We had been noticing advertising for a show called "The Prince of Goldsmiths" and the history of the Buccellati jewelry makers. It was housed in a renovated warehouse on Guidecca right next to the Fortuny factory and the Molino Stuckey hotel........so we decided to give it a try. The website said that reservations were required.......so I sent them an email, but had not heard back yet.
We headed out anyway, taking the vaporetto down to Palanca and wandering to the south side of the island looking for a farmer's market that was run by the local women's prison. We found the prison, but no market! The walk, however, was enjoyable and we saw some new areas.
The water in the Giudecca Canal and the lagoon was a bit choppier than normal.
On our way to circle around to the back of the exhibition space for the Buccellati exhibit we decided to take a look at the Molino Stuckey Hotel (Hilton). It is a rather large facility in a renovated grain warehouse........quite imposing. We ended up arriving on the back side of the hotel and were surprised to see a lot of polizia standing around. We were still able to move along the canal sidewalk to the front entry........but along the way saw more police and even a stash of riot shields. This was all a bit odd. We went into the front lobby and saw even more 'secret service' type characters with ear pieces.
The lobby area was nice, with an inner courtyard for dining, but not as atmospheric as we had anticipated. The polizia were also making us a bit nervous. This was all on top of the strange occurance that we kept hearing helicopters circling around for the past day or so. We did not know what to think.......particularly as we are somewhat ignorant about any major news activity. We just wandered out and not too far away found the exhibition for Buccellati.
Just as a post-script, we found out later in the day that there was a 2-day G7 Justice Conference in Venice, hence the heightened security presence. There was even a slightly violent response to protesters when the police used their shields and batons! Glad we were not around! Anyway, the summit is over and the helicopters have gone away!
Finally stumbled upon one of the few gas stations in Venice!
The Buccellati exhibition turned out to be much better than we expected. First of all, we almost didn't get in. They asked for our reservation and I had to explain I had emailed to the suggested address but had not heard. The head woman was very nice and said it would be fine for us to enter. The security was amazing........guards in every room and outside. The first three rooms were in total darkness, similar to the exhibit at the Pinault Collection at the Dogana, but the displays here were staggering. After the first three rooms the exhibit opened into a totally immersive digital environment with display 'columns' in the center of the space and all wall surfaces engaged in staggering video animation. This was one of the more impressive art environments we have ever experienced.
After the exhibition we headed down the fondamenta towards Palanca.......both for lunch and some additional food shopping. Along the way we stopped in the Chiesa di Santa Eufemia. We remembered a small inner courtyard there with some beautiful planting when we last here........although that was in the fall, so we were curious about how things looked in the spring.
Back in time for our late afternoon reposa, wine on the roof terrace and a fun microwave version of penne pasta with tomatoes, fresh basil and cheese.
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