We had been in Venice many times before, doing the tourists’ usual stuff, like the Rialto bridge, the shopping, and the restaurants. Fun stuff for sure, but we were always left with the sensation of missing something.
Perhaps it’s because this city has many masks, like the ones sold in its stores, but its true soul often eludes the gaze of the visitor.
This time, however, it was different. We visited Venice not as a tourist destination but as the stage for our photoshoot, and we did so on a winter day when the city was almost deserted. In the pursuit of the perfect corner, we wandered into remote alleys that we would have never entered as tourists. And we saw this city like never before.
So come with us on this unusual tour to show you Venice from a different point of view, as the stage of artistic product photography.
OTHERWISE UNNOTICED
You see, products don’t have a life of their own; however, they can speak very clearly about what places and corners they prefer, or the light that makes them feel flattered. Seeing a place from the point of view of a product means noticing details that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. For example, the “King of Cats” Pouch led us to a unique well, covered with inscriptions and the crest of a noble family.
Venice started building wells in the Middle Ages because, until then, it had the absurd reputation of e’ in aqua et non ha aqua, a city in water without water. So in the year 1322, the city decided to build its first wells; but it was such an innovative technology that nobody was really sure whether it would work or not. The water, in fact, couldn't be sourced underground because the city basically floated on seawater. Venetian engineers found an astute solution: they stuffed the courts, or public squares, with different kinds of gravel that could filter the rainwater. And if you ever noticed that the squares are elevated, that was designed to prevent the saltwater from mixing with freshwater. The system worked so splendidly that by the 1800s, the city had about seven thousand wells! However, building a well was such an expensive undertaking that noble families had to finance them: this is why they often bear the crest of the family that commissioned them.
The wells also shaped the life of the city, creating big openings that became the stage for public activities. When we took this photo of the Adam and Eve pouches, for a moment we could imagine the glorious past of this square, its busy life, and the loud chatting of neighbors. Nowadays these public spaces are still very lively and it's a rarity to catch a moment of total quiet like this one.
Today, like then, people still hang their clothes outside their windows, like you can see in the far background of this photo.
UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTERS
It’s a known fact: anything can happen during a photoshoot. People can get curious and, sometimes, even animals.
Medieval Grumpy Cat drew the attention of a local Venetian cat! In Venice, house cats are generally free and very friendly. It’s not uncommon that cats wander to the nearby lagoon to eat some small fish left by the boats. This is one of those spontaneous situations where no staging is needed because reality is more creative than art.
...Too bad, Grumpy Cat had another competitor down the road, showing off his noble clothes from a luxury store of custom made puppets.
Who will win the competition for the heart of the madam? Grumpy Cat or Knight Cat?
ALWAYS LOOK UP
A very peculiar sensation is often experienced when visiting Venice: everything looks taller. And your eyes will be naturally drawn to look up.
This is an optical illusion that was masterfully used also during the construction of the Vatican. Being the alleys so narrow, the negative space (the sky) pulls everything up and the visitor feels overwhelmed by a sense of wonder.
We noticed this effect also while taking photos for these two products: everything in the architecture follows perpendicular lines, and even the windows appear super tall, making our sizable Bradamante bag look almost small.
THE WOLF OF THE SEA
The “wolf of the sea”, or lupa di mare in Italian, suddenly fell upon the city. It’s a strange atmospheric condition, during which the fog comes from the sea into the city, and sits there because there is no wind.
It was in this exact moment that we truly felt the soul of Venice, and we understood why it was here that Ernest Hemingway started writing Across the River and Into the Trees, a novel inspired by his real-life love affair with a young Venetian aristocrat.
We left Venice with a profound sense of nostalgia for a time long gone that we never witnessed; but that, like all the things beyond one's reach, seemed to be more glorious and poignant than the time we live today. Perhaps time - and even space, with such peculiar architectures - acquire a whole new meaning here.
