The Holistic fish
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Recipes
  • Beauty
  • Reading
  • Contact

The controversies of Venice... Part 1 of infinite

9/15/2018

5 Comments

 
Picture


Venice. I love this city. 
While I cannot exactly say that’s where I grew up (I didn’t go to school here, for example), I have enough family ties and Christmas memories to somewhat call it home.
I have seen it change, through the years, to become more tourist-oriented.
 Yet, it still holds some secret quiet spots where to find relief from the crowd. 
Yes, it is a very controversial place, where Venetians complain, yet open another ‘candy’ or souvenir store.

So, a blog article can only show a very limited percentage of this - and it would be far beyond my scope to explain it all, and get into the politics of what happens behind the scenes.
I want to, instead, focus on observations from my recent week there.
I decided to spend my week of holidays at home and, between the historic regata, the film festival and the biennale of architecture I have had a very culture filled one.


La regata storica (The historic regatta):
I was so surprised how this was kept so traditional. Strangely, however, many venetians consider it ‘just for the tourists’ but many tourists were completely unaware of what was happening on the canals and were, well, shopping instead! What a shame (?) . Result: not as many spectators as expected, still a lot but not an impossible-to-wade-through crowd. Good for us. Not sure for the regata’s future...


Film festival:
Have to admit: I didn’t catch any film at the actual lido, but watched some that caught my attention at the cinema nearby where they were screened the following day. The films I watched were definitely worth of a film festival, but I have heard the critics against some of the more ‘Hollywoodian’ ones...and then there is all of the costs that the film festival brings and while it does also brings some money in, the beneficiaries of this are limited, as breaks were not long enough to allow for money spending activities in the more central parts.. so who benefits from hosting these kind of events? For sure, not the citizens...


 Biennale 
This year’s theme: free space. Sub-topic, sustainability. So interesting. Every country had a pavilion at one of the two locations (giardini or arsenale), and was very inspiring and mind spinning how the  interpretation of this free space theme was very different between the different countries. But mostly, a general interpretation seemed to be that the space should be design to serve the people and the environment and be of multiple uses. Yet, in Italy in particular and in a city such as Venice even more, space can be limited and much of the space is dedicated to money. Money money money. Not for the citizens advantage but for the capitalistic system. And that more and more useful commercial activities and public palaces are getting shut down to leave space for restaurants, hotels and shops selling candies, masks and general ‘made in China’ objects. Controversial that exactly this was the city in which an exhibition about the free space was held....
Thoughts? 
Have you experienced similar things?
​I'd like to hear...


5 Comments
Lucy Barnes link
9/16/2018 06:18:01 pm

Ah Venice is definitely on my bucket list! Lovely blog post to read!

Reply
Charlotte link
9/16/2018 06:32:24 pm

I've never been to Venice but interesting how we watch places we spent as a child change to more commercialism. I'm glad it has held a lot of tradition.

Reply
indu link
9/17/2018 07:03:38 pm

I have immense fond memories of Venice. Those infinite waterways such a treat to eyes.

Reply
bunmieshealthychoices
9/19/2018 06:04:30 am

Venice is on my list of places to visit. Thanks for posting such a great content!

Reply
Andrew
9/19/2018 02:20:41 pm

Venice is one of my favourite cities in Italy. Did you have a chance go to Murano or Lido Islands next to Venice ?

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Disclaimer: some posts may contain affiliate links.  At no extra costs to you, buying through the link will help me in this blogging journey!

    SIGN UP TO MY TELEGRAM CHANNEL

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Action
    Beauty
    Climate
    Community
    Conservation
    Diet
    Ecology
    Economy
    Environment
    Fashion
    Food
    Health
    Living
    Marine Conservation
    Minimalism
    Recycling
    Research
    Spirituality
    Sport
    Travelling
    Waste

    Follow
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from marcoverch, Pascal Volk
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Recipes
  • Beauty
  • Reading
  • Contact