Have you ever seen the fabulous Byzantine mosaics that covers the navies, the paintings and the dome of the Saint Mark Basilica? What have come up in your mind?
Klimt in the 1899 was astonished by the beauty of that mosaics, they appeared to him as a “golden rain”, a rain that since that moment would have inspired his masterpieces.
Here there’s the beginning of that strong bond between the artist and Venice, destination of his first journey abroad, that marked deeply Klimt path as an artist.
With our Art &Go offer you’ll have the chance to visit the exhibition for free.  Keep reading, now we want to tell you more about the artist and his show not to be missed at the Correr Museum…
In the 1910 Klimt participation to the Venice Biennale was successful and a room was dedicated to him. A century after his participation, Gustav Klimt is in Venice again with an extraordinary exhibition, “Klimt in the Sign of Hoffmann and the Secession”, that is on show in the Correr Museum until the 8th July, 2012 after being exposed at the Belvedere Museum of Vienna.
About 30 years of masterpieces, from 1880 to 1910, displayed in order to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the artist’s birth (1862-2012). Focus to the beginning s of the klimtian career, the exhibition is a joint production of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and the Belvedere Museum of Vienna
Revolutionary and innovative, that is how the artistic movements to which Klimt belonged have been defined; constantly looking for the pure beauty. New ideas in pictorial an architectural are represented through the exposition in Venice of precious drawings, paintings, furniture and refined jewelry and historical documents too.  Famous exponents of this new school of thought have been:  Minne, Jan Toorop, Fernand Khnopff, Koloman Moser, and above all the companion of many intellectual ventures and projects, Josef Hoffmann.
Precisely his collaboration with Josef Hoffmann is one of the main themes of the exhibition, which seeks to show how in a very short time these two remarkable figures, the artist and the architect, were capable of sharing commissions, clients, friends. Above all, it reveals their common passion towards the Gesamtkunstwerk, that is, “the total work of art”. The highest point of the utopian realization of this concept can be seen in the Beethoven Frieze (1901-1902) and in the decorations for Brussels’ Stoclet Palace, both of which will be showcased at the Venice exhibition.
The Sunfower (1907) is one of the news of this authentic Venetian, the Belvedere Museum has acquired only few days ago and has been sent to Venice .
An exceptional exhibition that represents a unique opportunity to get to know this extraordinary artist in a location that was central to its evolution.
Moreover, Klimt said to look to his art if you wanted to know about him: “Who wants to know more about me, that is, the artist, the only one that is worth knowing, look closely at my paintings to reach you who I am and what I want. ”
There’s nothing better than seeing the show by yourself: the tickets are free for you if you book our Art&Go Offer! Get all the details on our website.
Location: Museo Correr, Piazza San Marco 52 – 30124 Venezia
From March 24th to July 8th 2012
Opening hours: daily, from 10 am to 7 pm (ticket office from 10 am to 6 pm)
INFO
+39 041 9636808
www.mostraklimt.it
Reservation
Call center +39 041 9636808 (reservations with assistent mon-fri from 10am to 5pm)
or book ONLINE

Ancient buildings, historical churches and secular monuments… you could think Venice is an island where the time has stopper and the past is the most important dimension…
On the contrary, Venice is a lively city with thousands of proposals and characterized by a vivid artistic enthusiasm!

-    Madame Fisscher.
In this exhibition Urs Fischer transforms Palazzo Grassi that becomes art itself: in Palazzo Grassi’s main hall, you can find a mock-up of his London Studio up to the finest details, from the perimeter masonry to placing all those objects whose everyday function is far from being artistic; at the first floor, the exhibition spaces have been redistributed with opening walls and creating steps now lead up to the Grand Canal, thus restoring the original building appearances of the noble mansion and the focus ware the household items.

Among the thirty works on show, with In Dubio pro Reo and The Lock of 2007, and prior A Thing called Gearbox
Open every day from 10 am to 7 pm.
Except on Tuesdays and on the 24th, 25th December.
Last entrance at 6 pm.

-    “PICASSO and VOLLARD. The genius and the art dealer” at the Palazzo Franchetti.

For the first time in Italy, you’ll be able to admire, in the wonderful rooms of the Palazzo Franchetti on the Grand Canal, the 150 works that illustrate in depth the long and thwarted ties between the art dealer Ambroise Vollard and Pablo Picasso, who become the greatest artist of the twentieth century .
More than 100 carvings are displayed in the Vollard Suite such as the Minotauromachia, perhaps Picasso’s greatest graphic masterpiece, the 30 original etchings for the Histoire Naturelle by Buffon, the etchings of theSaltimbanchi, with the infamous etching ‘Le repas frugal al Chefs d’oeuvre inconnue’ by Balzac.
When in 1901 Picasso  arrived in Paris, he was just a young artist unknown who wanted to success in the world of art . Vollard was one of the first person who gave him the chance to display his paintings in a gallery,  being a skillful merchant-editor able to promote the emerging artists among the European and American collectors.
A 40 years relationship involved the two men deeply until the death of Vollard in the 1939. This complexity has been well represented in this exhibition.
Palazzo Franchetti, Campo Santo Stefano 2842, ponte dell’Accademia
6 april – 8 july 2012
Mon - Sun h 10.00-19.00

-    “Double-cross. The ambiguity of the photographic image” on show at the BLM

This exhibition have been organized in collaboration with the Photography Foundation and will be displayed at the Gallery in St. Marks’ Squa¬re until June 24th 2012. 49 photos, 9 videos and an installation made by international artists and that belong to the collection of contemporary photo¬graphy of the Cassa di Risparmio di Modena Foundation. With immediacy end efficiency the pictures make you ask many questions often unsolved about the contemporary time and about the existence.
The works offer interesting cues or simply new point of view to think about and underline how often the images communicate an ambiguous message different from what they really mean.

Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa
Galleria di Piazza San Marco 71/c, Venezia
From April 5th to June 24th 2012
wed-sun 10.30am – 5.30pm
Monday and Tuesday closed

We’ll let you know about displays, exhibitions, shows and events from different point of view.
Surprises on Facebook, Twitter and here on our blog… stay tuned, the art has to be lived and shared!
Moreover discover our Art &Go offer of June 2012.

Water is the element that most characterizes Venice and it is no coincidence that the most famous and spectacular festivity in the city takes place on the waters of the Grand Canal: the Historical Regatta.
This spectacular event is a magnificent historical procession consisting of splendid, elaborately carved boats complete with hundreds odd figures in gorgeous brocade costumes. This ancient tradition is one of the most spectacular, picturesque and moving events of Venetian life, capable of both charming the tourists and exciting the locals.
The Historical Regatta has been awarded of the important title of Italy Heritage, as an event that keeps the folklore of its territory alive, adapting the traditional representation to the changing of time.
Its origins dates back to 1489, to commemorate the welcome given to Caterina Cornaro, wife of the King of Cyprus, after she renounced her throne in favour of Venice. It is a procession of 16th century style boats, with the famous Bucintoro, the boat representing the Serenissima, at its head
Then comes the competition, when the spectators participate with gusto and shouts of encouragement during the sporting events.
This year takes place Sunday 4th of September, and here are some tips to enjoy it the best!
The traditional reference points of the regatta are:
- the spagheto or cordin, the rope stretched across the starting point in front of the Public Gardens;
- the paleto, a pole driven into the centre of the Grand Canal in front of the Church of Sant’Andrea della Zirada, around which the boats must tum before going back up the course (the first boats round the paleto are traditionally those which take the pennants awarded to the winners);
- the machina, a construction erected on a richly carved, painted and gilded wooden raft, which marks the finish of the race and on which the prize-giving ceremonies are held.
Did you know that? In the same period Venice hosts the International Film Festival, only until 10th of September…find out more!

Monday is the worst day of the week: five days of work are coming and  the weekend seems far away an…yet you will change your mind!

Rendez- vous at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum on 9, 16 and 23 of May for the most appreciated event by local people, when art, live music and fun meet together…in a world happyspritz@guggenheim!

Only 7 euro to enter in the suggestive location, for a unique aperitif from 7 to 9.30 in the evening . Jazz music, rock, black, electro, indie, post-punk, hip hop and latin sounds will be the background music of your chatting, with great artists coming from all over the world. Four soirée to discover the treasures at Peggy home drinking your cocktail in a charming atmosphere…you will long for the Monday to arrive!

Here there’s the program:
Monday 9 May – Happy Spritz Rock with Eva Poles (Prozac+, Rezophonic), classic revival mixed by Ricky Russo with the hit underground and finally Dj Stoner will play Gypsy music of the Balkans.
Monday 16 May – rythms more hip hop, r&b and reggae will be played by Dj Doubles, BQ:RAM and Miguel Selekta
Monday 23 May - Dj Spiller and DJ Ca$hmere will perform with disco, black and deep sounds.

Located on Venice’s Grand Canal, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is one of Europe’s premier museums devoted to modern art. With masterpieces ranging in style from Cubism and Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni was donated to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation by Peggy Guggenheim . She used to say that it was her duty to protect the art of her own time, and she dedicated half of her life to this mission, as well as to the creation of the museum that still carries her name. She used to say: “It has always been taken for granted that Venice is the ideal city only for honey moon but this it’s a big mistake: living in Venice, or simply visit it, it means to fall in love with it and to fill your heart with it.”

What if you saw thousands of people running up and down the bridges all over Venice? Don’t worry, it’s not an hallucination! It’s “Su e Zo per i Ponti”, an t

raditional race taking place each year and involving young people, adults, families, school parties and sport groups in an amazing walk through the Venice calli (alleys).

This year the event takes place on Sunday 10th of April at 10 am, starting from Piazza San Marco (corner of Palazzo Ducale)…13 km of track, crossing 53 bridges, that circles all the island to arrive again in Piazza San Marco.

More than 600 volunteers will be there working at the refreshment points and along the race route itself to make sure everything is fine…and of course to slake your thirst!

At 12.30 don’t miss the Folk groups parade in Piazza San Marco that will entertain the runners and the visitors with artistic and musical exhibitions.

This peculiar walk is a funny way to discover Venice and its soul and to have great time celebrating an important festival!

How to get to Piazza San Marco from the Hotel Sant’Elena:

By foot: about 25 minutes along Rive dei Sette Martiri
By vaporetto boat: take the n° 1 to Piazzale Roma and you’ll reach San Marco in two stops

Map with the itinerary

Families with kids find sometimes hard to travel around museums and exhibitions in Venice…we would like to give you some advice to make children appreciate visits to historical places as funny and interesting experiences. During the springtime many activities are organized to acknowledge the kids of Venetian history with funny games.

DUCALE PALACE

Find the assassin at Ducale Palace. A haunting to discover the secrets of a mysterious murder throughout the Palace. Looking for clues, the participants could learn the several phases of the construction of the building, the apartments of the doge, the history of the institutional saloons so to relive a obscure episode happened centuries before today. Sunday 20th March – 3 pm, 8th March – 11 am and 3 pm, 22nd March – 11 am and 3 pm

The fear time. An itinerary in the Prisons of the Ducale Palace to discover histories and memories of the prisoners who were held for an entire life. Sunday April 3rd, May 1st and September 25th at 11 am and 3 pm

MUSEO CORRER

A meter of colored beads. An interesting experience to run over the history of a particular product of the glass art, called “ glass of the conterie”, that are pearls extracted from the glass tube. In labs the participants have the possibility to compose long string of pearls to create framings or necklaces and use their fantasy. Sunday 27th March – 11 am and 3 pm, 17th April – 11 am and 3 pm

CA’ REZZONICO

Sky, clouds, rivers and hills. Oil painting. After a tour of the most important paintings in the museum, the visitors will realize their own painting with oils. Sunday 10th April – 11 am and 3 pm

At the BEST WESTERN PREMIER Sant’Elena families traveling with kids up to 8 years have now aspecial room with special amenities and services…it’s the “kids room”!

Is it possible for people to “meet in architecture”? And what does this mean? Kazuyo Sejima is very clear on this point: in her view architecture should be considered not only as an object ­– like a house, or a bridge – but as a tool for communication.

Every work of architecture is  a chance of building relationships between people. The spirit of this year’s 12th International Architecture Exhibition (29 August – 21 November) is very much influenced by this idea and by the the artistic talent of Kazuyo Sejima herself.

But who is this woman, the first one ever to be appointed director of the Biennale in Venice?

Born in Japan, in the prefecture of Ibaraki in 1956, in 1981 she took a degree in architecture at the Japan Women’s University and began working in the studio of Toyo Ito. In 1987, she opened her own studio in Tokyo. In 1995, together with Ryue Nishizawa, she founded SANAA (recently awarded with the 2010 Pritzker Prize), the Tokyo studio that has designed some of the most innovative works of architecture built recently around the world, from the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York to the Serpentine Pavilion in London. The recent Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, Switzerland (March 2010) and a branch of the Louvre Museum in Lens (now under construction) are also major projects of SANAA.

Sejima has a completley new idea of an architecture that is liberated from any traditional background and deeply immersed in space. The exhibition reflects this ideal, and sets up an environment in which ideas and projects are free to circulate, meet and be re-shaped by visitors.

Among this year’s new features, for example, there’s the Architecture Saturdays a series of conversations and opportunities for discussion held weekly with architects, critics and figures from the world of architecture in Italy and abroad for the entire period of the Exhibition’s opening (see program). This will be an occasion for people, to meet and for the conversation on architecture do go on.

The 12th International Architecture Exhibition will be held from August 29th to November 21st, 2010, at the Giardini and at the Arsenale (preview August 26, 27 and 28, 2010), and in various other venues in Venice. The Best Western Premier Hotel Sant’Elena is located just a few meters away from the Giardini.

Venice is the best city in the world, some say. But do kids like it?

Walking the whole day in the hot sun tires both parents and children. And yet, for those who are able to find the right way, this city has plenty of stories to tell - stories that seem to have been written precisely for kids. That’s how your visit to Venice can turn itself into an exciting game.

Leave the Best Western Hotel Sant’Elena in the morning and make for Piazza San Marco (if you take the Vaporetto it’ll take you 5 mis only). From the square look up at the clock tower. What are those two statues doing up there in the flat roof? Are they striking the right hours? Not at all: the Moor on the right, facing the future, strikes the bell two minutes in advance; the Moor on the left, looking at the past, strikes the bell two minutes after. Does it sound strange? Why not going upstairs and seeing it yourself? If you’re at least 6 years old and don’t fear taking the stairs to the fifth floor, hurry up!

If you make your way through the “Riva degli Schiavoni” towards the Arsenale, your long walk will be repaid by the Venice Naval History Museum (open till 13.30). Cannons of the XIV century, torpedos of the World War two and old boats reconstructions will drive your imagination and take you far away, dreaming to be somewhere in the sea. Or maybe you will dream to be on the Bucintoro, the queen of all boats, chosen by the Dogi of Venice as ceremony boat during the celebration of the Bridal of The Sea festivity.

How not to mention Murano, the well known isle of glass. A glass master at work is a great attraction for every child. The melting glass, blown as a soap bubble, transforms into a wonderful vase. Parents will find plenty of souvenirs and children will make an unforgettable experience (for more info on the furnaces opened to the public visit www.promovetro.com , phone: 0415275074).
Venice, of course, is also a city of art. But will art exhibitions and children ever meet together? At the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, every Sunday afternoon at 15.00 the Kids day begins: a visit to the museum and a workshop organized exactly for children from 4 to 10 years old.

photo credit: rachdavies

The Italian Ministry of Heritage and Culture opens for ten days lots of monuments, museums, archaeological sites, archives, libraries with large popular events throughout the whole country.
Thousands of events: exhibitions, conferences, special openings, workshops, guided tours and concerts that will make more special the experience for all the visitors.
This year, the 12th edition of the “Culture Week” will take place from  April 16th to 25th.
The main purpose of this initiative is to promote culture awareness and to transmit the love of art to an ever wider audience of citizens that, for seven days, can choose from exhibitions, conferences, workshops, guided tours, concerts, shows , film showings and special openings in all regions of Italy.
Museums and Palaces in Venice will open their doors to experts and enthusiasts, through the organization of free guided tours and themed itineraries.

The main attractions that will open their doors free to the public are:
• The “Ca d’Oro” and the tour exhibition of Flemish tapestries of the 16th century.
• The Museum of Oriental Art and the opportunity to see some masks representative of traditional Japanese Noh theater.
• The  “Gallerie dell’Accademia”, where for the first time there will be organized the show of two drawings by Jacopo Tintoretto and Francesco Guardi, acquired in 2009.
• The “Palazzo Foscari”, last residence of the Doge Francesco Foscari and now seat of the Venice University, which hosted illustriouscharacters such as Henry III of Valois, King of France and Poland.
• The “Palazzo Grimani”, a noble residence in Venice of the sixteenth century.
• The “Libreria Sansoviniana”, with the inauguration of the exhibition ” Tesori della musica veneta del Cinquecento. La policolarità Giovanni Matteo Asola e Giovanni Croce”.
• The Provincial Museum of Torcello - Archaeological Section and Section Medieval and Modern, which includes ruins and artifacts related to the island and lagoon.
• The “Arsenale”, whose visit will be preceded by an introductory lesson by the architect Claudio Menichelli in cooperation with the Maritime Research Center.
• The house of the famous Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto.
• The National Archaeological Museum of Venice.

For more information or details regarding specific dates and opening hours, please visit the website: www.beniculturali.it

Mark the Evangelist is the patron of Venice: his feast day is celebrated on April 25, and his symbol is the lion. Tradition identifies him with author of the Gospel of Mark, said to be the disciple and interpreter of Saint Peter, and the follower and Apostle of Jesus Christ. About 10 to 20 years after the ascension of Christ, Saint Mark traveled to Alexandria and formed what is now known as the Coptic Orthodox Church. Aspects of the Coptic liturgy can be traced back to Saint Mark. He became its first bishop and founder of Christianity in Africa.
What is the connection between St. Mark and Venice? We have to look for it in the Medieval history. Actually,  in 828, some relics believed to be the body of St. Mark were stolen from Alexandria by two Venetian merchants and taken to Venice, where the Byzantine Theodore of Amasea had previously been the patron saint. Therefore a basilica was built there to house the relics: the unique and famous St. Mark Basilica, which has become the symbol of Venice.

There is a mosaic on the basilica showing how the sailors covered the relics with a layer of pork. Since Muslims are not allowed to touch pork, this action was done to prevent Muslim intervention in the relics removal. Moreover, according to tradition, in 1094 the saint himself revealed the location of his remains by extending an arm from a pillar. The newfound remains were placed in a sarcophagus in the basilica.
Nevertheless, the destiny of  the relics of the Saint is vexed: copts believe that his head remained in Alexandria. Every year, on the 30th day of the month of Babah, the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates the commemoration of the consecration of the church of St. Mark, and the appearance of the head of the saint in the city of Alexandria. This takes place inside St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria, where the saint’s head is preserved.