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?
::::::::::::::::::
Thank you Mauro for a morning filled with magic!
