You know about the museums and galleries.  You've been surfing off the lido.  And, the secret gardens of Venice are no longer a secret from you.  But, did you know about the rice paddies of Verona?  That pink flamingos migrate through the northern lagoon?  That living souls were bought and sold in exchange for Murano glass?  

Many people who read this blog are seasoned visitors to Venice.  You know a lot about her history, her treasures and her environment.  And, above all you know that no matter how much we learn there's always more to know.  On this short list, there may be something you did not yet know about Venice...

More than 20,000 birds visit Venice, and the almost 70,000 hectars of nature preserves in the Venetian lagoon, every year. These preserves include the barene – the muds flats within the lagoon – as well as the sand dunes at Alberoni and San Nicolo on the Lido, Ca'Roman on Pellestrina, and a swath of coastline near Chioggia.  

For the past two years, a flock of flamingos – Yes, pink ones! - has migrated through the northern lagoon each spring. There are sandpipers on the barene whose curved beaks are longer than the birds are tall. There are infinite varieties of ducks. On Sant'Erasmo, in addition to the expected farm birds, I have spotted wild ring-necked red pheasants, and colorful wild parakeets, while on the southern end of the Lido lives a flock of gregarious peacocks who don't seam to feel any need to limit themselves to staying on the farm.  

Of course birds such as sea gulls and pigeons can be hard to ignore in the center of Venice, especially when they engage in shenanigans like stealing sandwiches right out of people's hands. But, on the brighter side, it is not at all unusual to catch sight of a yellow-footed egret posing gracefully on the corner of an embarcadero. And, low-flying cormorants make a silly spectacle when they stand around airing their feathers atop the pilings in the lagoon. One day last summer a bird even flew into my living room, had a peck at the potted plants and, gratefully, flitted just as easily back out again.

"Trade beads" are probably the most globally seen Murano glass beads. Yet, very few people realize that they're Venetian. Even fewer truly grasp the historical and cultural significance of these particular beads. These days, they seem to be associated with virtually every culture except European cultures. Nevertheless, they originally came from Murano where, for hundreds of years, they were produced by the ton and shipped off on long voyages throughout the world.

​From the 16th to the 20th centuries Murano glass beads were traded as currency between the merchants of the Venetian republic and, particularly, the people's of West Africa who placed a much higher value on decorative objects than they did on European currency. So highly valued were these beads that they were used to pay for the purchase of human beings, earning them the ominous name "slave beads". 

While there certainly can not be a larger human impact of beads beyond their use as currency in the purchase of slaves, there were other significant impacts of the popularity of Murano glass beads that bear mentioning. For example, when the merchant sailors sailed off to parts unknown with their ships laden down with beads, their hard currency remained in Venice contributing significantly to the wealth of the Republic. Meanwhile, the impiraresse of Venice – the women workers whose job it was to string the billions of tiny seed beads produced on Murano for the luxury market – are known to have formed a labor union and gone on strike for better pay in the late 1800's, long before the labor movement began in Europe.

Rice has been cultivated in the Veneto, Lombardy and Piedmont since the mid-1400's. Today, Italy is the largest rice cultivator in Europe. The vast majority of rice cultivated in the humid valleys of northern Italy is short grain rice – including the famous Arborio and the Vialone Nano IGP rice cultivated near Verona.  

Long considered a precious commodity, dishes made with rice, risottos, have a special place in both Venetian history and the Venetian diet. The beloved risi e bisi, a risotto of rice and peas, was historically served to the Doge in celebration of the feast day of San Marco, the patron saint of Venice. Risotto with eel is a traditional part of a Venetian Christmas Eve dinner. And, risotto di go is a gourmet specialty risotto, local to the Venetian island of Burano, made with “giozzo” - tiny fish caught in the lagoon - and the Veneto's Vialone Nano rice. Naturally, risottos change with the season as local chefs pair the rice with seasonal vegetables and freshly caught fish.  This week, it seems we're all having asparagus risotto!

Well prepared pasta is delicious of course, but you won't have tasted Venice before you've tasted a carefully prepared risotto.

Whenever I see that a door to one of the document archives of Venice has been left open, I can't resist peeking my head in. The Republic of Venice was the home to the first trade union in Europe. It was the birthplace of modern accounting. And, of particular interest to me, and perhaps to all of us who can never seem to find the right charger for our mobile phones, somewhere inside those archives lies the first ever patent statute along with the records of the 2,000 patents that were issued by the Republic of Venice in the first 14 years that the statute went into effect. Those were the years from 1474 until 1488. Could the Venetian Senate have imagined, when they enacted that law hundreds of years ago that it would come to be adopted almost globally - Almost verbatim too! - and impact the daily lives of billions of people?

At it's peak, the Republic of Venice encompassed not only the Veneto coast and a large swath of the mainland, but also nearly the entire eastern Adriatic shore – the Dalmatian coast where one now finds the countries of Croatia, Montenegro & Albania – plus Corfu, Crete and, infamously, Constantinople. During it's peek as a trading empire, many more coastal territories, from Northern Africa to Asia, fell under the effective control of the Republic.   

Though, these days the territory of Venice and the Veneto are more limited to the lagoon and a portion of mainland Italy, there is still plenty of Venetian territory to explore beyond the city center. The lagoon itself covers an area of 550 kilometers, while the Veneto mainland stretches from Cortina to the north, Verona to the west and Chioggia and the Po Delta to the South. As you can imagine, recreational, educational and culinary experience opportunities abound in this territory.

Why, one could even go hiking in the morning, have a risotto for lunch, do a little shopping for Murano glass beads and pop into a document archive in the afternoon before gliding off on a sunset bird-watching cruise of the lagoon. Now that sounds like an amazing day in Venice!

What image comes to mind when you picture a “dying city”? If it's not a group of scantily- clad people eating pizza in the street, nor a noisy bunch of joyful travelers disembarking from a boat, nor a rowdy group of teenagers trotting through the town with open beers sloshing in their hands, then you must not be picturing Venice. I'm sure no one thinks of “degradation” while admiring the paintings of Titian and Tintoretto. And, I agree that dangerously decaying stucco does, in fact, look beautiful here. So why would any visitor to Venice think of this as a degraded and dying city? How would they know? ​

Here in Venice, death looks like candy, multi-colored pasta, and dried lavender. It looks like both designer and discount clothing, with absolutely nothing in between. It looks like a brand new five star hotel, plus five or six new bed and breakfasts. It looks like take-away pasta and, also cocktails to take-away. It looks like souvenir, schotsky and t-shirt shops whose windows strangely do not change with the seasons. It looks like signs announcing “limited time” sales that mysteriously never end. It looks like the fish mongers must actually be models for all the cameras pointing at them. And, it looks like we shall have to go to mainland to get XYZ.  

All of which is to say that the death of Venice looks like an on-going Carnevale which sucks up and discards everything relevant to a living community and replaces it with trinkets that are really only appealing to people on holiday as it rolls on its deep-fried and sugar-coated way to the next “historical” festival to which locals are only invited as performers.

Death is adorned with identical window boxes, or spindly succulents, or shutters with the paint peeling off, and it never needs to hang its laundry out to dry. There are lots of ways to identify a house where no one really lives.

​Death wears no uniform and answers no telephone. As the number of residents in Venice dwindles, so do public services. And while there may be some vacationing fools out there who gleefully jump off of bridges knowing that no one is coming to stop them, they would do well to remember that, should they fall off of bridges instead, no would come to save them either.  

There is something enchantingly beautiful about the crumbling stucco walls and wave-worn stones that adorn Venice. But, make no mistake, Venice is experiencing both physical and moral degradation. Both the supports and foundations of Venice are degrading. Meanwhile, Venetians are responsible for the disposal of the massive amounts of unsightly and unsanitary waste produced by visitors to the city. This is a very visible degradation, particularly as this waste so often finds it's way to the steps of monuments and into the doorways and windowsills of private homes; A stinking insult to the dignity of both Venetian history and living Venetians.

But, don't think that degradation always looks like filth and rot. It also looks like glittery plastic carnival masks, faux Murano glass, and, now also “gastronomic souvenirs” which are actually mass-produced imitations of Italian specialty foods. It is terribly emotionally, culturally and financially degrading to helplessly observe the spread of this mockery of traditional Venetian products right here where the original products were created.  

Degradation is also a picnic, a picnic to which Venetians are not invited. While thousands of tourists settle themselves in the streets, on the bridges, along the canals, on vaporetto docks, and in the squares for lunch “al fresco” every day, a Venetian family was recently fined for “illegal occupation of public space” for making so bold as to throw a child's birthday party outdoors in a public square. Is it not degrading to be told that there is just no room for you and your children in the public spaces which your taxes pay to keep clean?  

Degradation is the enactment of a special law without any consultation of the community. It is also the unquestioned, un-researched and utterly false reporting of local events. And, of course, it is very degrading indeed to be told by those entrusted with the care of the city that those who don't like it should just leave.

Degradation is a hiss, a long sigh and a shove, intended for the millions who don't speak your language nor care about your manners, but very often also landing on one of your few remaining neighbors as a slight that will prevent you from forming a polite relationship with them either.

I was at home overseas the first time that reality of what my Venetian friends had been telling me for years suddenly became clear to me. I was equal parts outraged and deeply saddened, empathetic and guilty. For, even then, I was a foreigner who regularly took up space here. Now, I am a foreigner who lives here, who was married here, who does her shopping here and greets her neighbors here. And, in my darkest hours I imagine that we are among the last families who will ever really live here, though I really couldn't say for how long we'll keep at it.

It was one thing, to analyze the Venetian reality from the distance. The lack of housing and lack of skilled jobs are easy enough statistics to verify online. It is something else to live the day-to-day death and degradation of this city that I continue to love and admire so much even as I too slowly become one of those who issues the long-sigh.

With that in mind, and especially our own friends who have told us: "We saw the cicchetti, but weren't quite sure how it worked", we decided to open a series of video posts with an introduction to eating in a Venetian bacaro.

​Buon Appetito!  

This video was filmed at SALVMERIA: Bacaro Contemporaneo (Salumeria), in Via Garibadli.  We'd like to thank them for their time, space and food, but most especially for their warm Venetian-bacaro style welcome!

A Bacaro is a traditional Venetian snack bar where both local Venetians and tourists mingle over spritz, wine, snacks and cicchetti.  Visiting a bacaro, whether at lunch time or at cocktail hour can be one of the most fun, the most convenient, and also the least expensive ways to taste some of the best food available in Venice. 

Venetians from all walks of life and, as Giorgio, the owner of SALVMERIA, says it, "also tourists who appreciate the Venetian style ... those who want to know the Venetian style of how to drink, how to eat and how to live". 

"Because in a bacaro we have the best food at the best price and the atmosphere and the company are very friendly."