Travel in Italy This was prepared in 1994 per studenti, and only partially updated. The cultural richness of Europe, and particularly Italy is so great and so concentrated, that most tourists return to Australia overwhelmed and with only a very general impression, perhaps remembering specific details only because of personal incidents associated with them. The more preparation by reading that the traveller is able to undertake beforehand, the more potentially perceptive will be their experience of travel. Try to identify your specific interests, before leaving Melbourne. So much of our cultural life is derived from Italy: painting, sculpture, architecture, music (particularly opera), soccer, food, family, social behaviour, contemporary design and crafts. Here, we generally can only concentrate on architecture and art. Food Do not be surprised if good inexpensive meals are more difficult to find than in Melbourne. This is one of the benefits of living in a cosmopolitan city without tourists, as we do. One of the disadvantages of living in the World's Most Livable City, is that everywhere else is less livable. It is always cheaper to eat or drink standing up, inside. Sitting down, especially outdoors, costs much more. Hours Most Italian businesses close between 1 and 3pm, or longer. But they generally open until at least 7pm. Banks do not re-open. Once you leave Melbourne, the 24 hour clock operates, so 7pm is 1900 hours, for instance. State Museums now appear to be open 9-7 every day except on two Mondays in each month, when all are closed. But many museums are not state owned and have other opening hours. Museums may be closed without any particular reasons (Chiuso per restauro). Note: 1 November is a public holiday in Italy. Security. All of Venice, Vicenza and Florence; and most of Rome, are comparatively safe from violence. But thefts are very frequent and often extremely daring. Do not draw attention to yourself as a tourist by dressing in unusual or expensive clothes. It is unwise to wear jewellery. If you carry a bag, walk close to the buildings which line the street and keep your bag between your body and the wall, so it is not accessible to pickpockets or bag snatchers. Keep well clear of pathetic children. Only carry amounts of cash or anything else that you can afford to lose. The hotel safe is the best place for valuables, not in your hotel room. Traveller's cheques in lire are difficult to replace. Ask your bank which currency is best for travellers cheques, probably this will be US$. Australian $ is not an international currency and is not accepted beyond the South-east Pacific region. Admission prices. All museums stop issuing admission tickets ½ hour before closing time. A Museidon card from tourist offices and museums admits free entry to selected museums for a specific period. These cost about L13,000 (1 day), L23,000 (2 days) and L48,000 (7 days). Equipment. In addition to other essentials, it is suggested that you buy the most detailed street map possible, immediately upon arrival in each city. Consider taking with you a compass (It is very easy to loose direction in an unfamiliar city and waste much time) and small binoculars or opera glasses to look at beautiful ceilings or high details. Venice Geography Venice (Venezia) has a population of 70,000 (down from 200,000 at the height of the Republic), about the same as the City of Camberwell. It is situated in a lagoon, 4 km from the mainland and 2 km from the open sea. The Grand Canal is the former estuary of the Brenta River. There are 117 islands, but the city of Venice is only 5.5 x 3.5 km. It would fit easily between the Eastern and South-eastern Freeways; Spencer Street and the Yarra at Hawthorn Bridge. Most journeys in Venice are best done on foot. It has 20 million tourists every year. Giant cruise ships emerging into the lagoon from the sea one after another can bring as many as 30,000 visitors in a single day and incrementally damage the fabric of the old buildings by passing only 300 m from Piazza San Marco.1 The Italian government has determined that 2014 is the final season for ships exceeding 96,000 tonnes to be allowed the indulgence to pass by San Marco and also severely restrict visits by smaller ships of no more than 40,000 tonnes. The still claim they do no damage. The government also proposed the excavation of the Contorta-Sant’Angelo canal as an alternative route in Venice and ordered an environmental report on its potential impact to be completed within 90 days. Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Punta della Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute at Twilight, from the Hotel Europa, 1840. Graphite, watercolour and pen and ink on paper. Tate Britain. 1 www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19415485 Cruising by San Giorgio. Proposed new route for large cruise liners. Santa Maria della Salute. Everything costs double mainland prices: so no-one wants to live there. Venice has changed less than probably any other large city, since the C18. There are no cars, or even bicycles. Venetians are different from other Italians. They have a distinctive appearance, particularly in the eyes. Venetian dialect is distinctive, including pronunciation and vocabulary. Venetians have a grand insularity of temperament. There has been tourism in Venice since the fourteenth century. But tourist routes are well defined. Ninety percent of Venice is not visited by tourists. Ordinary Venetians still live in rows of terraced houses built in the fourteenth century, rarely seen by foreigners. It is possible to visit a most peaceful little-known cloister less than 100 metres from the Doge's Palace. Eight million people enter the Basilica of San Marco each year: that's 16 million feet on those fine mosaics. The Venice in Peril Fund is only one of several international funds established in the late 1960s to tackle the enormous problem of the conservation of Venice and the Italian government funds Venezia Nuova to preserve the city. Venice is not sinking any longer, due to stabilisation of the water table (it was rising 250mm/year: that's why well-heads are sealed), but the sea level has risen minutely each year since Roman times. Subsidence effects in connection with those of eustatism, both with reference to the Venice area. The oscillating Adriatic sea level is almost unmodified in the lagoon, and have recently been as high as 1m. Subsidence due to geological factors, supported by many archaeological remains, appears to have been nearly constant at a rate of about 1.3mm per year. Venice has also been flooded in previous centuries by unusual increases in tide levels caused by peculiar meteorological factors in the Adriatic sea. An abnormal increase in subsidence occurred over the last 50 years due to water extraction from deep artesian wells, demanded by the new industrial plants of Porto Marghera on the border of the lagoon. This produced a soil lowering of about 100mm, added to the geological subsidence and to the rising of the mean sea level. But it caused an overall altimetrical reduction in the level of Venice soil with respect to sea level of over 220mm between 1908 and now. Recently, the well- heads have been sealed and the abnormal lowering has stopped. Now Venice is generally flooded by a tidal excursion of only 0.80 m; the city was completely flooded in November 1966 by an exceptionally high tide, which reached 1.94m. Protection works are planned, temporary closure by the Moise Project of the three mouths through which the lagoon connects with the sea, but it will be very difficult to ensure their effectiveness for the future. High tides (acqua alta) are much more frequent (Piazza San Marco floods 40-50 times each year compared with 6-7 times in the 1950s), but are only one of several increasingly serious problems. The Mose Project was established to build floodgates at the entrances to the Lagoon to keep the high tides back. The municipality (Commune di Venezia) no longer appears to believe in this project, fearing it would have to fund its $80 million annual operation. Other problems are clogging of canals with algae which thrive on phosphate and nitrogen in agricultural fertilisers introduced further upstream, reducing the tidal flushing out of canals (hence the dead fish and the smell). Limestone is attacked by sulphites (acid rain) from Eastern European pollution (less so now from Mestre) and the wave turbulence from motor boats. Mestre, the industrial suburb created in 1930 by Mussolini has produced massive airborne pollution. The Magistrato alle Acque-Consorzio Venezia Nuova, the Venice Water Authority founded in 1500, is a technical agency of the Ministry for Infrastructure and Transport with direct and primary responsibility for the safeguarding, security and hydraulic protection of a large area spread across a number of regions (Veneto, Friuli and Lombardy).2 It is the oldest conservation authority in the world. Venice has now about 100 canals and 400 bridges. Every wall of every building is supported on piles of Istrian pine, about 7.5 metres deep, supported on the floor of the Lagoon, which is not entirely stable and so the buildings move. Piles are paraffita, a canal is a rio, a street is a calle, a street beside a canal is a fondamenta, a filled-in canal is a rio terrà, a piscina is a filled-in pool, shopping streets are salizzada and a sottoportego is a passage, passing under a building.