Most people know that Venice has long been threatened by chronic flooding, but in recent years the Queen of the Adriatic has faced a rising tide of a different sort:
advertising.
From the
Doge's Palace to
St. Mark's Square to the bittersweet
Bridge of Sighs -- named for the grief its splendid views once inspired in crossing death row prisoners -- immense billboards
lit late into the night now mar the city's most treasured places.
Allegedly built to cover the cost of restoration work in the face of government cutbacks, the ads have brought in around $600,000 per year since 2008 -- a fraction of the shortfall -- and show no sign of going away any time soon. Their presence prompted a consortium of the world's leading cultural experts led by the
Venice in Peril Fund to air
an open letter demanding the city government put a stop to the placards that "hit you in the eye and ruin your experience of one of the most beautiful creations of humankind." Mayor Giorgio Orsoni, for one, was not moved, saying last year "If people want to see the building
they should go home and look at a picture of it in a book."
posted by Rhaomi
on Oct 4, 2011 -
59 comments
Evan Osnos joins a tour group from China as they traverse Europe. In the front row of the bus, Li stood facing the group with a microphone in hand, a posture he would retain for most of our waking hours in the days ahead. In the life of a Chinese tourist, guides play an especially prominent role—translator, raconteur, and field marshal—and Li projected a calm, seasoned air. He often referred to himself in the third person—Guide Li—and he prided himself on efficiency. “Everyone, our watches should be synchronized,” he said. “It is now 7:16 P.M.” He implored us to be five minutes early for every departure. “We flew all the way here,” he said. “Let’s make the most of it.” [more inside]
posted by WalterMitty
on Jul 28, 2011 -
71 comments
The Doge was the leader of the Venetian Republic, which lasted for over a thousand years, so they must have been doing something right. Here's
Wikipedia's concise description of the selection process: "Thirty members of the Great Council, chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine; the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, who chose twenty-five. The twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine and the nine elected forty-five. Then the forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, and the eleven finally chose the forty-one who actually elected the doge." Sounds crazy, but Miranda Mowbray and Dieter Gollmann wrote a paper, "
Electing the Doge of Venice: Analysis of a 13th Century Protocol" (pdf) explaining its virtues in terms that should warm the cockles of MetaFilter's collective geeky heart. From the abstract: "We will show that it has some useful properties that in addition to being interesting in themselves, also suggest that its fundamental design principle is worth investigating for application to leader election protocols in computer science." Interesting sidelight: "security theater" can be a good thing.
posted by languagehat
on Jan 21, 2011 -
49 comments
It's always a hoot to look through old issues of Popular Mechanics and Popular Science, and with
Google Books you can now do just that! But what do you get if you mix an eternally medieval city with eternally hopeful futurists? You get these mags' interesting take on
Venice, Italy! Through their pages, you see the 20th century slowly but surely arrive to the canal city (or not, as sometimes the case may be...)
[more inside]
posted by Misciel
on Aug 19, 2009 -
3 comments
"Soon were the lofty peaks of Corcyra lost to view;
We coasted along Epirus, and coming to the Chaonian
Harbour, we drew near Buthrotum, that hill city."
- The Aenid - Book III, Virgil (trans. Cecil Day Lewis)
Founded by Trojans, populated by Chaonians, a sanctuary dedicated to Asclepius, colonized by the Greeks and Romans, sacked by the Goths, ruled by the Slavs, the Byzantine Empire and the Turks, taken by Manfred of Hohenstaufen, purchased by the Most Serene Republic of Venice, invaded by Ali Pasha and Suleiman the Magnificent, eventually becoming a place of refuge for the likes of Casanova and for hunters and painters, the
ancient city of
Butrint, a
microcosm of Mediterranean history, is a
World Heritage Site within a
National Park which includes a
Wetland of International Importance all of which is being kept alive by a
partnership of local, national and international organizations . Come and
explore Butrint.
[more inside]
posted by shoesfullofdust
on Apr 3, 2009 -
12 comments
Conversing with the matchless Judith Martin I know you are all familiar with the
work of the inimitable (if syndicated)
Judith Martin,
alias Miss Manners, but I dared to presume that you have not come across this 2005 interview with her. In it she discusses the process of becoming Miss Manners, the cyclical nature of etiquette, her historical predecessors, sumptuary laws in Renaissance-era Venice, and the respective natures of aristocratic and democratic etiquette. Fascinating read.
posted by orange swan
on Oct 24, 2006 -
41 comments
Arounder has an ongoing collection of high-quality full screen Quicktime VR panoramas of European cities, focusing on famous artistic and cultural landmarks (in
Rome,
Florence,
Köln,
Barcelona,
Cyprus), with interactive maps and travel information. A collaboration with national tourist offices by Swiss company
Vrway Communication, which also publishes
Vrmag, a bi-monthly review of panorama photography, and the
FullscreenQTVR directory in collaboration with the well-known
panoramas.dk (previously mentioned on metafilter: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
posted by funambulist
on Mar 6, 2006 -
5 comments
Yesterday Venice had its annual
Historical Regatta, a
traditional rowing competition whose origins date back to the 13th century and is held
each year on the first Sunday of September. As it coincided with the
Venice Film
Festival, photographers were probably busier snapping pictures of
George Clooney and fellow stars... so there's
not much online about this year's event yet, but for your visual enjoyment here's a quick
selection of
images from
past e
ditions of the
reg
ata (more from
this gallery of last year's event), showing both the
rowers in the
actual
competition as well as the
historical p
arade in
traditional costumes; a few black and white images from the past
(sorry, small and not good quality but still interesting): the
regata in 1918, in
1956, in
1969, and
in the 1970's; and, from the age before photography,
famous p
aintings and
engravings.
posted by funambulist
on Sep 5, 2005 -
7 comments
