May 20, 2022
Happy Eliza Doolittle Day!
Here at 6147 Calle de la Testa we celebrated by making our third trip to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco to see the works of Jacopo Tintoretto. And the third time was indeed the charm! It was a walk of 2.3 miles each time, but worth every step to see the incredible art work.
Very briefly, the Scuola was founded in 1478 by a group of lay people. Work on the main building started in 1517 and was completed in 1560. They called Tintoretto to paint his most famous pictorial cycle with episodes from the Old and New Testament. It is the only one of the ancient Great Schools to have survived the fall of the Venetian Republic. Over 60 paintings are preserved in their original location in a building that has hardly undergone any changes since its construction.
Because of the light in the room and the crowds, it was very difficult to take really good pictures, so I am only going to show one, plus two shots of the ceiling.
Of the original works, Tintoretto’s “The Crucifixion” immediately drew the most attention. It is over 15 feet tall and 36 feet long, taking up an entire wall opposite the entrance. The image of Christ dominates the top third of the painting, but the remainder of the canvas is given over to a wide range of other figures: laborers busy erecting the other two crosses, soldiers rolling dice in a small hovel, richly clad merchants and townspeople gathering to look on.
When I am back at my computer at 233 Woodland Drive, and have access to Photoshop Elements, I will work on my pictures, and do a supplement showing more of Tintoretto’s work.
Beside of the Scuola is a church (open today for the first time in our expeditions). In Italian it is “Chiesa di San Rocco.” In English, it is the Church of Saint Rock (no relation to Dwayne Johnson of which I am aware).
Rocco is the patron saint of invalids, falsely accused people, and bachelors, among others, and during the plague was especially invoked. Tintoretto painted “Rocco in Glory” to win the competition to paint the works for the Scuola.
Here is the nave of the church.
As she does at every opportunity, Granny lit a candle and we prayed for special needs back home.
Mom’s rich report of this excursion is just a few lines away, so I will close my part with two pictures of “C & B Spaghetti,” the restaurant where we have eaten supper each evening. I showed you a closeup of our waitress, Leanna, with Mom earlier, and in the shot showing all of the outside tables, she is standing at the far right.
TTFN
Love,
Dad/Pappy/David
* * * * *
Well, we have just returned from our supper. Great salad and pizza. We got some cannoles to have for breakfast, vanilla for him and chocolate for me.
Well, I was sleeping really good last night and then my nose itched. I scratched it and my machine went crazy. So off it came and out to the couch. It was 3 am. But fortunately I went right back to sleep and slept till almost 6:30. He got up and worked on the computer then I fixed our breakfast of pancetta, eggs and toast. Afterwards I cleaned up the dishes while he shaved. Then, when he got into the shower I went to take my “bath”, while he showered. We both finished and brushed our teeth and got dressed. (Aren’t you just thrilled to read this, smiley face here)!
We headed out at about 9:30 and went off to the Tintoretto museum. Cost 8 euros for old people, 10 for everybody else. Our third time trying to get into it. Finally we were successful. There are not great enough words to describe the magnificence of the paintings. There were three floors. The steps were high and many. But well, worth the climb. Going up the steps to the second floor there were huge (10x20 feet) paintings going up the sides of the steps. Two on each side. They were not square or rectangular but trapezoidal in shape. There where paintings on the ceilings in the stairs and in all the rooms. He painted them all. He painted even around windows in the ceiling. He lived to be 75. I got one post card of his Moses striking the rock painting. His interpretations of Jesus birth, crucifixion, Gethsemane, the lame man at the pool, and chasing the money changers out of the temple are just indescribable. Dad got a book (of course) with all the paintings so you can see some of the brilliance of his mind.
As we were leaving the museum I found a 2 euro coin, first coin I have found on our whole trip. We went right across the street from it and beside the Da Vinci museum to a church that hadn’t been open the last times we were here. It cost 2 euros each to get into it. I used my new found wealth. Some beautiful things and I lit a candle. Praying for you all to be safe and well.
Then we leisurely started back. I wanted to look in the windows and shops. There were lots of people in that area and it was very crowded. We saw at least two “field trips” of teenagers, large ones and two tour groups. In the one campo four ladies had set up tables and were selling the kinds of things you find in some of the shops. I told your Dad it was a small flea market. We stopped to get some gelato, just one scoop for me a vanilla with chocolate shards. He got coffee and armaretto. It is from a shop that has a very smooth gelato. We have gotten some from there before.
So we proceeded on our walk. I stopped in one store with everything, garden supplies, hardware, pens, pencils, crayons (I bought a small pack to try on my dot to dot book) and even yarn. No I did not buy any yarn. Our suitcases are already full enough. We looked in a lot of souvenir shops and I bought a small green bracelet with some Murano beads. Nothing fancy and on sale for 4 euros.
We had to stop at the coop one more time. This time for water, coke and tp. We are down to our last roll, haha. We walked on home. It was not too hot today and there were nice breezes along the canals. But we were still very hot and tired when we had arrived home. Over 2 miles today and many steps, always many steps up and down.
The garbage I had put out at 7 was till there and also still there when we got back from supper. Our waitress at supper said there was some kind of strike from where she was coming and she had arrived at work at 9 am and worked to midnight. It is a one hour trip for her both ways. Very long day.
I have done dot to dots, Arrowwords puzzles and taken a nap today. Now it will be a quiet evening at home. No TV tonight the signal is messed up. You know how the cable can be. I need to wash my hair in the morning so it will take a little longer to get ready. Still one church just up the way we want to see. Maybe we will walk down to the canal too.
Well, he needs to add pictures and I will play on my kindle for a while.
Hey Mac two more days, yeah.
Love you all. Be safe and careful. Mom, Granny and Bonnie
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