Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte greets Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Rome, November 26th, 2019.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte greeted his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Rome’s Palazzo Chigi.   Mitsotakis, who has been in power since July, 2019, met Conte over lunch at Palazzo Chigi, the headquarters of the Italian government, to discuss a wide variety of issues.

 

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Venice’s outlandish (and fun) art Biennale, November 7-12, 2019.

So what to say about a city that is 1,500 (more or less) years old and hasn’t already been said?  Not much, except for its outlandish and totally crazy art Biennale, now at it’s 58^th edition.

Rather "original" the Canadian pavilion (slightly better than many years ago when it consisted of a room full of bison bones!)

The Canadian one.  It consisted basically of two tv screens with film footage of the Inuit discussing global warming.

We were very lucky as we were in Venice just 4 days before the abnormally-high (and I mean REALLY high) water set in, like 1m90 (or 6 feet, my height too) with rather tragic consequences on such a fragile city, unquestionably THE most beautiful one in the world. 

 The American pavilion.

An old Valentino Rossi motorcycle?

And some of the (male) school children had fun with this statue!

And the pavilions?  Many, including the Russian, Canadian, British, French, Dutch, South Korean, American, Egyptian, Romanian, Israeli, Chinese, Indonesian, South African and Italian ones, just to name a few, house some pretty strange “works” of art, including cows and sliced motorcycles.

And every time I go to the Biennale (and it’s not the first time either) I not only have a ball as I'm staring wide-eyed at a lot of the crazy art but I always think of John Cleese’s famous words from Monty Python’s  “Live At The Hollywood” movie.  Cleese, who’s dressed up like the pope and who can’t seem to understand Michelangelo’s art, looks at the audience and says, “I may not know much about art, but I know what I like”!  And that's certainly the effect that the Biennale has on me!

VERY mysterious at night, especially when it's drizzling.  You always think that from around a corner Casanova and his mantle will bump into you!

Our rather pleasant B+B.

 

The “water boots”?  They’re Chinese-made and cost only 8 euros per pair.  They’re very convenient and easy to use as they keep both your feet and shoes nice and dry (but only if the water isn’t higher than your knees, which happened just recently in Venice).

Some high water when we were there and just a few days before the deluge.

The amazing paintings of Tintoretto.

  
An original graffiti by Bansky (almost under water too).

The city just four days before the 6 foot-high water flooding.

This statue, by an Israeli artist, looked SO real that we had to actually touch it to see that it was in fact a statue and not a live human being!

And some of the fun translations at the Arsenale which also hosts an infinite number of sculptures, paintings, etc.

I actually thought that the woman on the left was part of the art exhibit!

 Modern art?

But the so-called “real” art is the city itself, a living museum with stupendous buildings, museums and churches that house masters such as Tintoretto (born Jacopo Robusti) and Tiziano, not to mention the very tiny “streets” where if you happen to be obese you just won’t be able to walk through.   And Tintoretto (aka “The Furious One”)?  Absolutely jaw-dropping the collection of his masterpieces in the “Scuola Grande di San Rocco”, a place where concerts are also held (the great Igor Stravinsky once played there).

Ok.....

The rest of the pictures are a cornucopia of everyday life in "La Serenissima”, as the old Republic of Venice was once called, and some shots of Udine (it’s only 130 km north of Venice) where we spent three days before heading back to Rome, a quaint town where not only my folks were born but where I lived for 7 years (and which I discovered for the first time in 1966 after having landed in Venice).   

The only ones who one day will be able to survive in Venice?

Peggy Guggenheim's museum above and below.

  
Tintoretto's amazing "Crucifixion".

  
They say that Bowie had a Tintoretto painting and also named one of his albums after the great Venetian painter.

LOVE the reflections in Venice!

  
A rather easy life for gondoliers!

After 25 wonderful days in Canada and the States another wonderful 7 days in both Venice and Udine (scenes below of Udine)!