Students Blog

Friday, April 28, 2017

Meeting point: 9.20 am San Zaccaria boat stop (boat line n°20)

The visit is compulsory for students enrolled in the courses:
Prof. Pes’course S1701 History of Venice
Prof. Perilli’s course S1707 Art and Architecture in Renaissance Venice

All costs are sponsored by VIU for students of the above mentioned courses

Program
- 9.30 am: Meeting with local guide, Caterina Nardin, for the visit to the Doge’s Palace
- 10.30 am: Estimated time for the end of the visit
- 11 am: Visit to the Marciana Library

Some History

The Doge’s Palace is an impressive structure composed of layers of building elements and ornamentation, from its 14th and 15th century original foundations to the significant Renaissance and Mannerist adjunctions. Originally an agglomeration of different buildings destined to serve various purposes, many fires destroyed it through the centuries, leading to constant renovations. It housed not only the Doge’s apartments, the seat of the government and the city’s courtrooms, but also a jail, and in the second half of the 16th century new prisons were built, linked to the Doge’s Palace by the Bridge of Sighs. When the Republic fell in 1797, its role as the heart of political life inevitably changed and it was occupied by various administrative offices, housing important cultural institutions such as the Biblioteca Marciana (from 1811 to 1904). In 1923, the Italian State, owner of the building, appointed the City Council to manage it as a public museum.

The Marciana Library was the result of a long history regarding the building of a public library in Venice. In 1362 Francesco Petrarca decided to donate his books to the Venetian Republic as a starting point for book lovers. In 1560 the St. Mark’s Library opened and started growing as more and more works were donated to the municipality and also thanks to a 1603 Venetian law that led all the printers to deposit a copy of every publication.

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Meeting point: 10.15 am Campo San Canciano, Cannaregio (see map)

The visit is highly recommended for the students of Prof. Pes’course S1701 History of Venice
The costs are sponsored by VIU for students of S1701 course.

18 extra places are available for any other student and professor interested!

Extra participants: the cost of the visit to the Jewish Museum is 10 euro/student under 26 and 12 euro/over 26
To get the reduced price, please remember to bring your university/VIU Card with you
The ticket will be bought on the spot.

Program
- 10.15 am: A walk through Italian history of resistance in Venice: Campo San Canciano – Bruno Crovato; Ponte dei Sartori – Luigi Borgato; Calle Priuli – Giuseppe Tramontin; Fondamenta San Felice – Ubaldo Belli; Calle Colombina – Piero Favretti; Campiello del Magazin – Augusto Picutti; Corte Correra – Manfredi Azzarita.
- 11.30 am: The cortege arrives to Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, where the Jewish Museum of Venice is situated, accompanied by the April 25^th Choir – Mezzalira Olivolo. Commemoration at the monument in memory of the Shoah.
- 12 pm: Visit to the Jewish Museum of Venice

To confirm your participation, please sign the roster at the Front Office before Monday 24 at 3 pm.

Some Info:
The Jewish Museum of Venice is placed between the two most ancient Venetian synagogues. It is a little but very rich museum founded in 1953 by the Jewish Community of Venice.
The precious objects shown to public, important examples of goldsmith and textile manufacture made between the 16th and the 19th centuries are a lively witnessing of the Jewish tradition. The museum furthermore offers a wide selection of ancient books and manuscripts and some objects used in the most important moments of the cycle of civil and religious life.
The museum is built in two areas, the first one devoted to the cycle of Jewish festivities and to objects used for liturgy, the latter- planned with a greater educational approach- deals with the history of Venetian Jews through images and objects.

Monday, April 24 – 5 pm – room 9A

This movie is part of Prof. Luca Pes’ course “Italian Contemporary History in Films”

Directed by Julien Duvivier            Starring Fernandel and Gino Cervi
Genres comedy                            Release date 1952 (Italy)
Running time 109 minutes             Languages Italian

The film is set in Brescello, a small village in the center of Italy, where the earth is hard and life miserly, and is based on the novel written by Giovannino Guareschi.
The movie depicts the eternal rivalry between the priest Don Camillo and the communist town’s major, Giuseppe Bottazzi, to be the head of the community. If in secret they admired and liked each other, politics still divided them as it divided the country. Laughs, gags and a touch of melancholy…
Its success led to producing sequels, creating a saga for Don Camillo’s character.

It is part of the list of the 100 Italian films to be saved, because of its influence in changing the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978.

March/May 2017

This program is part of Prof. Cipriani’s course S1721 Listening to the Lagoon City. Lost Islands

All VIU students are welcome to join!

The course aims at introducing students to the reading and to the knowledge of the landscape.

Program
The visits will explore the islands of the Venetian lagoon in the following dates:

March 9                                                             March 31                                                          April 27
> 1.20 pm / San Servolo boat stop            > 1.30 pm / Sacca Fisola boat stop           > 1.20 pm / Restricted access*
San Lazzaro degli Armeni Island                Sacca San Biagio Island                             Campalto Island

March 16                                                           April 6                                                               May 4
> 1.30 pm / Restricted access*                 > 1.20 pm / Castello boat stop                 > 1.20 pm / Restricted access*
Poveglia Island                                                La Certosa Island                                          Sant’Angelo della Polvere Island    

March 23                                                           April 13                                                             May 18
> 1.20 pm / San Zaccaria B boat stop        >1.10 pm / F.te Nove D boat stop              > 1.10 pm / F.te Nove B boat stop
Castello Island                                                Le Vignole Island                                            San Michele Island

* Only for students enrolled in the class

Good Bye Lenin!

Monday, April 10 – 5 pm – room 9A

Directed by  Wolfgang Becker    Starring   Daniel Brühl, Katrin Saβ and Chulpan Khamatova
Genres           Documentary          Release date   2003
Running time   121 mins             Language      German with english subtitles

In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared.

European Film Awards Winner 2003, nominated for Best Foreign Film at Golden Globe Awards in 2004.

Here a quick preview ;;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5hzmwGW4Ac

Florence City Center and Uffizi Gallery Museum

Friday, April 14, 2017

Meeting Point: 1 pm Piazza della Signoria, Firenze

N.B. The visit is part of:
Prof. Paolieri’s Supplementary Art Course: Introduction to Italian Renaissance Painting
and open only to students who have attended the minimum number of  classes requested.

Program
1 pm  - meeting at Piazza della Signoria, Firenze (in front of the entrance of Palazzo Vecchio)
visit to the center of Florence with Prof. Paolieri
2 pm – guided visit to Uffizi Galleries with Prof. Annarita Paolieri
6.30 pm – Estimated time for the end of the visit in Florence

Uffizi entrance tickets: sponsored by VIU for all students attending the Supplementary Art Course.

Transport:  Students must arranged on their own the journey to and from Florence.
The recommended way to reach Florence is by train (station name: Santa Maria Novella).
You may check both Trenitalia and Italo’s websites, in alternative look for buses i.e. Flixbus or shared cars i.e. Bla Bla Car.