospitalized with similar symptoms.

There have been no pigeon die-offs in parts of the world experiencing H5N1 outbreaks, according to USGS wildlife disease specialist Grace McLaughlin.

Three studies since the late 1990s by the Agriculture Department's Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Ga., have produced "more questions than we have answers," said the center's director, David Swayne. The lab has been working on bird flu since the 1970s.

In one experiment, researchers squirted into pigeons' mouths liquid drops that contained the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus from a Hong Kong sample. The birds got about 100 to 1,000 times the concentration that wild birds would encounter in nature. "We couldn't infect the pigeons," Swayne said. "So that's good news."

In 2004, the lab did two more experiments. Using a pigeon and a crow that had both died in Thailand, researchers gave 12 pigeons similarly high doses of the bird flu virus. Seven became infected and one died. Five others did not become infected.

"What that tells us is that pigeons can be susceptible. But they're not uniformly susceptible," Swayne said. "Not like chickens or ducks - they all become infected."

Infected pigeons carried the virus about 10 days. But they were infectious for only about two days and then at levels below what it would normally take to infect a chicken.

"The experimental data is not very strong that pigeons are going to be spreading this virus around," Swayne said. "At this point they have not been implicated in spreading it to humans and to farms."

Maybe You Can Kiss the Pigeons....

Foll9owing on a previous post about the San marco pigeons and bird flu, here's a follow-up story from the Associated Press:

Apr 23, 10:26 AM EDT

Tests: Pigeons Don't Pose Bird Flu Trouble

By JOHN HEILPRIN
Associated Press Writer

AP Photo/M. SPENCER GREEN
Other News Video

WASHINGTON (AP) -- City folks, don't worry. Nobody expects pigeons, more common than manhole covers, will bring the deadly bird flu virus. Pigeons are not immune from the virus. But tests indicate the birds pick it up only when they are exposed to very high doses, do not always become infected under those conditions and are carriers only briefly.

"Pigeons aren't a big worry," said Rex Sohn, a wildlife disease specialist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wis. "But to make absolute predictions that pigeons won't be susceptible to this virus, in whatever form it arises in North America, is not something you want to say."

Government scientists looking for the first signs of the H5N1 bird flu strain in the United States are focusing on wild migratory birds, not resident birds such as pigeons, starlings and sparrows that stay close to home.

In February, a 14-year-old pigeon seller in Iraq died after coming down with bird flu-like symptoms. Authorities said three of his cousins also were hospitalized with similar symptoms.

There have been no pigeon die-offs in parts of the world experiencing H5N1 outbreaks, according to USGS wildlife disease specialist Grace McLaughlin.

Three studies since the late 1990s by the Agriculture Department's Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Ga., have produced "more questions than we have answers," said the center's director, David Swayne. The lab has been working on bird flu since the 1970s.

In one experiment, researchers squirted into pigeons' mouths liquid drops that contained the highly pathogenic H5N1 virus from a Hong Kong sample. The birds got about 100 to 1,000 times the concentration that wild birds would encounter in nature. "We couldn't infect the pigeons," Swayne said. "So that's good news."

In 2004, the lab did two more experiments. Using a pigeon and a crow that had both died in Thailand, researchers gave 12 pigeons similarly high doses of the bird flu virus. Seven became infected and one died. Five others did not become infected.
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"What that tells us is that pigeons can be susceptible. But they're not uniformly susceptible," Swayne said. "Not like chickens or ducks - they all become infected."

Infected pigeons carried the virus about 10 days. But they were infectious for only about two days and then at levels below what it would normally take to infect a chicken.

"The experimental data is not very strong that pigeons are going to be spreading this virus around," Swayne said. "At this point they have not been implicated in spreading it to humans and to farms."

What About Bird Flu?

A recent Associated Press article tells how Key West officials are worried that the famous (infamous?) chickens that roam around the city could be carriers of the bird flu. They're talking about rounding the 2,000 to 3,000 chickens that are wandering around town. I wonder if Venetian authorities are thinking about the pigeons in San Marco and what they'll do if the bird flu strikes? I don't want to be an alarmist, but--please don't kiss the pigeons, feed them, or let them climb all over you.



  

It Could Only Happen in Venice...

I'm still sorting through my photos and notes from my March trip--it was so great! In the meantime, you'll have to amuse yourselves with this newsflash from our friendss at Buongiorno Venezia. As they say, this type of accident can only happen in Venice:

"It's the kind of accident that can happen only in Venice. Last Friday in Strada Nova, the crowded street which leads to the railway station, two handcarts that were transporting bottles of wine and spirits collided, one lost a wheel, skidded, and knocked down an English tourist. The woman fell, along with the shattering glass bottles, and suffered a severe laceration that, doctors at a nearby hospital said, would take ten days to heal. While it is a uniquely Venetian accident, it's not likely to provide very pleasant memories for the tourist and her family who may never again think about Venetian glass in quite the same way."

Watch out for those flying wine bottles! How do you say "duck" in Italian?

Miss Manners Writes About Venice

I came across this today:

"In addition to her most recent book, 'Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior (Freshly Updated),' published in April 2005, Martin has written 10 other Miss Manners books and two novels. She is currently working on a non-fiction book, 'No Vulgar Hotel,' depicting Venice, Italy, through the eyes of travelers, past and present."

Miss Manners (Judith Martin) is a syndicated columnist who tries to bring some sense and civility to our world--I can't wait to read her advice for Venice! If you want to read the rest of the article (warning: there's nothing else about Venice in it.)

I Missed My Anniversary

Weird Venice turned 1 on March 28--and I missed it! Thanks to everyone who's been reading it--and extra thanks to those who have the courage to comment! I just downloaded the photos from my recent trip and promise to post some details soon.

I'm Going Back!!

 

Don't worry if you don't see any new entries for a while--I'm on my way to Venice. I promise to post lots of photos, etc. when I get back. On this trip, I plan to.... 

Get Past the Lions Guarding the Arsenale...

  

Visit My Old Friends on Torcello...

  

Drink the World's Most Expensive Coffee....