A Rambling Writer Rerun: Italy, part 23: Venice, Basilica di San Marco
Your retro Virtual Italy Vacation continues as Thor and I admire Venice’s magnificent basilica, with its blend of Eastern and Western styles.
NOTE: For a virtual vacation and time-travel, join Thor and me in 2008. Italy! Starting with highlight photos posted here on Saturday, June 15, I’ll continue this rerun series every week, with occasional interruptions for other Geezer Adventures. Join us in Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice, and Milan. Buon viaggio!
In the massive basilica at the heart of Venice, it’s easy to see the ancient Roman roots of the basilica structure of the Greek Cross. In Rome, the basilica was originally a place for legal matters and business transactions, rectangular with arched aisles lined with columns and branching off from the main entrance. Now in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, the form can differ, but the designation gives honor and authority to the basilica/church. Basilica di San Marco is, of course, dedicated to Saint Mark, with a statue of him and angels over the main entrance. Started in 978 A.D. on the site of an earlier church that housed relics of the saint, it has gone through additions throughout the centuries. Now, its sheer weight might be its undoing, along with the rest of Venice, as the sea slowly rises over the foundations of the city built on a bog — especially at high tide:
As the sea bubbled up from beneath the piazza pavers, staff people came out to arrange trestles for visitors to enter. At times, the piazza is flooded deeply enough for boats to enter.
One person didn’t want to wait, but I wouldn’t want to wade in this water after reading about alleged illegal dumping of toxic wastes in the lagoon.
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You will find The Rambling Writer’s blog posts here every Saturday. Sara’s novel from Book View Cafe is available in print and ebook: The Ariadne Connection — a near-future thriller set in the Greek islands. “Technology triggers a deadly new plague. Can a healer find the cure?” The novel has received the Chanticleer Global Thriller Grand Prize and the Cygnus Award for Speculative Fiction. Sara is at work on the sequel, The Ariadne Disconnect. Sign up for her quarterly email newsletter at www.sarastamey.com
