Buongiorno Venezia

On 20 February, Shrove Tuesday, the Carnival ended with splendid fireworks over the S. Mark’s Basin. This was a record edition thanks, in part, to Spring-like temperatures, and the last week accounted for more than 600,000 visitors (870,000 for the entire Carnival period).

You wouldn’t believe it, venetians shopkeepers found the way to complain all the same. the 870,000 people did not spend enough money for their tastes.

Last week Venice hosted a day-long meeting about tourism and the Italian art towns — Florence, Naples, Rome, and Venice. The meeting was attended by the Minister of National Heritage and Culture, Francesco Rutelli and, obviously, the four cities’ mayors.
A dispute arose between the Minister and Venice’s mayor, Massimo Cacciari, who accused the Italian government of giving Venice too few financial resources because so much has already been allocated by the flood-prevention MOSE project that the town doesn’t want

oh oh.. this dispute is getting so absurd. can you imagine, being obliged to have a new — say — very expensive bathroom built in your own home, without your permission and with money which could have been yours? (maybe as yearly eternal contributions against acqua alta?)

but why don’t we break it into small pieces, merchandise it and get CASH for venice? :-)))

Last week, the current edition of the Carnival of Venice was officially presented by the mayor, Massimo Cacciari. The mayor, who didn’t neglect to reprimand Venetian businesses (merchants, hoteliers, restaurateurs) for the scant financial contribution they made to the event, said that the festival involved a great economic commitment by the local government. The objective: to ensure that Venetians and tourists experience a series of presentations equal to past years. “Carnevale è Venezia” (Carnival Is Venice), the title of this edition, will continue until Tuesday, 20 February with, according to the plan, the participation of 1,400 artists during the 220 hours of events. The expected number of attendees is 100,000 a day.

couldn’t choose a worst name for the campaign, if so.

the idea of publishing a blog came to me as a great means to have public discussions and comments of our readers of the Buongiorno Venezia Newsletter, who have been giving their feedback year after year. most comments are very private and very personal experiences, so i do not expect to be posted here (you can still contact me with the veniceword.com contact form  http://www.veniceword.com ). but it’ worth the experiment in my opinion. you’ll tell me.

One Venetian problem gets more and more… ingrained: the pigeons in St.Mark’s Square. Research by the Department of Environmental Sciences at Ca Foscari University in Venice has proved that the main cause of deterioration to the Square’s monuments is the hundreds of pounds of excrement that the pigeons produce every day. Every measure taken in
the past to control or reduce the pigeon population has been in vain, including the use of wheat as “contraceptive pill”. It now appears that the only viable solution is to forbid street vendors in the square from selling the grain, which also poses hazards to children and pets. It seems obvious, but current rules conflict with one another

There’s no way. It’s not only a conflict of rules. where i lived years ago in the cannaregio district (sestiere) in venice, a very old wowan used to feed pigeons by throwing bread out of the window. though it was (already) prohibited. results: not the whole palazzo got dirty, but also the palazzo in front of ours: because the birds knew her times of meals, and kept patiently waiting for her to show up. it was impossible for anyone to hang out clothes and sheets in the terrace without surveillance, because of the pigeons. kids were advised not to play there. we all complained. the lady’s daughter convinced the mother to stop. she did, for a few days. then she did it again, as hiddenly as she could. to summarize: after some years the lady died (no relation with the pigeons: she was 90!), and you wouldn’t believe it, the lady’s daughter herself began throwing at pigeons from the window. because “it’s always been like that”.

More:
http://www.veniceword.com/news/58/pigeons.html

the Buongiorno Venezia newsletter was born in 2000 and was written in our strict italianenglish (more or less the official language which is spoken in this blog

some issues, read after some years, are not only funny but something to be ashamed of. but the content was quite informative all the same. at http://www.veniceword.com  we still happen to receive inquiries regarding very old issues, and even requests of “copies” dating back to  2001 or 2002 archives…

most readers  did not care about the grammar, as long that is was so evident that the newsletter was proudly, lovingly and enthusiastically homemade in venice; some other were disturbed by the mistakes and mispellings. then we met Peter (  http://www.wordsworthandco.com ), an American colleague journalist with the rare gift of a great patience :-)) and of editing a text without deleting its spirit. so the english version of the Buongiorno now is never released without hearing from him. he’s the first foreign reader of the Buongiorno, on Sunday evenings ( — and sometimes later, my apologies and honorary citizen of Veniceword.

everyone in the world has started a blog or wants to start a blog. my friend Luca has opened more than 10 in one year, i guess, 3 of them are active and the other let die…

people spit on the 15 minutes of celebrity forecast by Andy Warhol. people want an eternal moment of celebrity. a blog will survive us.

the father of italian bloggers is Beppe Grillo’s blog. Grillo last name is very evocative in italy: in italian it is the name of an insect (it means “cricket”), an insect which most italian like also because an important character of the Pinocchio fairy tale is the “grillo parlante”, a cricket who can speak (literally “speaking cricket”): it is the voice of Pinocchio conscience.

So what a better name for a comic actor who in a few years has become an opinion leader, denouncing facts and dark sides of italian (and international) politics and way of life. taka a look (site also in english): www.beppegrillo.com - worth of. he is the man who fighted our (former) national phone company for years, the first one to speak out about the Parmalat scandal (in a theater show… nobody believed him at the moment), and he is also the man who taught italians what Skype is (i’m among them). a greatest example of an informative blog.