Baglioni chronicles

Venezia
Real Venetians never walk fast, and here is why.

Venezia is built on a foundation of tree trunks, taken from the nearby forests of the Veneto. The tree trunks were pounded into the silt of the lagoon. Atop such pilings the palaces were constructed. It took thousands of years for the forests to grow. Over the space of five centuries the Venetians built their city and their navies from the lumber they harvested.

The Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on the island of Torcello is the oldest church in Venezia, dating to 639. Ferries to Torcello run less frequently than the usual vaporetti, leaving from the Fondamente Nuove stop. Unless you charter your own boat, a trip to Torcello, a walk around and the return to proper Venezia will last a half-day.

The palaces of Venezia went through stylistic fads from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries, and many were restored in the nineteenth century. The Luna Hotel Baglioni palazzo, which is located just off Piazza San Marco, dates to 1118, and throughout the years has undergone transformations from a convent into an aristocratic palace and even a shelter for the Knights Templar. A cruise down the Grand Canal will take you past Byzantine, Gothic, Baroque and Palladian examples. Popular outcry followed the destruction of many architectural treasures in the nineteenth century and led to the preservation mentality which no longer allows radical alterations to Venezia’s historic landscape.

Which is why Venetians walk slowly. It has taken them a long time to get to this point, and hurrying will not be tolerated.

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