Green Islands
Green Islands. Private Gardens in Venice I have lived in Venice for many years, never getting to know it. I have always thought of Venice according to the stereotype of the city on the water, built over the centuries with stones leaning on wooden poles knocked in the lagoon. Recently I have visited a gallery that made me think about an aspect of Venice unknown to me. A small lush garden was leading to the gallery entrance, hidden by a door made of iron and ground glass, barely deducible from the narrow “calle” on which it leaned on. It was then that I realized one of the many secrets of the city. Behind its high fences and gates, almost impenetrable to the sight, lies a variety of private gardens both tiny or very wide. The presence of a garden, invisible from the outside, can be captured by plants that cross or clamber up over the fence. This latest find made me pay attention to the little known green areas of Venice: private gardens taken away from the external view of the city. These are proper Green Islands inside buildings, mansions or courtyards. Gardens where daily routine is lived and imbued with the domesticity of a continuous use, showing the contemporaneity of Venice. This goes far beyond that unaltered appearance of a city-museum petrified in an eternal image we all may have. 2012
