Contemporary Venice Tour

VENICE

Contemporary

Even though Venice is a historic city protected by the UNESCO contemporary architects have managed their way to create hidden gems inside historical palaces due to restoration projects; and few times completely new buildings that keep the city relevant — so get ready to explore the futuristic side of Venice.

Time period: 1950-today

Movie/book: The Italian Job (2003)/Louis Vuitton City Guides - Venice

Soundtrack: Eros Ramazzotti/Laura Pausini’s Music

Fashion: be yourself in Italian brands

Budget:

Satellite image of Venice from google maps

This walking tour would take you through the outskirts of Venice: where renowned contemporary architects have intervened in historical buildings and were very few new buildings can be found. The area is characterized by glass and concrete buildings, modern interiors and abstract art. Venice after the Italian unification got transformed in to a huge luxury hotel/museum where the sophisticated: Misia Sert, Coco Chanel, Peggy Guggenheim, and Hernest Hemingway went to seek refuge from life after the horrors of WWII, creating a bohemian art scene nurtured by the chic Bienniale and Mostra. Peggy bought the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in 1949 (after showing her private art collection during the Venice Bienniale in 1948) to make it her home/museum and after she died it became open to the public in 1980. Little by little the city got restored and the historical palaces got sold to corporations who transformed them in hotels (like the Gritti Palace and St Regis owned by Marriot or the Palazzo Dandolo owned by Four Seasons), museums or luxury stores (like the Palazzo Torres owned by Dolce and Gabbana) turning the Serenissima in a bohemian tourist trap. Since the city got declared an UNESCO site in 1987 it has been really hard to destroy structures to make room for new ones, nonetheless in recent years renowned architects have been able to leave their mark in the historical city by restoring old buildings like Reem Koolhas’ Fondaco dei Tedeschi department store and Tadeo Ando’s Punta della Dogana museum; with the lucky Santiago Calatrava bringing a le to build a new bridge from scratch around Rio Novo — the “futuristic area” of Venice where you can find the very few cars and buses in the city. Thanks to the biennale the art scene of the city has been up to date: the Giardini got invaded by national pavilions bringing modern/contemporary architecture to the city, theres a lot of art galleries who strive to show works at the pavilions, and private art foundations have open up in restored historical palaces (to avoid paying taxes) like Gucci’s Grassi Palace or Prada’s Ca’Corner del La Regina. The most iconic mid-modern national pavilions are the Venezuelan by Carlo Scarpa, the Finish by Alvar Aalto (both open in 1956) and the Nordic by Sverre Fehn (1962); while the most futuristic ones are the Korean by Seok Chul Kim (1995) and the Australian by Denton Corker Marshall (2015). My favorite art galleries to check out are: Lineadacqua Gallery, Bel-Air Fine Art, Michella Rizzo, Akka Projects and A plus A gallery. The tour suggest visiting going food and art shopping through San Marco at local business during the morning, 2 private museums owned by aristocrats: Peggy Guggenheim and François Pinault inside restored historical buildings in the afternoon; and 2 walking tours to check out contemporary buildings plus dinner at night.