Ένα φθινοπωρινό μεσημέρι του 2011 γευμάτισα την τρατορία Antica Mola dai Costa. Βρίσκεται επάνω στο Rio della Misericordia (κανάλι του ελέους), στην περιοχή Cannaregio της Βενετίας. Μόλις είχα επισκεφθεί το Ghetto Nuova (Εβραϊκό Γκέτο), που βρίσκεται σε απόσταση λίγων μέτρων, και είναι το πρώτο Εβραϊκό γκέτο στον κόσμο. Συγκροτήθηκε με απόφαση του Δόγη Leonardo Loredan και της Ενετικής Γερουσίας την 29η Μαρτίου 1516. Όλοι οι Εβραίοι της Βενετίας έπρεπε να ζουν στην περικλεισμένη αυτή περιοχή. Το γκέτο διατηρήθηκε μέχρι το 1797, όταν ο Ναπολέων κατέλαβε και κατέλυσε την Δημοκρατία της Βενετίας. Με απόφαση του την 11η Ιουλίου 1797 κατήργησε τον διαχωρισμό του γκέτο από την υπόλοιπη Βενετία.
Το Εβραϊκό Γκέτο στο Cannaregio. Πηγή: Google Maps
Το τρίτο Σάββατο κάθε Ιουλίου στη Βενετία γίνεται μια μεγάλη γιορτή, πάνω στο μικρό νησάκι Τζιουντέκα. Η γιορτή είναι αφιερωμένη στον Ευλογημένο Λυτρωτή (Santissimo Redentore), που έσωσε την πόλη από την επιδημία πανούκλας του 1575. Η επιδημία κράτησε δύο χρόνια και σκότωσε πάνω από 50,000 κατοίκους. Για να ευχαριστήσουν τον Θεό για την σωτηρία τους, οι Βενετσιάνοι ανέθεσαν στον διάσημο αρχιτέκτονα Αντρέα Παλάντιο (Andrea Palladio) να χτίσει στο μικρό νησάκι Τζιουντέκα μια εκκλησία αφιερωμένη στον Ευλογημένο Λυτρωτή της Γαληνοτάτης.
Ένα από τα πιάτα που σερβίρονται στην γιορτή του Ευλογημένου Λυτρωτή είναι γλυκόξινες σαρδέλες (Sarde in Saor). Η λέξη saor είναι παραφθορά της λέξης sapore στη βενετσιάνικη διάλεκτο και σημαίνει «νοστιμιά». Το πιάτο είναι παραλλαγή του πιάτου ‘Pesce in Saor’, που όπως αναφέρει η Claudia Roden στο βιβλίο της The Book of Jewish Food το μαγείρευαν οι Εβραίοι της Βενετίας την Παρασκευή και το έτρωγαν το Σάββατο. Η παραδοσιακή συνταγή που αναφέρει η Roden είναι παραλλαγή του πορτογαλικού ‘escabeche’, λέξη που προέρχεται από την μεσαιωνική αραβική sikbaj που έχει περσική ρίζα, και σημαίνει «ξινό». Το κύριο συστατικό είναι ψάρι γλώσσα, που μπορούσαν να προμηθευτούν μόνο οι εύποροι κάτοικοι της Βενετίας. Οι φτωχοί το έφτιαχναν με σαρδέλες. Η παρασκευή έχει τρία διακριτά στάδια. Στο πρώτο αλευρώνεται και τηγανίζεται το ψάρι σε φυτικό λάδι χωρίς ιδιαίτερη γεύση. Στο δεύτερο ετοιμάζεται η γλυκόξινη σάλτσα που θα σκεπάσει το ψάρι στο τρίτο στάδιο. Η σάλτσα στη βενετσιάνικη εκδοχή της έχει βάση τα κρεμμύδια. Αρχικά τηγανίζονται μέχρι να μαλακώσουν σε αγνό παρθένο ελαιόλαδο και μετά προστίθεται ξύδι από άσπρο σταφύλι, άσπρο κρασί, σταφίδες και σπόροι κουκουνάρι, αλάτι και πιπέρι, και σιγοβράζουν για 10 λεπτά. Στο τρίτο στάδιο, τα ψάρια τοποθετούνται σε στρώσεις σε ένα δοχείο με ψηλά τοιχώματα. Ανάμεσα σε κάθε στρώση τοποθετείται ολίγο από το μίγμα της σάλτσας. Όταν ολοκληρωθούν οι στρώσεις, συμπληρώνεται το μίγμα με την υπόλοιπη σάλτσα. Το δοχείο κλείνεται και τοποθετείται στο ψυγείο. Τρώγεται την επομένη.
Sarde in Saor Φωτογραφία Νίκος Μορόπουλος
Η μέθοδος παρασκευής saor εφαρμόζεται και σε κρέατα όπως το κουνέλι. Από την Βενετία διαδόθηκε και στο Βυζάντιο, όπου η σάλτσα ονομάστηκε ‘σαβούρα’, που στη σημερινή παραφθορά της είναι το ΄σαβόρο’. Στην Κρήτη στο σαβόρο προσθέτουν δενδρολίβανο, ενώ στην Κέρκυρα προσθέτουν και ντομάτα.
Το πιάτο που γεύτηκα στην τρατορία ήτανε πιστό στην παραδοσιακή συνταγή. Νομίζω ότι η τρυφερότητα των κρεμμυδιών είναι σημαντικό κριτήριο επιτυχίας του πιάτου. Δεν πρέπει να είναι σκληρά, ούτε όμως και να λιώνουν, γιατί όλες οι άλλες υφές στο πιάτο είναι τρυφερές και κρεμώδεις. Το άλλο κρίσιμο χαρακτηριστικό είναι η ισορροπία ανάμεσα στο ξινό και το γλυκό. Όπως σε τόσα άλλα μαγειρικά εγχειρήματα, και εδώ χρειάζεται εμπειρία, ώστε το πιάτο να βγαίνει σωστό κάθε φορά. Όσες επιθυμούν μια πιο ελαφρά εκδοχή του πιάτου, μπορούν να ψήσουν τις σαρδέλες στο φούρνο, προσέχοντας να μην διαλυθούν.
The day started with snow on the ground and the trees, the bushes, the table, the umbrella, and so on.
The concept of this menu was developed by my alter ego, Niccolo Spiro Salvatore Domenico Francesco Morosini. I confess I have an affinity to the Venetian Republic, la Serenissima, Florence, and Italy in general.
Home made bread
Home baked bread
Made with flour from the region of Macedonia, Drama.
Smoked salami from Corfu
There are still some artisans producing delicious food. This salami is spicy and rich. The best antipasto for a cold day. I can see the traces of the influence of Venetian rule on the island of Corfu. Corfu has never been ruled by the Ottoman Turks.
Olives from Amfissa
I served two types, the juicy salty big ones, and the sweet wrinkled (hamades), the ones made from olives that have fallen on the ground and not picked. Amfissa is a provincial city 10 km away from Delphi. The breathtaking valley of olive trees that you see from Delphi belongs to the area of Amfissa. That’s where the olives come from.
Rolled Cabbage with pork sausage cooked in duck fat
I had some sausages from the Basque country and used them as filling in the cabbage rolls. I served them with a light sauce of coriander and lemon juice.
The sausage and duck fat were produced by the artisan ANNE ROZES on France, Basque Country. The cabbage is locally produced in Marathon, and it is like silk. Very tender, sweet, the perfect companion to duck fat.
Tourte with Ewe
I roasted the ewe, cut it to small cubes and then marinated it in a mix of herbs and spices. The tradition of preparing a tourte with meat comes from the island of Crete, another place in Greece that has been ruled by the Venetian Republic.
Cheeses
Both the fresh cheese and the Gruyere come form the island of Crete.
New Year’s Gateau
A traditional gateau of the north of Greece, with butter, flour, eggs and lemon zest.
Wines
Patrimo, 2001
Feudi di San Gregorio
La Poderina
Poggio Banale 1997
Brunello di Montalcino
Today I publish the delayed review, because the osteria is one of the best restaurants in Venice, and continues to carry with pride one Michelin Star.
Osteria da Fiore
The amuse bouche was crispy tiny shrimp (gamberetti) on a bed of white polenta.
Amuse Bouche, Osteria Da Fiore
The first dish I tasted was a mixed raw seafood.
Carpaccio di tonno – Osteria da fiore
Misto crudo di carpaccio di tonno e scampi.
The Scampi were served on top of a creamy mix of fennel (finocchio) and fresh cheese.
Baccala mantecato – Osteria da fiore
The second dish I tasted was another appetizer, one of the trademarks of Venetian gastronomy: “Baccala mantecato” (dried Atlantic cod, soaked, poached and whipped until mousse-like), served with bruschetta spiced with garlic.
Overall a perfect light lunch in a wonderful environment.
Today I publish the delayed review, because the osteria is one of the best restaurants in Venice, and continues to carry with pride one Michelin Star.
Osteria da Fiore
The amuse bouche was crispy tiny shrimp (gamberetti) on a bed of white polenta.
Amuse Bouche, Osteria Da Fiore
The first dish I tasted was a mixed raw seafood.
Carpaccio di tonno – Osteria da fiore
Misto crudo di carpaccio di tonno e scampi.
The Scampi were served on top of a creamy mix of fennel (finocchio) and fresh cheese.
Baccala mantecato – Osteria da fiore
The second dish I tasted was another appetizer, one of the trademarks of Venetian gastronomy: “Baccala mantecato” (dried Atlantic cod, soaked, poached and whipped until mousse-like), served with bruschetta spiced with garlic.
Overall a perfect light lunch in a wonderful environment.
The “Ristorante Al Covo” is in Castello, near the Hotel Gabrielli, no more than 15 minutes walk from St. Mark’s Square.
This review is long overdue, as I had it prepared and filed as a draft, only to forget it.
Now that I recovered it from the archive, I want to share it, if only for the reason that it is an excellent choice to dine in Venice.
Ristorante Al Covo
My first dish was “Scampi Crudi – Raw crayfish”.
It was served as it came out of the water, without the shell, with shredded cucumber, lemon dill, olive oil.
Scampi Crudi – Raw crayfish – Ristorante Al Covo
…and a big big leaf of basil!
Scampi crudi – Raw crayfish – Ristorante Al Covo
My second dish was Baccala Batagin, a dish made with salted cod (baccala) cooked in the oven with sliced potatoes, prunes and rosemary. After being cooked, a s plash of tomato sauce is put on top and a dash of olive oil.
Baccala “Batagin”, Ristorante Al Covo
In addition, I spotted pistacchio nuts sprinkled over the tomato sauce, and lemon dill.
The atmosphere of the restaurant is wonderful, because the clientele are mostly Venetians who enjoy good food.
Overall, a highly satisfactory experience, which I hope I will have sometime again!
Michel Foucault: Discourse operates in four major ways. Discourse creates a world; discourse generates knowledge and “truth”; discourse says something about the people who speak it; discourse always incorporates elements of power.
Socrates und Alcibiades
A poem by Friedrich Hoelderlin
“Warum huldigest du, heiliger Socrates,
“Diesem Juenglinge stets? kennest du Groessers nicht?
“Warum siehet mit Liebe,
“Wie auf Goetter, dein Aug’ auf ihn?
Wer das Tiefste gedacht, liebt das Lebendigste,
Hohe Jugend versteht, wer in die Welt geblikt
Und es neigen die Weisen
Oft am Ende zu Schoenem sich.
Gustav von Aschenbach: ‘What lies in wait for me here, Ambiguous Venice, Where water is married to stone, And passion confuses the senses?’
Farfarello: And so, if you’d like to give me your soul before its time, I’m here, ready to take it.
Luchino Visconti: The sky has to be orange, even if Fassbinder copies me in Querelle.
Mr. FFF: I started my trip from the Northern Cemetery in Munich. I arrived in Venice by train. The Marathon run finished a few minutes ago. There are many visitors. The water of the lagoon has a dull grey color. It is chilly. It is cloudy but there is no rain. Mrs. T misses you already.
MM: Do not get lost in the art farm that is Venice! I googled and saw that you have bad weather and it’s raining. Hope you got your wellies.
Apollo: Reason, control, and clarity
Gustav von Aschenbach: I am furious because I am forced to return, but secretly I rejoice.
Dionysus: Wander lust
Gustav von Aschenbach: Vacillating, irresolute, absurd.
Thomas Mann: A life spiraling out of control.
Friedrich Hoelderlin:
Und immer,
Ins Ungebundene gehet eine Sehnsucht.
(And always,
there is a longing to dissolve)
Mr. FFF: In Palazzo Grassi I met Mr. Dob, the Manga character that has been adopted by Takashi Murakami. He has three eyes and an energizing stare. Mr. Dob inhabits Murakami’s masterpiece 727-272 (The Emergence of God at the Reversal of Fate). Mrs. T is in love with him but he ignores her. For her, it was love at first sight. For him, she does not even exist.
MM: Luckily today I will be on scrub watch so that should keep me busy enough not to think about not having the both of you around.
Don Giovanni:
Deh vieni alla finestra, o mio tesoro,
Deh vieni a consolar il pianto mio.
Se neghi a me di dar qualche ristoro,
Davanti agli occhi tuoi morir vogl’ io.
Tu ch’ ai la bocca dolce piu che il miele,
Tu che il zucchero porti in mezzo il core!
Non esser, gioia mia, con me crudele!
Lascati almen veder, mio bell’ amore!
Friedrich Nietzsche: To experience a thing as beautiful means: to experience it necessarily wrongly – (which, incidentally, is why marriage for love is, from the point of view of society, the most unreasonable king of marriage). The demand for art and beauty is an indirect demand for the ecstasies of sexuality communicated to the brain.
Farfarello: Well, then, since of necessity you love yourself with the greatest love of which you’re capable, of necessity you desire your happiness as strongly as you can. And since this supreme desire of yours can never be satisfied even in the smallest degree, it follows that in no way can you escape being unhappy.
Gustav von Aschenbach: Time presses, time does not press
Constantine Cavafy: Πλαϊ στο παραθυρο ηταν το κρεββατι που αγαπηθηκαμε τοσες φορες. (By the window was the bed where we made love so many times).
Mr. FFF: A Cretan Madonna in Santa Maria della Salute. It was taken from the Church of Saint Titus in the last minute before fleeing Candia and Crete, by the Commander of the Venetians Morozini. The Ottomans captured Candia immediately after. Crete and Venice, share a co-existence that brought El Greco to Venice before he continued his journey to go to Spain.
MM: I can’t say I am doing such exciting stuff as you. I waited in line for an hour to change the tires on my car and now it’s being done. Nothing fun to report. Of course I miss the both of you terribly. It seems like I cannot have meaningful conversation with anybody else, but you. Not to mention the fact that we took our jokes and puns to a whole other level and now whatever jokes anybody tries to do is pointless.
Filippo Ottonieri: Except for the times of suffering, as well as of fear, I would think that the worst moments are those of pleasure because the hope for them and the memory of them, which occupy the rest of our lives, are better and much more pleasant than the pleasures themselves.
Thomas Schutte: Efficiency Men, Punta della Dogana, Venice
Jean Baudrillard: Everyday experience falls like snow. Immaterial, crystalline and microscopic, it enshrouds all the features of the landscape. It absorbs sounds, the resonance of thoughts and events; the wind sweeps across it sometimes with unexpected violence and it gives off an inner light, a malign fluorescence which bathes all forms in crepuscular indistinctness. Watching time snow down, ideas snow down, watching the silence of some aurora borealis light up, giving in to the vertigo of enshrouding and whiteness.
Friedrich Hoelderlin:
Wo aber gefahr ist, waechst,
Das Rettende auch.
(Where there is danger,
some Salvation grows there too.)
Gustav von Aschenbach : What if all were dead, and only we two left alive
Luigi Pirandello: The torment of imagining you far away – among other people who can have the joy of seeing you, talking to you, being near you while I am here without life because I can neither see you nor talk with you, nor be near you – can be mitigated only by the thought that you feel my presence within you and that even from far away you give me life, and that even in your silence you see me and talk to me; in one word, that I am alive and close to you, more than those who see you, talk to you, and are around you.
Mr. FFF: Thomas Schuette’s “Efficiency Men” were waiting for me at the Punta della Dogana. Their steel bodies were covered down to their knees by felt blankets. It was like a call to Joseph Beuys. His felt self is all over German Art.
MM: You realize I’m not having nearly as much fun as you are, but I expect to be entertained upon your return! So prepare lots of stories from Venice. You know the kind: money, blood and sex.
Giuseppe Ungaretti:
ECO
Scalza varcando da sabbie lunari,
Aurora, amore festoso, d’ un’ eco
Popoli l’ esule universe e lasci
Nella carne dei giorni,
Perenne scia, una piaga velata.
Luigi Pirandello: What life is there left for me? I don’t care anymore about anything. Only about you do I care, and all that concerns you, my Marta; if you suffer, suffering with you and for you; if you get angry, getting angry with you; if you hope, hoping with you and for you. And remaining – for as long as I stay alive, for as long as my eyes stay open, for as long as my heart keeps beating, for as long as the soul burns in me – with my eyes, my heart, my soul, enchanted by your beauty, by the charms of your person, by the divine nobility of your feelings and of your spirit.
Adele:
Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again
Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I’m alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again
However far away I will always love you
However long I stay I will always love you
Whatever words I say I will always love you
I will always love you
Mr. FFF: Fog everywhere. I boarded a U-boat where a rabbi was reading the Kaballah. Later, in Hotel Metropol during lunch I met an Indian Maharadja and his German maiden.
MM: All these cultural encounters! We redid the kitchen; the hard part is over now. You may be interested to know that nothing works without me!
Gustav Mahler: I should not have cried on the train departing Venice. I should not have dismissed Alma’s music compositions. It is too late now. I gave my name to von Aschenbach.
Discource Participants
Adele, English singer
Apollo, Greek God of light
Gustav von Aschenbach, German writer (through the pen of Thomas Mann, through the interpretation of Myfawny Piper, through the camera of Luchino Visconti, through the interpretation of Fluxus Eleatis)
Jean Baudrillard, French philosopher
Constantine Cavafy, Greek poet
Dionysus, Greek God of pleasure
Farfarello, character created by Giacomo Leopardi
Michel Foucault, French philosopher
Mr. FFF, wanderer
Don Giovanni, a young, extremely licentious nobleman (created by Lorenzo da Ponte)
Friedrich Hoelderlin, German poet
Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer
Thomas Mann, German writer
MM, partner
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher
Filippo Ottonieri, philosopher created by Giacomo Leopardi
Luigi Pirandello, Italian writer and Nobel Laureate
Giandomenico Tiepolo (1727-1804) was the son of Giambattista Tiepolo, a master of painting.
He never achieved the status and fame of his father.
San Polo Church, Venice
However, between 1747 and 1749 he painted “Via Crucis”, the stations of the Cross, in the Oratory of the Crucifixion in the Venetian Church of San Polo. In the same period he also etched the sequence of prints with the same title.
This sequence of 14 paintings is for me the most moving sequence of Christ’s path to the Cross and the Beyond.
Inside the San Polo Church (when I visited) there were on display only some of the 14 paintings, the ones I photographed and have included here.
To my delight, I discovered some of the etchings on paper at the Art Institute of Chicago, which I also display here. Although they do not form a complete series, they supplement the paintings very nicely.
I followed the numerical sequence for both the prints and the paintings.
Frontispiece to Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Frontispiece to the set of etchings
Station I: Christ is Condemed to Death, plate one from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Station I: Christ is Condemed to Death
Station II: Christ Receives the Cross, plate two from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Station II: Christ Receives the Cross
Station III: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the First Time, plate three from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Station III: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the First Time
Station IV: Christ Meets his Mother, plate four from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Station IV: Christ Meets his Mother
Station V: Christ is Helped by Simon of Cyrene, plate five from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Station V: Christ is Helped by Simon of Cyrene
Station VI: Christ's Face is Wiped by St. Veronica, plate six from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Station VI: Christ’s Face is Wiped by St. Veronica
Station VII: Christ Consoles the Weeping Women, plate seven from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Station VII: Christ Consoles the Weeping Women
Station IX: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the Third Time, plate nine from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Station IX: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the Third Time
Painting IX: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the Third Time, San Polo Church, Venice
Station IX: Christ Falls Beneath the Cross for the Third Time
Painting IX - Detail: the crowd
The crowd is shown full of anticipation.
Station X: Christ is Stripped of His Garments, plate ten from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Station X: Christ is Stripped of His Garments
Painting X: Christ is Stripped of His Garments, San Polo Church, Venice
Station X: Christ is Stripped of His Garments
Painting X - Detail
The elder
Painting X - Detail: Mother and Daughter
Mother and daughter observing
Station XI: Christ is Nailed to the Cross, plate eleven from Stations of the Cross, c. 1748, published 1749 (Art Institute of Chicago)
Station XI: Christ is Nailed to the Cross
Painting XI: Christ is Nailed to the Cross, San Polo Church, Venice
Station XI: Christ is Nailed to the Cross
Painting XI - Detail: Christ
Christ unconscious
Painting XI - Detail: Crowd
The watching crowd
Painting XII: Crucifixion, San Polo Church, Venice
Station XII: Christ crucified
Painting XIII: Deposition, San Polo Church, Venice
Station XIII: The deposition of Christ
Painting XIII - Detail
Deposition detail
Painting XIV - Entombment, San Polo Church, Venice
