txt: Venice is a dream still, although a bit noisy and full - The Telegraph - Calcutta - India
Today, with little of the past elegance of Venetian inhabitants and visitors on show and the famous bars and teashops in the Piazza selling overpriced cocktails to profligate tourists, Beaton would not have been impressed by the lycra generation doing Venice even had he appreciated the importance of tourism to keep the city alive and afloat. It is only the hidden shops and restaurants and the markets known to habitués that retain a particular atmosphere of the place, although the tradition of craftsmanship of the city continues in sympathetic and skilled restorations of great works of art; the preservation of ancient skills such as the handloom silk weaving of the Bevilaqua family and the skills of the Murano glass blowers; and a continuance of the love for beauty that carries the visitor from the 12th century, through the High Renaissance, and, to my mind, the overblown frills of mannerism and the baroque, on to the glorious 20th century riches in the Guggenheim Museum. The present-day opening of the Palazzo Grassi and the ongoing development of the Punta della Dogana as exhibition sites for the contemporary collection of the French billionaire, Francois Pinault, can be celebrated as part of the generational artistic life of the city.video: Jeff Koons @ Venezia 2/4 - blog.palazzograssi.it Incontri di Palazzo Grassi aspettando Punta della Dogana [dailymotion id=x45099]
