VENICEThe Grand Canal
FOUR
The Grand Canal, or Canalazzo, the street of the nobles in Venice, is one of the deeper channels in the lagoon. It is the original Rivo Alto, or deep stream, that created Venice, and up which the commerce of all countries was able to reach the city in the days of her splendor. Let us step into a gondola, and, telling our gondolier to keep to the left side till we reach the railway station, ascend the canal. That long, low building flanking the exact end of the canal, looking seaward, is the Dogana di Mare. It was erected in 1676 by Benoni. There on the summit are two Atlases bearing a gilded globe. A bronze Fortuna surmounts this, serving as a weather vane. And over there stands the Church of Santa Maria della Salute. During the plague of 1630 the republic vowed to give a church to Our Lady of Deliverance if the pestilence was removed, and the building was begun in 1631.
Passing along the canal we now come to a large, new palace, the Palazza Genovese, erected in 1898, an imitation of the earlier Gothic buildings.
After this we float by many houses and palaces until we finally reach the mouth of the Rio San Barnaba, where we see the huge and lofty Rezzonico, which was formerly the home of the poet Robert Browning. We float on and on by many more palaces and canals until we reach the Rialto Bridge (Ponte di Rialto). We go under this strikingly picturesque bridge, past the fish market, and finally reach the Fondaco dei Turchi (Warehouse of the Turks). This is a large palace, and got its name in the seventeenth century, when it was let out to the Turkish merchants in Venice. It is representative of the Byzantine period.
Here we are at the railway station. Now we turn and go down the other bank. We pass the broad mouth of the Cannaregio, and come to the gigantic Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi. Wagner, the great composer, died here. At the entrance to the Rio della Maddalena the canal makes an angle, and after passing many buildings and the mouth of the Rio di Noale we come to the Ca’ d’Oro. This is a very ornate building. Its name, the House of Gold, came from the fact that it was once gilded. Then we go by many palaces, and come to the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, or Guild of the German Merchants in Venice. An earlier Teutonic guild hall existed here from the thirteenth century. Venice imported oriental goods and passed them on to Germany. All the quarter round the Rialto Bridge was the business district, the Wall Street of Venice.
We pass under the Ponte di Rialto again, and after a little while arrive at the Palazzo Loredan, the most beautiful house on the Grand Canal. It is a Byzantine-Romanesque Venetian palace, with a distinct oriental feeling. Finally we come to a dainty little house, which the gondolier tells us is Desdemona’s Palace. This palace is named the Contarini-Fasan.
The rest of the canal is mainly occupied by hotels. Beyond the Hotel de l’Europe we come to the gardens of the Royal Palace. Our trip ends at the Bridge of Sighs.
The palaces on the Grand Canal bear witness to the early peace and civilization of Venice. Her houses were built for beauty and pleasure, when the nations of the earth were still building castles for defense.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATIONILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27
THE RIALTO BRIDGE, VENICE
THE RIALTO BRIDGE, VENICE