We dropped the car off in Venice and I was so glad to not have to drive anymore! Venice was hot and filled with people but I’d booked a place that was fairly quiet in Cannereggio. And off to lunch we went for ricotta filled ravioli with sage and almonds and a very good caponata and with the coffee came an assortment of biscuits and gooseberries.
We went to look at the artwork in the supermarket because, Venice being Venice, every place is beautiful. Sadly the supermarket is in an art nouveau theatre but at least between the cans of tuna and assorted vegetables, it will survive.
We dined on fritto misto served with a slice of white polenta and we watched the penumbra slowly fade into golds and peach colours rippling on the canals.
Breakfast was in the old part of the palazzo with a chandelier from the 1800’s and painted wooden beams.
Then we were off to Florians, my favourite expensive coffee shop. We are hot, bothered and sweaty but we calm down over our excellent coffees as outside the band starts up.
Next to the markets, half the size as pre-covid which saddens me but everything is still artistically placed and photogenic.
Then we find an interesting little bar, Pulperia, where we have a brunch of wonderfully seasoned octopus and good bread with an early morning drink because in Italy, around eleven am, the Venetians are out having a wine and a cichetti. At the end we have a Venetian custard with tiny meringues and biscotti.
Then we are off in the heat of midday to find my husband’s relative's house. Titian was the most famous Venetian painter of the 16th century and finally, after many years, I have found an address, obscure but hopeful. And there it is and if we were doubtful, an old lady hanging out of her window asks us if we are looking for the house of Tiziano and we nod and she says: E qui! I breathe it in, I try to imagine him walking down the street. It used to be on the waterfront but they have extended to build more houses so it is slightly behind. But it has a garden which is a rarity in Venice and Titian used to entertain his visitors there. An English woman has bought it and done it up and I dream of becoming rich and buying it one day. Imagine!
Dinner is amazing! We eat on a little quiet canal. I have white polenta with three types of seafood, baccala - seasoned codfish; anchovies with onion, pine nuts and raisins; and tiny brown prawns: we have squid ink pasta and cime di rapa - a bitter green and more fritta mista.
And then we top the day off with a dusk gondola ride. As we go along, the lights of the houses start coming on and shimmering their colours magically onto the waters. Tomorrow we’re on the move again.
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