{"id":3905,"date":"2012-10-03T12:24:46","date_gmt":"2012-10-03T11:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/?p=3905"},"modified":"2012-10-03T12:27:11","modified_gmt":"2012-10-03T11:27:11","slug":"my-venice-lightening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/?p=3905","title":{"rendered":"My Venice Lightening"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuesday 2nd October 2012<\/p>\n

Autumn modes, small plates, the Westfield Centre, Topman – oh, there’s a plethora!<\/p>\n

But last Thursday I was in Venice for the day. Peter Ainger launched his book about Longhena, architect of the Salute, in the front room at the Doge’s Palace.<\/p>\n

What is it about Venice? Can anything more be said? I gained Venice first in 1976 and thought: there’s no dip here on first seeing, as with everywhere else. This place exceeds expectation and possibility. And so it has continued on every subsequent visit. It’s the absolute absence of similarity to anywhere else, the architectural style which is quite strange and unEuropean, the undiluted ancientness and dilapidation, no modern buildings, and cut off in the middle of the Lagoon as it must always have been, and the drama of the water, its unique colour and behaviour, especially when you come across it unexpectedly in the middle of the town.<\/p>\n

I lunched with Peter in a bar where gondoliers lunch – little bits of octopus, croquettes – small plates in fact. Peter was full of a palazzo behind San Marco, one of 15 world-flung residences of a Brazilian, flung open for the Venice Biennale in August, only ever flung open for the Biennale in August. Dinners were given every night this year. A leading curator gained from MOMO to invite the guests. The food was carefully eked from night to night. Peter thought the little rice mountain with a cap of peas offered him as a first course had been the night before’s risotto.<\/p>\n

In the afternoon, I studied the Salute, since Longhena was the day’s theme. I’ve always been worried by the pedimented boxes (if you’re inside they’re the chapels) clamped to its sides – aren’t they too tall and narrow? But really the building is completely wow and massively experimental essentially because it’s round in every possible way and larded with statues so teetering from some angles on the verge of anarchy.<\/p>\n

In the way back I caught my favourite Venice aspect – the bleak, abandoned Guidecca part round the back. When I first saw this in 1976, I gasped. So close to teeming San Marco this wild place, now a little less so with civilisation. Here in 1974 Robert Nevil, with an early boyfriend of great beauty, suffered from rotting wet laundry in a youth hostel. Clothes washed elsewhere, bagged not dry for travel; on arrival mouldy.<\/p>\n

Then at 5.30 it was time to gain privately at the Porta della Carta of the Doge’s Palace and be ushered privately to the private presentation room. The superintendent of the Palace was present herself along with the architect in charge of the restoration of the Salute, an academic from Rome \u00a0and the photographer of the book. The presentation in the Doge’s office lasted for one hour and was entirely in Italian. I was bolt upright in a my Topman blue\/grey suitlette (the one that got grazed and had to be rebought).<\/p>\n

An important function in a foreign language little understood is a new challenge to me and one I thoroughly recommend to any Poor Little Rich Gay. In the gloaming, we bucketed out into the Doge’s private loggia where the canap\u00e9s were laid in rows on the table. It was magical. I thought: What shall I do? I speak so little Italian. So I launched with a topic: Tiepolo. You may recall when in Venice in December I had struggled with Tiepolo. \u00a0Peter produced various art historians and their boyfriends, all intense intimates of his at one time or another. ‘Excessivo,’ I said, ‘in vedere Inglese.’ ‘Ma, no,’ said one. ‘Deva vedere Tiepolo in Palazzo Cordalino o a Wurzberg.’ Then another came up: very glamorous, with superb front lick of hair, the kind of Italian who in previous years would have frequently been duelling. He spoke English. ‘Tiepolo!’ he said, ‘it is luxury. Why not?’<\/p>\n

By that time the party was all but over. Marvellous. The Italians don’t linger. \u00a0It was like speed-dating. Or some glorious firework whooshing up, gone in seconds.. \u00a0And conversation, despite no language, had actually gained ground for once. My Tiepolo problem solved.<\/p>\n

Zinging I returned to London by air immediately.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

On the Watery Side: Acqua Alta at Venice last Week<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Fortuny Museum: Disappointing: No Pleated Dresses on View: Whole Place a Ratbag<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Essence of Venice to Me: Giudecca Side: So Bare<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Il Redentore: Rarer and Most Specialist than San Giorgio, Also by Palladio<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Inside of the Salute by Longhena: Impossible to Graph, So Soaring. Also Badly Restored by the French in the 70s, According to Peter Ainger. Needs Re-Doing<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Salute: Bordering on Anarchy: Not Sure about the Side Boxes<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Front Room at the Doge’s Palace where the Presentation of Peter Ainger’s Book on Longhena was Held<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Important Hair: Always a Feature of Ladies Anywhere Near Poor Little Rich Gays<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Canap\u00e9 Table on the Doge’s Private Loggia<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Greatnesses of Venice and Art History World Gathered for the Lightening Party<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Doge’s Private Loggia: After Hours<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday 2nd October 2012 Autumn modes, small plates, the Westfield Centre, Topman – oh, there’s a plethora! But last Thursday I was in Venice for the day. Peter Ainger launched his book about Longhena, architect of the Salute, in the front room at the Doge’s Palace. What is it about Venice? Can anything more be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adrain-edge"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3905"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3922,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3905\/revisions\/3922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poorlittlerichgays.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}