Mandatory Venice, Part 1 (the Doge’s Palace)

We were able to visit the Doge’s Palace early this morning before it opened to the general public. Herewith, some photos.

The only real street in Venice. It is built atop an old canal.
Two of the 118 islands of Venice and the canal separating them.
The old Venetian Arsenal, now largely an exhibit hall for the Bienale.

Speaking of the Bienale….
The leaning bell tower of the Greek Orthodox church

I’m not sure that Taiwan is *really* invited to the Bianele, since they have a “Collateral Event”
Our first gondoliers
Doge’s Palace
Venice at Rest
The winged lion is the symbol of Venice
Clock Tower
Giant’s Staircase
Cistern in the Doge’s Palace – one of hundreds in Venice
The Loggia with its original terrazzo floor
Insert your anonymous denuciations here!
Ceiling of the Golden Staircase
On the Golden Staircase

The Doge is wearing the hat. Saint Mark with the halo is accompanying the doge. Mary and Jesus are in the right center.
Red is love; blue is divine wisdom.
The queen (Venice) recieving peace and justice. Veronese is the painter
In the Senate Chamber
A typical Venetian clock. It shows all 24 hours; sunset is at the top (about 1800 hours).

Juno (at the top) is giving treasures to Venice (at the bottom). There’s also a lion representing Venice at the bottom right.
This is the inside of an anonymous denuncation box – the police read the reports that were deposited and decided what to do about them, if anything.
In the room of the 40 judges
Old Fresco
St. George Island from the room of the great council of Venice, which holds 2000 people!
The black cloth represents the only Doge who betrayed Venice – he wanted to become King. He was beheaded. The cloth is to blot his name out -but of course everyone remembers his name anyway, much like Haman.

Commemorating the vote uniting Venice with the Kingdom of Italy
Lion of Saint Mark (Carpaccio)
A prison cell
View from the Bridge of Sighs
The Avogaria
After you leave the prison, you MUST go to the Gift Shop!

This side of St. Marks is Greek marble, not Italian! It was easier to get marble from Greece than from the rest of Italy.
Tidal flooding
One last view of the Bridge of Sighs
Pizza came to Venice is 1947
Not just a mask shop, but a workshop where the masks are made and decorated
The old Venetian Republic flag
Vivaldi was baptized in this church. It’s in a very quiet square, one which our guide called one of the secret parts of Venice, where the “normal” Venetians actually live.
Back on the S. S. La Venizia!

From Milan to Verona to Venice

We left Milan before 7am, toured Verona for 90 minutes, had a wonderful lunch and tasting at Villa Serego Alighieri (no photos), and arrived in Venice to board the S. S. La Venizia about 4pm. We’ve taken a short sail across the lagoon and are docked for the evening. Here are a few highlights.

Verona

Medusa: the Romans used her as a protective symbol
A fortified family compound – Romeo and Juliet was accurate about families having blood feuds
Carved heads above archways are typical of Verona
The Madonna of Verona, aka the Lady of the City.
Juliet’s Balcony
The hat is here because the Capello (“hat”) family owned the house. It’s now “Juliet’s House” because “Capello” sounds like “Capulet”!
Rubbing the statue of Juliet is supposed to bring good luck.
Piazza del Signore, the political heart of the city; also known as Dante Square from the statue of Dante in the center of the square
Dante looks thoughtful
Local wine!
Cemetery compound of the DellaScala family, who ruled Verona in the 13th and 14th centuries
Arena of Verona (the Roman Coliseum was modeled after it); part of the façade is visible on the left. It is used for the annual opera festival and will host the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
This was the gladiators’ entrance in Roman times. Now it’s the VIP entrance!
Castel Vecchio on the Adige River

Venice

We arrive at the S.S. La Venezia
Venice awaits
The first of many bridges we will see here

Milano senza un programma

For those of you who aren’t fluent in Italian or Apple Translate, that means “Milan without a schedule” – and that was our plan for today, which we followed religiously. We slept late, had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel restaurant (if you’re here, I recommend the waffle), and finally decided to go visit the Museo Teatrale alla Scala on Piazza della Scala. Along the way, we paid our respects to Leonardo daVinci’s statue.

The museum is adjacent to the theatre itself, and we were able to go into a box on the third level and see the theatre for ourselves. They were doing technical adjustments, so the lighting was very low…and you’re not supposed to take photos. Oops.

The museum is filled with artifacts from the theatre’s history, including musical instruments, paintings of the theatre and its artists, busts of composers, conductors, and artists, and more.

Bust of Toscanini
The inscription on this 17th Century spinet translates as “Inexpert hand, touch me not”, and the Museum has decided that none of its visitors are experts.
Commedia dell’Arte figurines
Franz Liszt’s Steiway
Verdi and his piano
Bust of Rossini
Maria Malibran, the Maria Callas of her day
An assortment of musical instruments
The Origin of Theatre
Maria Callas

The stairways leading to the museum were lined with vintage posters from earlier seasons of La Scala. I was struck by how little the design had changed, even to the poster for tonight’s production of “Der Rosenkavalier”.

This afternoon, we took a longish walk through Milan, out to the Arco della Pace, which Napoleon Bonaparte had erected in Milan after he’d crowned himself King of Italy. The walk took us past many interesting places – herewith a sampling.

The Duomo
Museo del Novecento
The Duomo
Former Post Office, now Starbucks Reserve Roastery
Garibaldi
The Thread
The Needle
A market at Piazza Sempione
Arco della Pace
Divo Thomae Apostolo
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (*Seriously* luxury shopping)

Tomorrow, we’re back to Organized Activities, beginning with a very early departure from Milan.

Bellagio, Lake Como, and Milan

It was another very busy day – our group checked out of the Hotel Splendide in Lugano at 7:15am so we could be driven to Tremezzo, Italy for a private boat tour of Lake Como so we could see the glorious villas, and then we had an hour to explore Bellagio before returning to the coach for the two-hour drive to Milan, allowing us to check into the Grand Rosa Hotel in Milan and gobble down a very quick lunch before taking a Milan City Tour beginning at the Duomo (a five-minute walk from the hotel) and continuing with a visit to Castelo Sforezesco, a look at Santa Maria delle Grazie church, and ending with a fifteen-minute visit to The Last Supper (which hangs, as it has for centuries, in the refectory of the Santa Maria delle Grazie monastery, now the Cenacolo Vinciano museum. And then we had our tour orientation lecture and joined our new friends Derek and Sue for a delicious osso buco risotto dinner at Valentino Legend Restaurant (including “The Apple of Sin” for dessert). whew!

Herewith a few photos from the day.

Lake Como

Bellagio

The Duomo

Castelo Sforzseco

Santa Maria delle Grazie church

The Last Supper

The Apple of Sin (yummy!)

Tomorrow, we have Nothing Scheduled (though we have hopes of doing a La Scala tour). It will be lovely.

May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year!

Exploring Ticino

Lake Lugano was beautiful this morning from our room!

We spent most of the day touring the Verzasca Valley and the city of Ascona, both in Upper Ticino. The captions on the photos will have to speak for themselves.

Road Repair
Valle Verzasca
Waterfalls after 2 inches of rain the day before
Casa Roberto, Corippo
Lavertezzo – our first stop
A small roadside chapel
On the bridge over the Verzasca River
Chiesa di S. Maria degli Angeli
Ponte dei Salti
Grotto al Ponte
How the Grotto al Ponte gets its supplies
Walking path crossroads
Verzasca Dam (007 Bungee Jump)
Ascona Castle Hotel
On the Grand Tour of Switzerland

After the tour, we had a little time for a funicular trip to the top of Monte San Salvatore to enjoy the view and visit the church at the top of the mountain.

And now we’re back at the hotel, preparing for a very early departure tomorrow. Ciao!