Local Expert
Bradley Harden
Living the Sweet Life in a Fantasy Land
I was born in Missouri, but grew up in Minnesota where I was exposed to true winter and the health benefits of shoveling A LOT of snow. After graduating from…
Living the Sweet Life in a Fantasy Land
I was born in Missouri, but grew up in Minnesota where I was exposed to true winter and the health benefits of shoveling A LOT of snow. After graduating from high school I attended Northwest Missouri State University for 2 years and then transferred to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music and earned a degree in Music Business and Management. After deciding that a desk job simply wasn't my thing at this point in my life, I set out to see what the world had to offer. I found a wonderful little town a few miles southwest of Venice called Padova. This small, university town truly captures all of the ideas, visions, sights, and sounds of what you think Italy should be...except the gondolas, that is left for Venice.
I enjoy a lot of different things. Travel is obvious. I have traveled extensively throughout Europe in the years since arriving, trying to see as much as I can. This, of course, includes a vast amount of Italy. I have had a wonderful time experiencing the culture with real Italians that have taken me to the places that you can not find in any guidebook and that are not on any map. During the spring and summer I work as a liaison for travelers; helping them find their way from the airport or train station to their hotels and helping them navigate through Venice or surrounding area to see things that are off the beaten path. Of course, if it’s your first time you need to see the important historical things, but if you’ve been before perhaps a day of ‘live like a local’ is more your thing. I always find a huge amount of pleasure and satisfaction from seeing a city that I know very well through the eyes of someone who is experiencing it for the first time. When this happens I, too, see the city for the first time and I realize that the magic never left.
In addition to all of this, I also enjoy movies, most types of music, going out for a “spritz” in the piazzas during the evenings with friends, and since I’m living in Italy eating AMAZING food and drinking a GREAT glass of wine come almost automatically. This is the definition of "Having your cake and eating it too."
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This year for Christmas my brother, sister, and I decided that we were going to get stocking stuffers for my parents because they always knew what was in the stockings and it was never a surprise for them. My dad was easy to get but when it came to my mom I just couldn't find anything that really fit as a stocking stuffer, but then I remembered that with my mom, all I had to do was get some really good chocolate and she'd appreciate that more than anything else that I might find.
So, I went on line to find the best places that could be found in the Venice area. The one shop that kept coming up as one of the best was VizioVirtu . I looked up the address and set out across town to get what I needed.
The shop itself is easy to find and when I walked in my senses were practically overloaded by the wonderful smells and sights that were laid out in front of me behind the glass counter. The choices were too many to count but being a person who wanted to give that perfect gift, I was up for finding the right product for my mom. Some of the finest things that I found were the numerous types of chocolate brittle that contained different types of nuts and spices giving each type a unique and tantalizing taste.
If that wasn't enough, they had a number of chocolate ganaches that contained red wine, white wine, balsamic vinegar, tobacco, teas, and many other things. Some of these things can be found on their website where you can get more information and to be quite honest, if I hadn't checked the website I would have never thought to inquire about these delightful little morsels. But the goodness doesn't stop there, oh no no no...go ahead and continue to browse for the fondue, chocolate spreads that closely resemble the viscosity of peanut butter, and glasses of hot chocolate with the same flavorings that I reported in an earlier article. But the things that really impressed me were the Carnival masks carved from a giant block of chocolate.
If you would like to check out the store, I recommend spending some time and going through everything slowly for the most enjoyment. You can also check out their online boutique where you can get all kinds of information about the shop, history of chocolate, and what they can and can't do (although the can't part seems really limited and quite possibly might not even exist). The prices are a little high but that's the only drawback.
VizioVirtù Cioccolateria s.a.s.
S. Polo 2898/A
30125 Venice, Italy
Phone and Fax +39 (041) 275-0149
info@viziovirtu.com
If you would like to contact me directly about this, or anything else regarding Venice or northern Italy, visit me HERE.
So I was sitting in the airport the other day and I saw a sign advertising helicopter tours over Venice. I didn't know that such a thing existed in Venice so I decided to check it out. There was a phone number and web address so I contacted both.
When talking to the man on the phone, he assured me that it would be a tour like none other in the Venice area. There are multiple packages that you can purchase all of which take you over the historic city so that you can see it from an advantage point that not many have had the chance to...from way above!
The website offers three different packages available depending on your price range. All tours originate from the Lido airport which can be reached by water taxi or a short walk from the Vaporetto (water bus) stop. From there you'll be able to take the "Taste of Venice" tour, which is the shortest, "Venice Lagoona" tour which takes you out and over the lagoon islands, and "Wide Horizons" which will take you out over the islands of the lagoon and up to the Northern coast over Jesolo.
Some other services that are listed are:
Our services:
• helicopter tours
• helicopter shuttle Tessera Marco Polo/Treviso/Lido
• helicopter charter to/from major destinations
• helicopter aerial foto/filming
• helicopter school/training
Other ideas:
• "sunset tour"
• "wedding tour"
• "from sea to mountaindolomitistars tour"
• "gourmet tour"
• "your individual tour ..."
All tours run Tuesday to Sunday from 9am to 1pm, and from 3pm to 6pm and booking is highly suggested!
For more information, you can find them on the web at HELIairVenice
If you would like to contact me directly about this, or anything else regarding Venice or northern Italy, visit me HERE.
This New Year's Eve, the city of Venice will celebrate with Love...lots of it! The new Venetian way of celebrating will once again return to Piazza San Marco in Venice and Piazza Ferretto in Mestre, just across the lagoon and will start the heart of both cities beating together on the most important night of the year. This year, as years past, New Year will be celebrated with a large group kiss between over 60,000 people.
This one massive kiss is meant to send a message of love, peace, and togetherness to the world. It's a simple gesture that speaks volumes and it will welcome in the New Year in a special way for all who attend. The night will be filled with music and entertainment, a list follows, so I suggest getting to Piazza San Marco or Piazza Ferretto early to claim your spot on this romantic night. In my opinion, it'll give Paris a run for her money!
Schedule of Events:
Beginning at 10:00pm
The "Love 2009" Event begins. Entertainment and music with Doug Jack, Jessica Polsky and the "Venezia Suona Big Band" - Group kiss "trials".
Midnight
Countdown for the big kiss to bring in 2009: Doug Jack and Jessica Polsky lead the rest of the square in a group kiss set to the song "The Miracle of Love".
12:05am
A toast with Bellini Canella to everyone, from the Palazzo Ducale portico.
12:15am
Fireworks display over the San Marco Basin.
12:30am
Romantic dancing in Piazza San Marco
The Hosts
Doug Jack: Choreographer and staging director, he devised the mass choreography for six Olympic Ceremonies: Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sidney 2000, Salt Lake City 2002, Athens 2004 and Turin 2006. In 2002, he received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography. He hosted Love 2008, enchanting the audience with his charm and his "American Italian".
Jessica Polsky: Jessica, who was the hostess for Love 2008, returns to enliven New Year's Eve along with Doug. Originally from Texas, this actress, dancer, and singer has appeared in musicals, including Grease and West Side Story, on American stages. Jessica became famous in Italy in 2004 thanks to her role as Jessica in the first two seasons of the popular Italia 1 sitcom Camera Cafè. In 2005, she hosted Anteprima Festivalbar con Jessica, a program in which she interviewed rock stars before, during or after the festival's live performances. In the summer of 2005, Jessica won the prestigious "Best New Actress for the 2004/2005 Television Season" award from the Accademia dei Telefilm (Telefilm Academy). Italia 1 subsequently gave her a new comedy, Sputnik. In the spring of 2007, Piloti - a new daily sitcom with Max Tortora and Enrico Bertolino - was launched.
The Orchestra
The Cultural Group "Il Suono Improvviso"
"Venezia Suona Big Band"
The orchestra, founded by Giannantonio De Vincenzo in 1984, has made many recordings and collaborated with internationally famous musicians, including: Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, Sal Nistico, Pietro Tonolo, Franco Cerri, Riccardo Del Frà, and Paolo Birro.
After a few years of inactivity, the orchestra has regrouped thanks to the efforts of pianist/composer Paolo Vianello who, in addition to being the group's conductor, arranged almost the entire repertoire.
Their goal is to create a modern jazz orchestra in Venice that will serve as a creative laboratory for young local musicians and also fill a cultural void that has existed in the city for 35 years, as it does not even have a Municipal Band. Venice has a clear need for the creation of resident cultural organizations that will help give "soul" to a city that is too often used only for a setting in a sort of "here today, gone tomorrow" cultural approach. In response to this anomalous situation, the "Venezia Suona Big Band" offers the city an organized professional group that can perform at various events held annually in the city, including: the Film Festival, the Redentore Festival, the Historic Regatta, New Year's Eve, Carnival, etc. Due to the varied nature of these performance opportunities, the orchestra has a diverse repertoire that ranges from easy listening pieces for popular celebrations to a repertoire of original music, which has roots in Afro-American music, with no particular genre limitations.
*Schedule was taken from the Capodanno Venezia website for Piazza San Marco, schedule may differ slightly for Piazza Ferretto.
If you would like to contact me directly about this, or anything else regarding Venice or northern Italy, visit me HERE.
For most of us, Christmas Eve is a time where we can barely fall asleep in anticipation of Santa Claus. We leave him a plate of cookies and a glass of milk and we hang our stockings out to be filled with candies, goodies, and little gifts. This is great, but Italian children have to wait an additional 2 weeks for the stocking part because this tradition is not linked with Santa Claus, but rather with La Bufana.
La Bufana, as the story goes, was an old, ugly woman, sometimes referred to as a witch. She was busy, sometimes sweeping, sometimes doing housework, when the three wise men walked by on their way to see the Baby Jesus. She asked them where they were going and they told her that they were following a star to find this new little baby. They asked her if she wanted to come with them, but she declined and said that she had too much work to do and so the three wise men continued on by themselves. When she was finished with her work, the old woman hurried to catch up with the three wise men only to discover that she was too late and that everybody had moved on, so she spent the night dropping gifts down the chimneys of all the houses in hopes of finding Baby Jesus by chance and hence filling the stockings of every boy and girl.
Each year there is a celebration marking this date, January 6th, most of the time there is only a market or city celebration in the center. But I know that in Padova, in Prato della Valle, they have a large wooden and straw witch that they light on fire to send her up into the night on the burning embers that float upward toward the sky. It sounds a little paganistic I know, but I assure you it's in the tradition of giving and to celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus. So if you're in Padova or the surrounding area, stop by the Prato and see it for yourself. There will be music and food also.
If you would like to contact me directly about this, or anything else regarding Venice or northern Italy, visit me HERE.
Merry Christmas! Or at least it will be once I finish all of my Christmas shopping. This week I have finally been pushed to my limits during the late afternoon and evening trying to get around the city to do my Christmas shopping. I simply can't stand the rudeness and inconsideration of the people. Now don't get me wrong, I love the Italian people and for the other 50 weeks out of the year they're really nice but when it comes to putting millions of them in the piazzas and streets with one objective (shopping for the holidays) it becomes a logistic nightmare and something I have now resigned to avoid.
Is it simply with the drop in the temperature that people's brains have begun to freeze? Or maybe the onslaught of flashing Christmas lights and sales on hundreds of thousands of items have made them literally go ga-ga. It's really had to say but I've noticed that the general population (let's say 90%) has absolutely no consideration for anything or anybody while they are trying to push you out of the way in the store so that they can get served first and on with their day.
If you happen to be visiting Venice over the Christmas holiday, this is my advice: SHOP EARLY IN THE DAY. Yep...it's that simple. I've had time to analyze the shopping patterns and as long as you have a list and can complete your shopping for the day at about 2pm, you'll be a happier, more Christmasy spirited person. The majority of Italians don't really pour out into the streets until around 2 or 3pm, but by 4 o'clock...forget about it and count me out! I'm the type of person who likes to make a list first and then get it all done in one afternoon, but this year I've taken this new approach and have found myself safe and sound at an Osteria or my home for lunch and I have been perfectly happy for the holiday shopping period. Don't worry if you don't finish it all in one day, the next will be as relaxing and peaceful as the first...at least until the middle of the afternoon.
If you would like to contact me directly about this, or anything else regarding Venice or northern Italy, visit me
HERE.
So you're in Venice for New Year's and you had a blast, now what do you do the following days as the city winds down before La Bufana? Go see The Beatles!
Ok, they're really not The Beatles, but they are really really close. I recently heard Band On The Roof play in Padova and was completely blown away by the sound and their vocals having nearly no Italian accent and sounding incredibly close the original. This group of five guys play all of the hits of The Beatles and some of the solo stuff by Paul McCartney and at the end of the evening you find yourself singing along and loving every minute of it. Truly a great show!
Their next performance is the 3rd of January at Palalevico, Levico Terme Italy. The show starts at 8:30 and admission is free! How can you beat that?! Levico Terme is located in the Alto Adige area of Northern Italy. The trip from Venice takes about 2 and a half hours by car or about 3 hours by train. The show is at 8:30pm, so if you take the train you'll probably have to spend the night at a cheap hotel. This could be good as well as the Alto Adige area of Italy is great during this time of year and you might even get to do some skiing...I'd make a weekend out of it!
If you would like complete information about Band On The Roof, just click the link. The website is in Italian and English, however, the English page is under construction. You can find a calendar of events, audio and video samples of the band, and other band information on the Italian side that is easy to understand.
If you would like to contact me directly about this, or anything else regarding Venice or northern Italy, visit me HERE.