In Venice as a Venetian

Winter impressions of the Serenissima
Inverno Veneziano wintry wanderings from dawn to dusk in the chilly, foggy, drafty and almost deserted canals, calli, campi, bridges and isles of the Serenissima.
Boy with frog  – Punta della Dogana
In the cold and foggy days of November, December, January and February, Venice shows what is probably its most genuine face. To visitors, winter offers one huge advantage over other seasons: the city is nearly deserted. With most of the noisy, gaudy trappings of the tourist industry packed away, with the crowds of trippers reduced to perhaps a handful of true Venice’s lovers, the beauties of the Serenissima are more readily appreciated. No noise, no waiting, lower prices, slower paces. And the sense of the city’s past greatness is even more captivating in the calm and silence of these days. More over, you can even meet true Venetians in winter, a sort of people you would tell as extinguished in every other period of the year, when they probably feel just like sailors, shipwrecked in a boundless ocean of tourists. And having a chance to see how Venice’s people actually live is nothing but a blessing, if your aim as a visitor is to live the town from its very inside rather than to merely scratch its ready-made-for-tourist gleaming surface. This is indeed the only time of the year when those fifty-six-thousand heroes who still live in the historical centre of the Serenissima can reclaim the ownership of their city, when kids can play again hide-and-seek or football in the campi and calles, when you can even find a seat on the vaporetto, when 30 euros, if not less,  is your dinner bill for two fish courses at a bacaro, and you don’t even need to book your table in advance; and last, but absolutely not least, it’s also when half a day is well likely all the time you need for thoroughly visit and enjoy the masterpieces at Basilica of San Marco, Museo Correr and Accademia.
“Boy with frog”   in a very foggy early morning at Punta della Dogana			The San Marco Basin in the fog, as seen from the Giudecca
The cathedral of San Giorgio Maggiore in a very foggy day	A long exposure take of the Grand Canal in another very foggy day
For photographers, there are even a few more advantages. In winter, a thick fog often envelopes the city and the lagoon like a huge blanket, dumping the calles and canals in a veil of mystery and charming mood, while in the very occasional clear mornings everything shines in a sort of otherworldly Impressionist glow: soft, diffused, dreamy. In winter days the sun seems never to rise, it rather stays hanging low in the sky, barely reaching the edge of the roofs, and the shadows are as long as church aisles. The mist raises from the lagoon and spreads in some way the light in the sky, as if the sunrays were shining through a window of polished glass. Sunrises last for ages, and so do sunsets. It is breathtaking just staring at this glorious representation, watching  the sun while it slowly emerges from or dives into the pale, jade green waters of the lagoon, peeping every once in a while through layers of bold rainy clouds at the horizon and casting its faint rays on the facades of palaces and churches.
Dawn from the Zattere, the waterfront sidewalk on the Giudecca Canal			Gondolas at Riva degli Schiavoni
Navigation marks in the lagoon			Beautiful stripes of clouds over the lagoon at sunrise
And then, totally unexpected, the sky breaks for a moment, and the lagoon is suddenly flooded with a magnificent warm light. Photographically speaking, these are the best conditions you can hope for, if you are looking for those moody and mysterious atmospheres you have always dreamed of, when thinking of Venice. I am primarily a nature photographer, so when I am taking photographs in the wilderness I am used to wait a very long time for that special moment when unusual light or harsh weather contribute unique drama and mood. When I am doing cityscapes, I take advantage of this kind of experience I collected in the field, and I must say that it is as much exciting.
The Venice skyline from the top of the Campanile of San Giorgio Maggiore			The Venice skyline with the snow-covered Alps in the background
The patchwork of crazy colours in the houses of Burano	Maria Callas bridge, leading to the backdoor of the theatre La Fenice
There are only eight hours of daylight in winter in Venice, but every minute carries within itself infinite opportunities for a trained eye. Whether you go for grand vistas from the waterfront sidewalks at Riva degli Schiavoni, Zattere and Fondamenta Nove; or you focus on the facades of the historical Palazzi on the Grand Canal; or you choose to create amazing abstract composition with the colorful reflections in the water, the hazy atmosphere and the diffused glowing light will always add that special dreamy look to your pictures, something that is very difficult to achieve, if not impossible, in any other season.
			I stood in Venice, on the Bridge of Sighs, A palace and a prison on each hand: I saw from out the wave her structures rise As from the stroke of the enchanter’s wand: A thousand years their cloudy wings expand Around me, and a dying Glory smiles O’er the far times, when many a subject land Looked to the wingéd Lion’s marble piles, Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles! She looks a sea Cybele, fresh from ocean, Rising with her tiara of proud towers At airy distance, with majestic motion, A ruler of the waters and their powers: And such she was–her daughters had their dowers From spoils of nations, and the exhaustless East Poured in her lap all gems in sparkling showers: In purple was she robed, and of her feast Monarchs partook, and deemed their dignity increased. In Venice Tasso’s echoes are no more, And silent rows the songless gondolier; Her palaces are crumbling to the shore, And music meets not always now the ear: Those days are gone–but Beauty still is here; States fall, arts fade–but Nature doth not die, Nor yet forget how Venice once was dear, The pleasant place of all festivity, The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy!
Rio (canal) dei Greci with the Orthodox church			excerpt from Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage by George Gordon Byron, 1818
Resources
		A photo gallery of scenic landscape photographs of the Serenissima in winter dresses.
		Venice in winter Private and small groups Landscape Photography Workshops  Join me on a ‘one-on-one’ or small group photography workshop. Learn new skills, experiment with advanced techniques, develop your vision, all while enjoying  in good  company an enthralling outdoor photo adventure in one of the most beautiful cities of the world. Private tuition is a great way to kick-start your landscape photography hobby, fine tune your skills or analyze in depth a particular topic or technique.
Coffee table book In Venice as a Venetian Winter impressions of the Serenissima © Paolo De Faveri 2013  10x8 inches (25x20 cm) large format landscape book available in three version: soft cover,  hardcover with colour jacket and hard cover with image wrap 130 pages 88 large format high quality prints,among which 24 in a breath-taking two-pages spread wide panoramic format field notes for each image included now available on amazon All images and text copyright 2004-2014 Paolo De Faveri. All rights reserved.