Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and tours climb the steep stairs to the roof for giddy, close-up views of the bare-bottomed
'Do Mori' (Two Moors), who chime every hour.
Campanile
TOWER
(Bell Tower;
www.basilicasanmarco.it
; Piazza San Marco; admission €8; 9am-9pm Jul-Sep, to 7pm
Apr-Jun & Oct, 9.30am-3.45pm Nov-Mar; San Marco)
The basilica's 99m-tall tower has been
rebuilt twice since its initial construction in AD 888, and Galileo Galilei found it handy
for testing his telescope in 1609. Critics called Bartolomeo Bon's 16th-century tower re-
design ungainly, but when this version suddenly collapsed in 1902, Venetians rebuilt the
tower as it was, brick by brick.
Teatro La Fenice
THEATRE
( 041 78 65 11;
www.teatrolafenice.it
;
Campo San Fantin 1965; theatre visits adult/reduced €8.50/6, op-
era tickets from €40; tours 9.30am-6pm; Santa Maria del Giglio)
Once its dominion over the
high seas ended, Venice discovered the power of high Cs, hiring as San Marco choirmas-
ter Claudio Monteverdi, the father of modern opera, and opening La Fenice (The Phoenix)
in 1792. Rossini and Bellini staged operas here, making La Fenice the envy of Europe -
until it went up in flames in 1836.
Venice without opera was unthinkable, and within a year the opera house was rebuilt.
But La Fenice was again reduced to ashes in 1996; two electricians found guilty of arson
were apparently behind on repairs. A €90-million replica of the 19th-century opera house
reopened in 2003, and although those who had lobbied for Gae Aulenti's avant-garde
design were disappointed, few disputed that the reprise performance of
La Traviata
was a
sensation.
Museo Fortuny
MUSEUM
( 041 4273 0892;
http://fortuny.visitmuve.it/
; Campo San Beneto 3758; adult/reduced with Museum
Pass €10/8; 10am-6pm Wed-Mon; Sant'Angelo)
Find design inspiration at the palatial
home-studio of art nouveau designer Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, whose shockingly un-
corseted Delphi goddess frocks set the standard for bohemian chic. First-floor salon walls
are eclectic mood boards: Fortuny fashions and Isfahan tapestries, family portraits and
James Turrell's sublime red-light installation.
