Residenza Grandi Vedute

The 15th Architecture Biennale, titled REPORTING FROM THE FRONT, will be open to the public from Saturday May 28th to Sunday November 27th 2016 at the Giardini and the Arsenale. The exhibition is curated by Alejandro Aravena and organized by La Biennale di Venezia.

The preview will take place on May 26th and 27th, the awards ceremony and inauguration will be held on Saturday May 28th 2016.

You can download the exhibition booklet (in Italian + English) at this link.

Venice in the Movies/9 – The Designated Victim

Venice Residence — Mon, 23 Nov 2015 20:52:49 +0000

After the feast of the Madonna della Salute (St. Mary of Health), we b-movies lovers can’t help recalling the memorable final scene of The Designated Victim by Maurizio Lucidi (formerly assistant director of Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew). Partly inspired by Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, The Designated Victim is a decently made thriller set in a misty and deserted Venice – far short of current standards … – in which the bridges near St. Mark are not occupied by Bengali selfie-sticks sellers, but by Italian hippies selling necklaces.
The final scene gives us a rare view from the top of the magnificient Salute’s Church, which becomes a firing point for a sniper …

St. Martin’s Day

Venice Residence — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 13:12:21 +0000

Despite the fog, these are the days of the so-called “St. Martin summer”, that very brief period when autumn gets milder which in the United States is called Indian summer, in Germany Altweibersommer and so on. In Venice the festival of this Catholic saint, which falls tomorrow, 11 November, is warmly celebrated by locals, not only because it coincides with the time when must turns into wine …
According to the legend, Martin, a Roman soldier stationed in Gaul, cut his cloak and gave it to a poor shivering beggar he met on his way. That scene has been depicted many times in the history of western art, as in Pordenone’s SS. Martino e Cristoforo in the beautiful San Rocco’s Church (featured above). A symbol of generosity related to the arrival of winter that the rural culture, especially in northern Italy, celebrates in various ways. Apart from new wine and chestnuts, in Venice there are two cakes typical of this feast, the persegada (quince paste cake) and the San Martino’s shortbread biscuits. In town (and in other areas of Veneto region) there is also a peculiar tradition peculiar which resembles very much Halloween. Venetians kids use to ring the bell to ask for a candy, but instead of saying “trick or treat”, they sing this silly nursery rhyme:

San Martin xe ‘ndà in sofita
A trovar la so novissa
So novissa no ghe gera
El xe ‘nda col cuo par tera

San Martin went into the attic
to find his girlfriend
his girlfriend was not there
he fall on his ass
etc.