Fire in the Sky

photo by Sean Antonioli

This photo was taken from the Lido, facing west as the sun was setting with fiery shades of orange and red. Sean Antonioli, who lived in Venice for two and a half years, caught this image while cruising around on a friend's boat. The island in the center (right behind the water taxi) is Isola di San Lazzaro degli Armeni - home to a monastery of Armenian monks. To the left is San Clemente, to the far right is the isle of San Servolo, and in the distance, to the left of San Servolo, you can also see the Isola la Grazie - looking as if the sun is setting right on top of it. I considered detailing the histories of each island, but there's just so much history, that I decided to just name the islands. If you have a Venice travel guide, I encourage you to read up on these and other islands in the Venetian Lagoon - from leper colonies, to powder magazines, to shelters for pilgrims to the Holy Land - there's so much history there. Notice the well-worn bricole in Sean's picture, which indicate the designated traffic area. In many cases, if you stray from the designated area at low tide, you'll run aground. Sean tells me that some folks deliberately "beach" their boats in the shallow areas in order to fish for squid that enter the lagoon to spawn.