Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-17
NIGHTTIME BRINGS
BEAUTY TO VENICE
City's Scars Show in Day,
But Darkness Lends
Enchantment.

rope, is the subject of the following
communication to the National Geo
graphic Society from one of it's staff
writers. 1t is issued as travel bulle
tin from headquarters here:
do not expect too much of Venice.
1t is hardly fair. No great city can
exist on narrow canals and be entirely
thing of beauty. One necessarily
has had dreams of Venice and goes
there with marked preconceptions. 1t
could not be otherwise. Too much has
been written about it, and always, of
course, the rosy, romantic aspect has
been presented. Do not set your mark
Unfortunately high and Venice will
charm you. Novelty will pinch hit
whenever beauty strikes out.
by all means arrange to arrive in
Venice by night. Under soft moon
light or under the rays of the dim
and infrequent street lamps Venice
puts her very best foot forward and
strives to make your most eXtrava-
CANT dreams come true. The deep
shadows under its bridges and the
palace arches, the mysterious narrow
black canal entrances, the picturesque
leaning posts, the gentle tapping of
the waves against walls and steps,
the swish of the paddles. the half
brusque, half songlike calls of the
ners, perhaps the musical song of a
sondolier in the distance-all combine
to give you an enhancing entrance
into the City of Canals. You lean
back on your cushions during the long
boat ride to your hotel-for of course
you and your baggage must go by
boat-quite contented with life. This
is Venice, and it is quite as it should
be.
Night Lends Beauty.
Your ruse Is successful. It Is
as though you should contrive to meet
once beautiful lady, no longer young,
at an evening garden party. Her
wrinkles become soft lines. When
they face you in the pitiless light of
the morrow they will have a certain
suggestion OF familiarity and memory
will make them less harsh.
Your first day in Venice discloses
indubitable signs of ugliness as we'll
as Of beauty. Picturesque gondolas
pass you on the Grand Canal So do
the unpicturesque Venetian street
carS'-sQuat steamboats,, little but all
too large beside the gondolas-their
sawed-off stacks beiching dirty black
smoke. They raise chcppy waves, as
do the Swifter little motorboats. Your
gondolier glares at them and you join
1iIlI IA Split lUe Italian
curses that you know he is uttering
under his breath.
You pass more gondolas-and the
trash boats of the municipality. In
the waters that seemed so fair last
night floats every conceivable sort of
rubbish, and sometimes it makes it's
presence known to other senses than
ones sight. Yonder is the beautiful
facade OF fine old palace, and be-
side it building from which the
stucco has fallen in great patches dis
closing ugly bricks beneath. Perhaps
the stones are falling away too at the
water-line, letting the waves reach in
for an inevitably greater destruction.
Green slime covers. the steps and the
tilted wooden posts are rotting Time
is not the only desecrater of Venetian
walls. The hand of the advertiser has
been busy too. And some of the walls
that DandoIo loved and that scores
OF poets have sung about now inform
the occupants of gondolas and street
cars of products that can be pur.
chased to their supposed advantage.
But thanks to your night arrival
these things do not worry you over.
much. You turn rather to the domes
OF Santa Maria della Salute with a
tangle of maStS against the sky: to
the arch Of the history-incrusted old
Ponte Rialto; to the incompatible
spires and domes Of the Cathedral Of
San Marco.
Maze Of Alleys and Streets.
"You find that there is surprising
amount Of dry land life in Venice. A
veritable maze Of alleys and CALI Git
tie streets) and fondamenti (canal
sidewalks) exist. The best you can
n y, oh ey%ar to-
superficial acquaintance with the
mainway between San Marco and the
Rialto.
The ways, whether narrow alleys
or somewhat wider Gales, have no
sidewalks, Of course. The entire space,
such as it is, is for pedestrians. At
intervals the narrow ways open up
into 'campi,' as the little squares are
called. The name piazza has been
reserved for the great Square Of San
Marco, facing the Cathedral-the ulti-
mate in dry spaciousness in Venice.
II you have only picture knowl-
edge of Venice, as all the world that
has not been there has, the Piazza San
Marco Will surprise you. The little
open space that holds the famous
statue of the Lion of San Marco is not
the real piazza, but only the anteroom.
Well behind the lion column, around
the Campanile, you find to your sur
prise square greater than MANY a
city with an unlimited supply Of terra
firfia can boast. No wheeled or four
rooted traffic uses this great square
Ut as given over entirely to humans
and pigeons Thousa nds of the latter
1hake the Piazza San Marco their
aaon1s, and there is seldom a time dur
ing the day when one can cross the
square without carefully picking his
way TO avoid stepping on them.
hsd Birds Served With Grain.
X3fWhy these birds do not burst. or
sat least grow so fat that they can
only impotently flap their wings like
penpuins, remains a mystery. Dolce
Tar niente,' the phrase of their native
1and5 seems to describe exactly the
Alves1 these birds lead. At o'clock
svery day municipal employe brings
snut a big sack of grain, and scatters
At for them. And they are served a
tsorfoof buffet luncheon that lasts ali
day. This is the contribution Of the
tourists, grain bought from numerous
'peddIers, who apparently make a good
Aplng selling little bags of the feed
from their tripod stands.
sI'SVhen night falls again and cIoaks
the inevitable tawdry spots Of an old
caty built on piles, you forget your
oi4ticisms of the day. Out on the
lagoon at the mouth of the Grand
Canal, in boat lighted by gayly-col-
ored lanterns, company of musicians
and singers begins seranata. Your
gondola joins the throng of slender
black forms bobbing gracefully up and
down, each with a silent, statuesque
nSufe standing at its stern. Soft
music and the gentle swish of wavelets
fill the air. The lights of the Lid
CLEAN in the distance, while nearer al
hand black masts and spires stand out
against the sky, the soaring shaft OF
the Campanile topping them all.
venice by day is old and wrinkled
81 il frna Rnf eanh l,inhf che a.. Il.