Venezia

This is Venice. Venice is a city of beauty, a city of water, a city of tourism and historically a city of mystery and wonder. Through the sands of time, Venice never played a central role in the development of Italy, but rather existed as a semi-independent adjunct to Padua, flourishing through the Italian occupation by the Visogoths and subsequently the Lombards.

Of course, I knew little of this prior to commencing my journey. The train over was dominated by the stereotypical tourist quick read on a combination of wikipedia pages and a DK travel guide. What I did know, however, equated to the typical tourist view of Venice: beautiful canals , benevolent and gracious gondolas graced with fine satin cushions and great squares filled with people and music. All of this was true, as with many of my assumptions regarding Italy in general. But just as with my general Italian sentiments prior to direct experience, Venice held many surprises and much unexpected depth to the knowledge I already had.

My junior year of high school I traveled to Washington DC for the first time. This was the first time I had been to our capital and since I hadn't yet traveled to Europe, the first encounter with anything of historical and political significance. I was relatively young and didn't know exactly what to expect but once there, I was able to extricate myself from the tight grasp of family and explore for myself. What I found, was not simply a series of monuments and engravings, but moreover a newfound method of perception. Previous thought on DC had been adorned by multitudes of outside influence, but as I explored myself, I was able to view everything as an organic unit, shaped and molded by the voices of countless patriots.

Gondolas in Venice were now not just a tourist trap, charging 120 Euro for a 50 minute boat ride, ferried through a predetermined set of canals with the precision and scripting of a Disney ride. No. Gondolas represented a historically singular mode of transportation defining a city unlike any other. San Marcos piazza was not simply home to overpriced restaurants and stands selling I <3 Venice t-shirts. No. Despite criticisms that Venice has become a tourist haven with no real culture remaining, I was able to find depth and moreover history in the streets of Venice. I stood next to bustling Japanese tourists attempting hurriedly to embark on the 8 Euro climb to the top of the clock tower. And as I read the signs depicting the history of the tower, its partial collapse and subsequent refurbishment, I was transported away from the hectic scene around me and into my own rapidly expanding portrait of the city.

As we watched the Murano glassblower expertly craft a horse out of a blob of molten silica within seconds, it paid off to not only think of the modern wonder that this man demonstrated, but again, his trade as the apex of his trade lineage. The careful touch and elegant beauty that we witnessed on Murano was the same elegance that fascinated and tempted Louis XIV in his egocentrism. The gleam of precision and passion in the glassblowers eyes and the amazement in ours were the very same as those emotions stirred in 1291 at the beginning of Murano's tradition.

I was sick for most of my visit to Venice, but the passions ignited within me were more than enough to maintain my interest. Whenever I visit a new location in Italy I can't help but to feel that zooming out sensation of relativity. The beauty of age and belittlement. And the binding spell of our interconnectedness. Even the hoards of tourists and the abundance of designer shops catering to rich out of towners, spoke to me. Everything in Italy has a story to tell. Everything here exists as a byproduct of a long line of actions and consequences. It fascinates me, the historical lineage and importance in Italy and it's modern manifestations.

Bringing it full circle, I discovered this, in strangely a popular video game (one of my favorites actually):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZVZBfd-Vbs

Funny how the world decides to treat 'things of importance.' I think it's cool.