Britt-Arnhild's House in the Woods

The Travel Diary

Text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 
We are back home in Norway. Suitcases are unpacked, clothes washed, lawn mowed, travel diary........no, wait. My travel diary is not written. I haven't even started yet!

 
When I travel I always bring a notebook, most often a black Moleskin, to write down our travel tales. The black Moleskin has followed me this time also, but there has been no time to write in it.

 
The days have been filled, from morning often till long after midnight (which is crazy late for a morning bird like me)

 
I have made notes though. In my ordinary diary (which is handmade in Venezia), in a small notebook I always carry around, in my blog, in my camera......but most of all in my heart.

 

Yes, most of all in my heart.

 
Our vacation is almost over for this year. We are spending the last of it at the cabin. Alone. With friends. With family.

And I have brough my travel diary.

 
Writing a travel diary is like living the travel all over again.

The tastes, the smells, the colours, the smiles.

 

The memories are so many.

 
Now it is time to write them all down.

 
Do you keep a travel diary?

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A little secret (don't tell anyone) - I am not only working on my travel diary, but also on what I plan to be a book about venezia. A book for myself only? Or for friends also? Or, who knows, may be even for publishing......some day.

 

Murano, the glass island. Salviati, the glass factory

Text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 
Murano, the island of the many, many Venetian glass factories. Every morning tourists start to come over from Venice to visit one of them, to buy glass, to have a coffee, to eat lunch in one of the nice restaurants along the canal, to learn more about the history of Venetian glass in the glass museum.......or to get away from the crowded streets of Venice.

Terje and I came to Murano for the first time in September 2005, on our silver anniversary. I remember visiting one of the glass factories, I remember walking around, having a coffee and a tiramisu, having risotto fruitti di mare for lunch......well, you can actually read all about it here

 
Since then Murano has become a beloved island to us. A quiet place to stay when you are in Venezia. A place where we have good friends.

 
Barbara works in one of the old glass factories, Salviati. Which is not open to tourists group.

Tuesday morning she invited us in.

 
Into the hot, very hot room where the fires are burning day and night all year round. Where masters and apprentices create art for the world. With the help of natures elements, human skills.

 

Berta Rossi creates her art using her hands, together with heart, mind, love, patience, skills. At Salviati the artists create another art, also using their hands, also together with heart, mind, love, patience, skills, breath.

The lace artist. The glass artist.

Labour of love. To make the world more beautiful. To understand the world in a new way. To live more fully.

 
The burning glass in the blue room.

I am in the middle of two of my favorite colours.

In the middle of creation.

 

The workroom is hot. Still I would like to find a chair and sit down with pen and paper.

This is a place for creation.

Creation of glass

Creation of words.

 
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Thank you Barbara for inviting us in to Salviato. For giving us a memorable morning.

 

We are back in Norway now.

I am spending a day with pen and paper.

And memories.

 

The Magic of Sharing

Text Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

Photos Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland and Mauro Vianello

 
Terje and Marta never get enough sun. After breakfast they packed their bags and took the vaporetto out to Lido and the beach there. I never get enough of walking the calles of Venezia so I packed my camera and took the vaporetto from Murano over to Cannaregio where I started my walk at Ponti Tre Archi.

 
I passed the small fish market near Ponte Guglie......and not very long afterwards I found myself outside Mauro's workshop.

"Hi Britt. Are you busy today?" was his greeting when I arrived. And he gave me no chance to answer before he continued: "No, you are not busy because I have things to show you"

 

Mauro and I share the love of city walking. Out of the main street, seeking for hidden treasures. And now Mauro had several secrets to show me.

 
Venezia is busy in the summer, and overfilled with tourists. Walking the main streets can be a nightmare, a ride with vaporetta #1 in the middle of the day can be claustrophobic. But lead your feet only a few minutes away from the crowds and you find tiny patchwork blocks of paradice. Squares where you can imagine you and your friend to be the only inhabitants, where silence is like Vivaldi music and where colours are like the Creator's necklace.

 
 A few purple flowers perfect among the green water and green leaves, old stones, wash hung to dry, same colour as the flowers, violin music flowing out of an open window..........

 
"Come, there is more.........."

A couple of tiny bridges, a few bends, in through a long, narrow calle.

 

 I am stunned. I am speachless. So much hidden beauty.

 

A Madonna and Child over a door of a Venetian mask shop. I wonder how many of the passers-by see the old stones, or do they only see the masks? The Venice for the tourist industry. Venezia for beauty!

 

Ponte de le Tette, the Bridge of the Breasts, got its name because of the prostitutes. They used the windows over the bridge to show the sailors their naked breasts. Was this the world's first window shopping :-)

Mauro's stories makes the images very clear.......

 
"You have time for one more place, don't you?..........Give me your camera, I want a photo of you right there!"

The smallest calle I've ever seen. We went in, and suddenly found ourselves in the most charming, old, old, old courtyard you can imagine.

 
In a dream I live in Venezia, in an old house, behind a green door framed with 500 hundred year old cobble stones

 

Behind the old shutters I have an extra bed for you and I have a huge table where long meals will be served every night.

On the menu?

Well, what would you like to be on the menu?

What would you like to talk about while we sit there with our food and our wine?

 
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Thank you Mauro for a morning filled with magic!

Memories from a childhood

Text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

One photo by Mauro Vianello (again.....)

 
When I was 13 my parents bought a motor home, a caravan. The following Christmas my parents' gift to all of us was a trip down Europe, from Trondheim to Lido di Jesolo and back again. Four weeks, one week driving south, two weeks on the Italian beach, one week back home again. My parents, me 14, Frode 12, Børge 9 and Torodd 2.

For four weeks we lived in a motor home.

When I was a child it was all a dream. As a grown up I see clearly how brave my parents were.

 
Mauro and Barbara have rented a bungalow just sout of Lido di Jesolo for the summer, and Sunday we spent the day there.

 
Sun, sand, swimming.......and reading......about Venezia/Venice of course.

(yes, you are right, this is the photo Mauro took)

 
After hours in the sun, hard for our Nordic skin, it was time for dinner in the bungalow.

 
Mauro's homemade beansoup with pasta, grilled vegetables, bread, cheese, and prosecco which was a gift to us from Mauro's father.

 

Mauro has promised to send me the recipe for the soup. Don't forget Mauro. I am waiting.......may be I'll even share the recipe with my blog readers!

 
Barbara had made the world's best tiramisu. We ate it too fast for my camera......

Barbara, I never asked you about the recipe, but now I do? Can I please have it, or is it your special secret?

 

A magical day came to its end. A day filled with fiendship and memories.

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I was 14 when I spent four weeks in the  motor home in 1972. Mauro was a young boy of 9 with La Laguna as his playground. How was your summer of 1972?

Ca' d'Oro and Luca Signorelli

Text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 
Looking at art is part of what I like to do in Italia. During every visit I collect at least one new artbook, and learn about new (to me) artists. Frances Mayes' books has been a good travel companion for some of this.

It was in one of her books I first learned about Luca Signorelli. I saw some of his masterpieces in Ufizzi in Firenze (Florence) last spring, bought a book about him and developed a deep interest. In Roma in May, in Castel Sant'Angelo by chance I came over one of his paintings which was shown on an exhibition there for a few months. I decided then to start my own "collection of Luca Signorelli paintings". In a small handmade marbelled notebook which I bought in Asissi, I write down tales from my own meetings with Signorelli's paintings.

 
Before coming to Venezia I did a check in my books and on internet to see if any of Signoretti's paintings could be found here. But without luck. I then wrote Frances Mayes to ask if her knew, but her only suggestion was to check the world wide web. I did again, and this time I was luckier and found that there actually is one of Luca Signorelli's paintings in Ca' d'Oro; Flagellazione.

So there I went.

 

I asked the man who sold me my ticket if he knew where I could find Signore Signorelli, but he had no idea and sent me out to search for myself.

 
I did. And I found some marvellous tapestries. Tapestries held a special place in my herat. They are so easy to dream up stories from. To walk right into.

 
But no sign of Signorelli.........

or?

 

What is this?

 
A note telling that Luca Signorelli's painting is in Roma, in Castel Sant'Angelo for some months!

The one I had already seen back in May!

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So what did I do?

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I found a cafe and sat down with my old (1951) The Pocket Book of Great Drawings by Paul J. Sachs. There he writes about Signorelli:

Luca Signorelli 144? - 1523, born in Cortona, was a pupil of the great painter, Piero della Francesca, and reached maturity under Pollaiudo at Florence. Note at once in the black chalk drawing of a Nude Man and Kneeling Nude Woman  (which is shown in the book) that his figures are more heroic and robust than those of Pollaiuolo; also that they are more animated in movements. Signorelli is a traditional artist who in his masterly chalk drawings revealed his genius. He was the first artist in Italy to exploit the use of black chalk.........Signorelli blazes the way for the achievements of the High Renaissance and particularely for the powerful work of Michelangelo.

 
So, my notebook got her story, and I had a lovely day.

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Here you can read more about Ca' d'Oro

Festa del Redentore with Mauro and Barbara

text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 

The third weekend in July is Festa del Redentore. "You will celebrate with us" Mauro told us. "First dinner in our house. Then we will go out in my boat, all of us, to see the fireworks at midnight"

Marta, Terje and I spent the day walking around in Venezia, and had lunch at Zattere, where we could see right over to the Palladio church Il Redentore.

 
Afterwards we walked down to see the bridge they build over the laguna every year for this special celelbration.

 
I was well prepared through guidebooks and internet, and had a lot to tell Terje and Marta about the festa. You can read yourself here.

 

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Late in the afternoon we walked over the island to where Mauro and Barbara live. We know our way around the island of Murano now. Marta could finally hold baby Linda and play more with Irene. The table filled with food, and the festa had started.

 

Italians know how to prepare food, and they know how to eat. We are learning, and we love what we learn.

A shared family meal around an Italian table. I must pinch my arm to wake myself up from a dream.

We can't stop talking about the first time we found Mauro's shop, and again and again we say thanks to the good fairy that lead us into the shop and made me write the very first blogpost about Mauro and his art.

 
.........

 

The sun was about to go down. Barbara and the girls took us on a walk while Mauro did the dishes, and then it was time to gather in the small boat. Canal Grande and Sant Mark's basin was our goal.

 
Crossing the laguna, heading into narrow canals, and then out into Canal Grande.....

 
Suddenly I knew - This Is A dream

 
When will I wake up?

 
.....

 

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Around midnight it was time for the grand finale, a 40 minutes firework. Red, white and green to celebrate the republic of Venezia, flowers, hearts, stars.....all the shape and colours you can imagine. Our boat was right outside St. Mark's Square and it felt like the fireworks were set up just for us!

 

 

 

Driving home along canals so tiny I could almost reach out to touch the houses on both sides. "Now we are gangsters" Mauro said "It is impossible to pass through here. But we will make it"

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I don't want to wake up.

 

The old art of Burano lace, and the artist Berta Rossi

Text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

(and one photo by Mauro Vianello) 

 
Out in the laguna you find the small island of Burano. The island with the colourful houses. The island with the old tradition of making lace.

"I know an old lady who make perfect pieces of art", Mauro wrote me, "do you want me to take you there?"

 

Of course I wanted him to take me there.

Who wouldn't!

 

Mauro stopped his boat along one of the fundamentas, we climbed out and had to search a little to find the right house, the house of Berta Rossi (do I remember her name correct Mauro?), the 80 years old lace maker. The artist.

 

Stepping into her home was like stepping into another world. No doorstep, only a curtain, to make it easy for the cats to walk in and out. Berta had to remove a huge plate of cat food to let us in. Inside, the livingroom was dark, only Berta's work lamp was shining where she sat, in the middle of her lace work.

 

Like stepping into another world. Another time.

I loved it!

 
Berta speaks Venecian dialect, with a Burano accent- Lucky for us we had Mauro there to translate. I loved to listen when Berta told about her childhood, being the oldest of 8,  how she learned the art of lace, how she had to go to Murano to work in a glass factory at an early ago............and from time to time I even understood what she was saying.

I am adapting to Italy and Italians :-)

 
Berta was working on a flower when we came. She already had one finished and framed, and we were almost about to buy it....

 

....but it was so hard to decide.

 
What about a pair of baby shoes?

 
A bib?

 
Or a fan?

 

In the end we decided for a bib. Not the one Berta is holding up, but another, even more beautiful one. With two love birds kissing.

We will frame it, and may be take it out of the frame if we ever get grandchildren, to use on photographing on his/her baptist day :-)

 

Thank you Berta Rossi for opening up your home and your heart for us. For showing us your art. For letting us  bring one piece of art back to Norway and The House in the Woods.

How I wish that I could tell you, in Venezian dialect, that you look so beautiful. Your sparkling eyes, your hands perfect for making lace, your young smile.

You will hold a special place in my heart.

 

Seeking for vongole in the laguna

Text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 
It all started some time ago. I had invited a bunch of friends for dinner and made them what I thought was spaghetti vongole. It didn't take long before I got a comment from Mauro. "This is NOT vongole. When you come to Venezia I will teach you The Real Thing.!"

 
The next time I came to Venezia Mauro took me to a local restaurant to taste The Real Thing, and I fell in love! Completely!!

 
 While making plans for our week in Venezia this summer, Mauro asked: "What do you want to do while here?".

I made a list, and on top I wrote:

I want to go out in the laguna to catch vongole!

 
So yesterday we...........went out into the laguna to................catch vongole

 
The small scallops where not easy to catch. They hide down in the sand, and all you can see are two tiny black holes which they breath through. They can feel your hand coming to catch them, and try to hide down in the sand. Mauro knew theyr way and got them much more easily than we did of course, but after some practice we were also able to get some.

Most of the time I left the camera in the boat, so unfortunately I don't have any good vongole photos, but you can see the first small one Marta managed to catch.

 
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Hours in the laguna makes you hungry. Makes you starve.

We climbed into the boat again (after some swimming and water playing in deeper water) and drove over to Punta Sabbiono where we had lunch at Ristorante All'Ancora.

 
What I ate?

Spaghetti vongone of course

 

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Afterwards our day in the laguna continued, but that is a tale for another day.

 

Friends in Venezia

Text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 
One of the best things about Venezia.........the friends we meet there.

Dagmar came down from her Austrian dairy farm yesterday, to spend the day with me.

 
We met outside Santa Lucia (isn't that a wonderful name for a railway station), took a vaporetto down to Rialto Markato, walked a few hundred meters............and there we were, Mauro's workshop, Glasshandmade.

 

Close to the fish market we were able to follow the birth of a fish.

I am always fascinated when I follow Mauro's work. Can't take my eyes away untill the new life is born.

 
For lunch?

Seafood of course.

Spaghetti vongole for me, pizza for Dagmar.

 
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Later we walked around.

That's what Venezia is for. Walking around. And since it is July, trying to avoid the tourist crowds.

 

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What would you do if you were in Venezia?

Canals, laguna and dinner at La Piscina

Text and images Britt-Arnhild Wigum Lindland

 
First thing we did at the airport was to buy three 7 days tickets for the actv-boats, the vaporettos. Venice/Venezia is for walking, a lot of walking, but to get along easily you also need the vaporettos. Lucky us, on our way from Mauro's workshop to dinner we found seats outdoor in front of #2 which goes down Canal Grande.

 
Venezia, just like I dream it.

 
With history told in water, stones, colours.

 
Can you imagine life in a Canal Grande Palazzio?

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First night in Venezia I always go to Zattere for a pizza. A tradition I have come to love deeply. Yesterday I took Terje and Marta there, only to find out that "my" pizzeria was closed on Tuesdays.

Well, this lead us to the next restaurant, La Piscina (a pensione and cafe with several names over the years) which turned out a wonderful choice. The restaurant had a brief history included in its menu, and while enjoying a simple meal of bruscetta and pasta (only water, we were too hot and tired for wine, had been up since 3am to reach the plane), I could read about the artists which were in some way connected to the restaurant and the pensione. The most known for me was Ruskin (Stones of Venice) who stayed at Pensione Calcina (an old name of the place) from the 13th of February to the 23rd of May 1877. On May 14th Rainer Maria Rilke writes a letter addressed to Princess Marie Von Thurn und Taxis-Hohenlohe from here.

 

From our table we had a best view over to the island Giudecca and Palladio's Redentore church (by the way, Saturday will be the celebration of Redentore, and I KNOW we are in for a lot of fun!)

 
Back home on another vaporetta, through Cannaregio, passing under one of my favorite bridges (don't quite know why it is a favorite) Ponti Tre Archi

 
And out into the laguna.......

 
.....where we met The Creator during his painting hour.