Engaging teenagers with science? That’s what Science Gallery in Venice is about!

After being hosted in Dublin, London, Bangalore and Melbourne, Science Gallery lands in our country. Not only a classic-style museum, but a different hub where science, art and technology work together inspiring young people.

The Venice-based gallery, which is part of the acclaimed Global Science Gallery Network, is opening in 2019 and it will be embedded in the Ca’ Foscari University. Science Gallery Venice will be located in the North Adriatic Sea Port Authority area, near San Basilio, opened to innovative and strategic activities involving universities and research centers. Science Gallery will have a 700 square meters exposition area. Talking to Wired Andrea Bandelli, executive director of Science Gallery International, said: “For the city of Venice Science Gallery is an interface between the city and the university. Where are in the best place in Italy to make something out the traditional schemes”.

 

Why Venice is the perfect place to host Science Gallery

Venice is a city where history reigns, but it is not a place nostalgic of the past. In the city on the Laguna, past, present and future are constantly intertwined. The historical references that everyone can find almost in every building are not limited to the arts but also include technology and manufactoring. Moreover, Venice a city of merchants, of encounters between different cultures that began to dialogue here centuries ago.

 

Why Science Gallery is different

There are many factors making Science Gallery a thing never seen before. For example, there won’t be permanent collections but the nub will display ever changing programs. Every exposition will last for three months, created by a crowdsourcing after the publication of a tender notice for researchers and artists. 25 pieces of work (conceptual works, scientific experiments, virtual reality…) will be brought together to create something new.

Being focused on young adults, Science Gallery will facilitate creative interdisciplinary dialogue bringing an innovative approach of engagement. All this in order to facilitate the comprehension of the future: the ultimate goal of the Science Gallery, in fact, is to display emerging ideas from artists, scientists and everyone in between.

 

 

 

A trip around Venetian cousine!

Are you curious to know what are the most famous and delicious courses in Venice? If you are walking into the city under the sun, longing for a place to refrigerate yourself and taste the great pleasure of the italian cuisine, let’s read the following tips!
Venetian cuisine is a very particular one, because it has been influenced by many cultures throughout history: it goes from bacary to street food, from meat menus to kosher cooking…there is something for every appetite!

First courses

The king of first venetian courses is risotto, no question needed. The most famous recipe is “risi e bisi”, a risotto with peas and onion and and best vegetables of the season. Very simple and very traditional. Another gorgeous risotto is made with asparagus. Being Venice on the sea, a lot of very good first courses are made with sea-products, and with “ghiozzo”, a little fish living in the laguna.

Second courses

When we come to second courses, “figà àea venessiana” is the name you are looking for. A bit complicated maybe, but you will be so happy tasting it! Translating from venetian dialect it means “ventian liver”: the recipe comprehends calf liver (or pig liver) cooked with white onions, olive oil, butter and seasoning, usually combined with white polenta. In truth, this was not a venetian recipe, and it was made with artichoke plants instead of onions. But the venetian made their own with onions…a style quarrel I think!
But it’s when we talk about fish, that things start to be REALLY interesting in Venice. Maybe the most famous course is salted codfish creamed with “polenta”: it’s almost impossible to visit Venice and not to taste it once…you cannot miss it!

Sweeties

We can’t end this fast-tour of Venetian cousine without giving you an all round glance of a typical menu. Which can’t exist without a great sweet! In this category, Venetian best are cookies. The city on the laguna is plenty of any kind of those, changing colours, ingredients and shapes.

“Baicoli” are dry cookies usually eaten with coffe and zabaione. “Zaeti” are made out of poor flour (for example corn flour) and enriched with raisin and lemon rind. They were made in the past by old women, with few and pour ingredients, but still tasty!

Well I think now you got a pretty good impression of what is Venetian cousine…yes, the city is not only beautiful artistically and culturally, but has also so many surprises inside the kitchen!

Art in Venice!

A great season of art is just begun in Venice, a city that knows very well the beauty and the importance of all kind of arts. Here some of our suggestion, if you are in town and want to spend a day different than usual but surely enriching.

Last May 13th the famous art exposition “Biennale” took start in Venice, with the title: “Viva arte viva”. It is the 57th edition of the event and it is involving churches, museums and foundations. In our opinion, the most interesting exibition you cannot miss is:

Damien Hirst, sited between Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana

Theasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable it is completely dedicated to the british artist and will last until December 3rd. It is an ambitious project, which requested 10 years of work. The exibition includes more than 200 art-works, allocated in 50 halls, and it is considered the edge of the long lasting partnership between Hirst and inault Collection.

Rauschenberg at the Fondazione Cini

Meanwhile La Biennale is going on, Fodazione Cini also is inaugurating an art exibition. From May 12th to August 27th, Late Series, organized in colaboration with Fondazione Faursou will present two art-works by Rauschenberg, an eclectic artist who used photographs carved in the canvas.

Jan Fabre at Abbazia di San Gregorio

Another set of masterpieces not to miss is represented by 40 artworks made of glass and bones by Jan Fabre from 1977 to 2017. The belgian artist returns in Venice with an inedit project, which offers philosophical, political and spiritual insights, concerning life and death passing trough the importance of metamorphosis.

San Giorgio Maggiore, an island of beauties

The Island of San Giorgio Maggiore is placed in the middle of the Venetian Lagoon, just in front of St. Mark Basin, only 400 metres from the city and few from the island of Giudecca. Back to the time of the first doges, it was called “Isola dei cipressi” (island of cypresses) and was poorly populated, mostly by workers of the local salt mine and mill.

In 982, doge Tribuno Memmo gave the island to Benedictine order, and the religious built there a monastery. From this moment, the importance of the island increased a lot. Moreover, in 1108 St. Stephen’s body was buried in the monastery’s church, and this event was celebrated for several centuries with a festival organized on St. Stephen’s day in St. Mark’s basin.

In the following years, San Giorgio Maggiore was continuously embellished by doge Sebastiano Ziani, who was buried there in 1178. Unfortunately, a terrible quake destroyed completely the island in 1223: even the Benedictine monastery was wiped out. The re-building was slow and only in 1419 a new church was consecrated. The construction of the church of St. George (the one we can see today) started in 1566 and was projected by Andrea Palladio with a neoclassical style. It was completed in 1610 by Baldassarre Longhena.

The island lost most of its importance with the end of the “Repubblica di Venezia” in 1797. The convent was suppressed by Napoleon in 1806 and from 1929 the island became a free port, being neglected for decades.

In 1951, thank to the count Vittorio Cini, San Giorgio Maggiore got back to its main role in art and culture. The count, in fact, founded “Fondazione Giorgio Cini”, in memory of his young son who died in an air crash in 1949. That was the beginning of a new life for the island, hosting expositions and shows, congresses and award ceremonies (like the literary award “Campiello”). The Teatro Verde was built in 1952 and was chosen for several artistic events, ballets, concerts and grand opera.

But the main attraction of the island is the church. The façade recalls the one of Basilica del Redentore, not far from there, on the island of the Giudecca, designed by Palladio as well. The church is enriched by several canvas from Carpaccio, Palma il Giovane, Bassano and Tintoretto.

 

A winged lion guards the city

Going to St. Mark square, the heart of the city of Venice, have you ever asked yourself: “Why a lion? Why the more important symbol of the city is represented by this winged feline?”. You can see it at least 13 time in the square, and the most famous of carved felines guards the square from the top of an high and marble column (see photo).

Well, the answer is of course in history. The winged lion has long been a traditional symbol of Venice because is the symbol of Mark the Evangelist, the city’s patron saint ever since his remains were taken from a tomb in Alexandria, Egypt, and brought to Venice in 828 AD where they were eventually interred in the Basilica of St. Mark. St Mark’s iconography derives from the prophetic visions contained in the verse of the Apocalypse of St John 4:7. The lion is one of the four living creatures described in the book as a place around the throne of the Almighty and they are chosen as symbols of the four evangelists

The lion of Venice is usually depicted with its paw on an open book that contains the latin writing Pax tibi Marce, Evangelista meus (Peace be upon you, O Mark, my Evangelist). Venetian legend tells that, while visiting the region of Italy that would later become the Veneto, Mark was approached by an angel, greeted with those words, and told that the Venetian lagoon would be his ultimate resting place. The actual story is most likely as described above.

During times of war, the representation of the winged lion changed a little: it was depicted with a sword in one paw and the book, closed, safely kept under the other. Other depictions sometimes show a halo about the lion’s head, the words on the book abbreviated to their initials, and the lion in moleca (showing only the head, top of the body, and paws). As one might expect, the lion could be found everywhere throughout the city – as statues on buildings, carved into wellheads, in patere (ornamental bas relief of circular shape), and every other place imaginable.

After the Republic fell following Napoleon’s invasion in late XVII century, however, over 1,000 lions were removed throughout the city in an effort to suppress Venetian pride. A local stonemason was contracted to carry out their removal, but he did a poor job (undoubtedly on purpose), overlooking many of the lions in the city.

A curiosity: For centuries Venetians were known as pantaloni (wearing trousers) but this may have originated from a corruption of pianta leoni (lion planters) because wherever they traded in the known world they “planted” their lion symbols, the winged lion being the symbol of St. Mark.

Carnevale: a millenial tradition renewing every year

Thousands of people wearing masks, crowding the streets and the canals of Venice; hundreds of cultural events (dances, concerts, religious festivals, dinner shows, mask contests, etc.) lighting up the city, giving new life to the “City on the Lagoon”. Welcome to the “Carnevale di Venezia”, one of the most spectacular and joyful events in the world.

The word carnival (Italian: carnevale) has an ancient origin. According to some, it comes from the Latin carnem levare or carnelevarium, which means to take away or remove meat. In fact, it was developed around the Roman Catholic festival of Lent and carnevale is associated with the pre-Lenten practice and around Martedí Grasso (Fat Tuesday).

The birth of the Carnival can be dated back to the celebration of Doge Vitale Michieli II’s victory over Ulrich II of Treven, Patriarch of Aquileia in 1162. Ulrich II was taken prisoner together with 12 vassals who were allied to the feudal Friulians in a rebellion against the Republic’s (Italian: Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia) control over the territory of Grado. Ulrich was eventually released on the condition that he pay an annual tribute to Venice in the form of 12 loaves of bread, 12 pigs and 1 bull. During this period a tradition began of slaughtering a bull (representing Ulrich) and 12 pigs in the Piazza di San Marco around Fat Thursday to commemorate the victory.

Within the years Carnival became an opportunity to break down all social differences and get everyone on the same level: some days during which every citizen could forget life problems and frustrations, enjoying this popular festival with all the city. The mask was the very symbol of this game, necessary to bring equality and freedom. Wearing masks and costumes people could completely hide their identity therefore eliminating all forms of personnel belonging to social class, gender, religion.

The first documented sources mentioning the use of masks in Venice can be found as far back as the 13th century, describing the practice of masked men throwing scented eggs at ladies and its prohibition by the council (Venetian Laws, 1268 May).

After the fall of the Venice Republic in the end of XVIII century, the Carnival was banned by the French and Austrian domination. Prohibited also by Mussolini’s fascist party during the 1930’s, the festival eventually resurrected in 1979, when a group of citizens from civic associations helped to create the new edition of the Venice Carnival. Since then the annual “Carnival of Venice” has grown to become an internationally renowned event, celebrated by tourists and Venetians alike. Of the many different types of events celebrated each year during the carnevale the Gran Ballo della Cavalchina at the Teatro La Fenice (The Feniche Theatre) is considered as the the most spectacular and exclusive of all the Venetian masked balls.

This year Carnival will last from February 11th to the 28th, offering an extremely various choice between different events: from the “Nordic Walking Carnival” to the Best Mask Contest; from the “Festa veneziana on the water” to the “Pantomima pae Mariae”.

More info at this link: http://www.carnevale.venezia.it/en/