Study Tour - Venice, January 2019

Venice is undoubtedly one of the most famous and iconic Italian cities in the world.

Due to the urban peculiarities and its artistic heritage, Venice is universally considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is situated on a group of 118 small islands, separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The city, historically the capital of the Republic of Venice, was a major financial and maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, as well as an important center of commerce and art.

This is the destination we chose for the Study Tour of Spring Block I!

On the first day we enjoyed a gondola ride along the city’s famous canals all around San Marco’s square. Despite being the middle of winter, the weather was pleasant, and it hardly rained.

On the second day we went to visit a glass-making factory on the island of Murano, and we walked across the streets of Burano Island, renowned for its typical brightly colored houses, with green shutters and flowers all over the balconies.

On Sunday we visited one of the most popular attractions in Venice: the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a modern art museum housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, an 18th century palace which was the home of Peggy Guggenheim for three decades. Works on display include those of prominent Italian futurists and American modernists. Pieces in the collection embrace Cubism, Surrealism and abstract expressionism. These include noteworthy works by Picasso, Salvador Dalí, René Magritte, Brâncuși and Jackson Pollock.

There’s something about Venice that make it so difficult to adequately describe it with words, but, to quote Mary Shelley, “There is something so different in Venice from any other place in the world, that you leave at once all accustomed habits and everyday sights to enter an enchanted garden”.