Architecture, painting, food and glorious light and water

We have made it to the last three architectural biennales here in Venezia. The national pavilions are filled with weird, abstract and intellectual art and constructions. Ira, of course, is in heaven. I wander through, looking for interesting stuff to take pictures of. Occasionally, I run across something that I can understand, too! There was a marvelous display on Song dynasty architecture regulations. It was a period of expansion, and the authorities wanted to standardize construction to minimize corruption. There were different sets of possibilities based on your rank. Apparently, the text produced went untranslated for so many years, that when Chinese scholars found a copy in the 20th century, they had great difficulty deciphering the characters. How do the characters 'open heart' and 'closed heart' relate  to roof bracketing?

As we were making our way to another church, we  walked along the Riva dei Schiavoni. It's just down from St. Marks, so it's usually a place we avoid. It was jam packed, but we ducked into the Santa Maria Della Pieta there, and all was calm. It's a church that was also used as a music venue because of its curved walls and upper side vault to hold the musicians. No live music when we were there, but they piped in Vivaldi as we stared at the glorious Tiepolo ceiling. No one else was there, so it wasparticularly  memorable what with all the crush just outside.

Our destination was another church, San Zaccariah, and its wonderful Bellini altar painting. I'd seen pictures but never the real thing. We sat twice in front of it for long stretches. The church itself has a marvelous Renaissance marble front. Beside it is the old church, and we went in there to look at a magnificent golden altar and the medieval crypts below. It was particularly Venetian as the crypts were flooded!

Next it was time for lunch. Our guide, Helene, had pointed out a place the day before, and we managed to find it! Always a success in Venice. In this case, an amazing triumph, because Covino is a tiny place that serves some of the best food in town. It can seat a maximum of 16, and the tiny kitchen is right there. We got to watch them make our incredible food, and they were casual and welcoming. After the meal, they passed around an old tin of Mama's cookies. That was the vibe,

I started with homemade pro secco, made by the waiter's father. It was almost frothy it was so strong!

My before was sardines, butterflied and lightly fried on a bed of cress, watermelon, pearl onions and yellow peppers. Never have I tasted melon like that, concentrated and dense. Ira had the bacala mantecata on white barley. He prefer it creamier, but I liked it rough presentation.

Ira followed that up with aglio, olio di mare spaghetti, a simple dish that used his favorite squid ink. I devoured an amazing panzanella with slices of tender rabbit. The waiter chose wines to accompany each dish, and they were perfect.

 I should have rolled into bed after such a large meal... But instead, we got on a vaporetto  to go to the Giudecca. When the public bus takes you past San Marco and San Giorgio Maggiore, you know you're in the world's most beautiful city. Our destination was Tres Oci, a curious house with three oddly shaped windows (hence the name, three eyes). It's been repurposed into a photography display space, and we saw an exhibit of Lewis Hines' work, mostly about the late 20th century immigrants in the lower East Side. The main exhibit was on the preparations that Venezia had made for WWI bombings by the Austro-Hungarian forces. Most everything was sandbagged and wrapped and buttressed and taken down. The main loss, besides the 82 dead and hundreds injured, was a magnificent ceiling fresco by Tiepolo. They had an early black and white picture of it. Some of the pictures were wonderful, with the sand bags providing a repeating element. Others were notable for what was going in, such as removing the ceiling painting from a Scuole.

We had a quick nap at home, then back down to the Arsenale for a large supper. Yes, we're going to come home fatter. This was at our favorite restaurant, Al Covo. We go only every two years, but Diane, theTexan co-owner, remembered us and greeted us warmly. We got a wonderful spot outside and impeccable service.

Ira had squash blossoms delicately fried and filled with the lightest ricotta you can imagine. I don't know how they make a fried dish so light. The waiter did say they change the oil every night, but there's a lot of magic in the process, as well. My before was the best eggplant Parmesan I've ever had. The waiter confessed that Sicilian eggplants are better, but their preparation is the best! I had an amazing valpolicella to accompany it.

For the main dish, I had their fritto misto. Again with the lightness. And the squid was so tender! Across Italy, the squid has been magnificent, I don't think it comes in that texture in the States. Ira had the Vitelli tonnato, just for comparison. I think in his heart, he thought his was better, but he exclaimed over this to the waiter. (I don't even order certain dishes in Italy because Ira's are perfect, particularly his console veraci.)

For dessert, I had Venetian fried cream with pistachios. Wow! It was just perfect. Ira had another slice of chocolate cake. Diane makes a lot of the desserts while her husband Cesare, a tall and handsome guy from the Lido, supervises the cooking. A perfect cafe, and then we were ready for a magical trip home. Venice is truly a place where getting there is half the fun!