The Wykehamist
vaporetto took us back to the mainland. Now marvellously fed and watered, we were all to happy to visit the church of the Gesuiti, which was, in contrast, widely considered a highlight of the trip. While the façade was obscured by scaffolding, the interior was virtually drowning in the stuff. We meandered our way to a narrow opening on the left aisle, where( I think I’ m right in saying) the first Titian of the trip awaited us. The Martyrdom of St Lawrence was such a powerful and vivid expression of devout faith in the face of pain, as well as being an excellent introduction to Titian’ s late style, for those who hadn’ t yet studied him. Curious, we slowly funnelled through the scaffolding down the nave and to the altar; the greys of cloth and steel soon parted, and the east end of the Gesuiti opened up to us like the Heavens. Light, gold, staggering and ornate – we were suddenly immersed in the height of the Venetian Baroque style. It’ s unsurprising this church went down as one of the favourites of the trip – you need only visit to understand. San Salvador, our fourth church of the day( fifth if counting the Cathedral) brought the itinerary’ s next Titian – The Annunciation. A uniquely dramatic take on the narrative from Luke’ s Gospel, the painting was a popular favourite amongst the visitors. It really shone in a church which was otherwise quite badly one-upped by the all previous ones the day had brought. We finished the day in the most Venetian way possible: a vaporetto down the Grand Canal( complete with touristy photos and pigeon-Italian exchanges with gondoliers) and to the Ca’ d’ Oro. We toured the aristocratic-townhouse-turned-museum with enthusiasm: the Art Historians among us enjoyed getting a close look at one of their syllabus’ s key examples of Venetian architecture, and everyone enjoyed seeing the collection. The highlight was without a doubt the view from the top floor loggia overlooking the Grand Canal. It was there that we befriended a group of American art students and took some of the best pictures of the trip as the sun set.
Anton Oliver: I find it a shame not to have given Padua any room in my introduction, as this was definitely one of my favourite days of the trip. After a quick train journey from Venice’ s Santa Lucia station, a building quite unique when compared to its surroundings, we arrived in Padua. The part of the city where the train arrives is not immediately impressive. Some office buildings here, some graffiti there, making it seem like a city that had been affected by the second world war and had not bounced back yet. This first impression did not last long. Just a few steps into the city told us that we were wrong and had much to take from this historical centre. Our first goal was the Chiesa degli Eremitani, a beautiful Gothic style church built in the 13 th century for hermit friars. EACR was very eager to show us the cycle of frescoes by Andrea Mantenga, according to him“ the greatest loss of the second world war.” Fortunately, they had been frequently photographed before the bombing raids on the city, and so had been able to be reconstructed to show, in black and white, the missing elements of this unique mural. Soon after this, we moved on to the big dog of Padua: the Basilica di Sant’ Antonio. Just before, however, we enjoyed the view of Donatello’ s Gatamalatta, tastefully decorated with 21 st century bespoke Italian scaffolding. The church itself, with St Anthony’ s marble tomb being a particular highlight, was beautiful. All around there were sculptures in marble and bronze and wood, paintings, frescoes, ornate columns, reliefs. This all before seeing what seemed to be the main event to the majority of visitors to the church, the relics of St Anthony. With tummies rumbling after that strange, prepackaged
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