Two Days in Burano - Colored House Collage

Overview ~ Photos

Left: A collage of 100 color changes between houses in Burano, Italy. Right: The Island of Mazzorbo, Venice - Campanile di Sant'Angelo.

Overview

Burano is a charming island in the Venetian lagoon famous for its brightly colored houses and lacework. Most visitors to Burano come for a few hours from nearby Venice. We instead decided to stay two nights on Burano and can say that it was worth it.


If you have time and want to travel "slow", then consider spending at least one night if not two on Burano. Burano is connected to the Island of Mazzorbo, and the Island of Torcello is a 5-minute boat ride away. So, there are three islands to explore. Here was our itinerary for a two-day mid-October visit:

Day 1

• Arrive from Venice and get off at the Mazzorbo stop (one stop before Burano on ferry line 12).
• Explore Tenuta Venissa vineyards and gardens, stop and admire the Campanile di Sant'Angelo, and walk around Parco Mazzorbo.
• Lunch at nearby Trattoria alla Maddalena alongside the canal watching the occasional ferry pass by.
• Take footbridge to Burano and settle in our lodging Ca' Comare. (We were travelling light with just backpacks so we could defer check-in to when we wanted.)
• Explore Burano: the church of Sant Martino and it's leaning belltower, Bepi's house, and in general get lost and enjoy being flâneurs.
• Light dinner at In Pescaria Vecia with a drink and cicchetti, while staring out into the early-evening lagoon.

Day 2

• Head over to the Island of Torcello.
• Visit the Museum of Torcello, Chiesa di Santa Fosca, and Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta.
• Casual lunch, outside in a park setting at Taverna Tipica Veneziana.

• Back to Burano
• Museum of Lace
  
  
• Cross footbridge to Mazzorbo
• Walk to charming and quiet Chiesa Santa Caterina.
• Explore the architecture of Giancarlo de Carlo in the residential complex along Calle Larga Bassan.
  
  
• Dinner at at charming Trattoria al Gatto Nero.

Day 3

• Leave late morning for Venice; we would spend 3 nights in Venice.

Staying on Burano overnight (and we did something similar on Murano a few years ago) is great because there is this wonderful peace that comes around 5 pm or so when all the day trippers leave. The island breathes a sigh of relief. That sense of relief is also felt still early in the morning before the tourists start arriving to begin the cycle. During our stay, while we sipped our cappuccinos on the "main street" Via Baldassarre Galuppi in the morning and watched locals greeting each other, grabbing a espresso, and in general, going about their business. 

Trattoria da Romano is the most famous place to eat on Burano. Much has been said about it. We decided to avoid it and opted for the Trattoria al Gatto Nero, which turned out to be a great meal and good experience getting to know the owners.

The connection of Mazzorbo to Burano creates a lot of walking opportunities. Think of it as urban hiking with lagoon views.

Finally, the color of the houses. Is it random? No, there is a system to the colors, and you request permission when repainting your house as to what color you can use. This is what one local told us. Also, why are the Burano houses brightly colored? That same local told us that women came up with the idea so that their husbands returning from the day out fishing could find their way back to the correct house, correct bed, and correct wife. While it may not be strictly true, we like this explanation.

We were fascinated not just by the colors but the juxtaposition of the colors and created the collage in this post. It reminded us of a mixed-up Pantone guide. We are sure you can find some Pantone colors of the year in the collage.

Photos

Left and center left: Bepe's house. Center: Chalk street art in Burano. Center right and right: Approaching the Church of San Martino and it's leaning belltower.

Left: Burano - bridge over Riva dei Santi canal. Center left: Burano - Rio di Terranova canal. Center right: Example of lace from the lace museum on Burano. Right: Statue "Attesa di Pace" by Remigio Barbaro.


Left: Burano street with laundry. Center: Burano neighborhood with colorful houses. Right: Burano market area with marble tables for fishmongers.


Left: Burano - Rio della Giudecca canal. Center: Burano - Rio di San Mauro canal. Right: View south from Burano - late afternoon - toward Venice.

Left: Mazzorbo and Venissa vineyard. Center: Parco di Mazzorbo. Right: The cemetery of Mazzorbo.

Left: Information about the fish and crustaceans in the lagoon, including the Grass goby (fish), called gò in dialect. Center: Information about Venissa and the Dorona wine. Right: Mazzorbo church of Santa Caterina.

Burano - Museum  of Lace room and examples.

Left, center left, and center: Torcello - Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta mosaics. Center right: Torcello basilica floor. Right:  Church of Santa Fosca on the Island of Torcello.

The Island of Torcello. Views of the basilica and belltower, Ponte del Diavolo, and the path leading from ferry stop to church and museum.

Torcello - Museo Provinciale di Torcello artefacts.

A video of a man singing in Piazza Baldassarre Galuppi in Burano.

Travelmarx Music Picks - Winter 2022 - No More Blue Mondays

Composite of 25 albums covers used in the Winter 2022 playlist.

Here are 25 tracks to liven up your winter day. The playlist is on Spotify at Travelmarx Winter 2022. Toward the end of the playlist, the tracks tend toward psychedelic and downtempo. The 25 songs in this playlist are listed below.

In Italian, we would say that all these tracks are orecchiabile (catchy). The word has as its root orecchio (ear) with the addition of the suffix abile (reinforces that what goes before). If we translated it literally, we would say "earable music". For these earable tracks, we reach back to 1972 for the oldest track "Tudo Que Voce Podia Sera", by the Brazilian group Quarteto em Cy.

In the Northern Hemisphere, December 21 is often regarded as the first day of winter with the solstice falling on the 21st or 22nd. Winter solstice is the day with the fewest hours of sunlight in the year. The lack of sunlight can have a strong impact on well-being, which is why were were surprised to learn that the term Blue Monday, a Monday in January, is said to be the most depressing day of the year.  By then, we are past the shortest day. The idea was born in 2005 as what looks like a marketing term to sell vacations and but is now largely considered pseudoscience. We learned about the term Blue Monday recently visiting the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci (aka the Science Museum in Milan). In the museum, a small exhibition called Sociocromie – 100 years and 25 colors, designed the architect Giulio Ceppi, associates 25 colors with significant events and movements in Italian society. The color (R: 125, G: 159, B: 196) for the year 2004 was for the term Blue Monday. With all that said, you won't find New Order's "Blue Monday" in this playlist!

Left: Blue Monday from the Sociocoromie - 100 years in 25 colors exhibit. Center: Sociocromie logo. Right: The colors covered in the Sociocromie exhibit.

Tracks 1 – 5

Cayucas – "Bigfoot" (2013). Track "High School Lover".

Jon Batiste – "WE ARE" (2021), track "Freedom". Love the video to this song.

Sleigh Bells – "Treats" (2010). Track "Rill Rill".

Cults – "Cults" (2011). Track "Go Outside".

Caroline Rose – "LONER" (2018). Track "Jeannie Becomes a Mom". Love the cover showing Rose (?) with a mouthful of cigarettes.

Tracks 6 – 10

Ezéchiel Pailhès – "Tout Va Bien" (2017). Track "Éternel été". Damn catchy tune.

The Blaze – "Dancehall" (2018). Track "Places". Another French group.

Alabama 3 – "Exile on Coldharbour Lane" (1997). Track "Ain't Goin' to Goa".

Lana Del Ray – "Norman Fucking Rockwell!" (2019). Track "Doin' Time". Originally a Sublime song that sampled George Gershwin's "Summertime".

Jadu Heart – "Melt Away" (2017). Track "I'm a Kid". A band from Huddersfield & London whose music is a mix of psych rock, electronic and indie music.

Tracks 11 - 15

Thao & The Get Down Stay Down – "A Man Alive" (2016). Track "Meticulous Bird".

Malik Djoudi – "UN" (2017). Track "Allant vers, à l'envers".

Brazilian Girls – "Brazilian Girls" (2005). Track "Lazy Lover". Brazilian Girls is a band from New 

York, United States, known for their eclectic blend of different musical styles.

Shannon Shaw – "Shannon in Nashville" (2018). Track "Broke My Own". Shaw is part of the indie band Shannon and the Clams.

William Onyeabor – "Who is William Onyeabor" (2013). Track "Body and Soul". Onyeabor (1946 – 2007) was a Nigerian funk musician and businessman.

Tracks 16 – 20

Buddy Sativa – "Deus Ex Machina" (2011). Track "Una Peripecia".

Mountain Man – "Magic Ship" (2018). Track "Rang Tang Ring Toon". Three woman and two llamas on the cover, what's not to like about that from this American trio?

Gruff Rhys – "Seeking New Gods" (2021). Track "Loan Your Loniless". This year a lot of music from France and Wales has been circulating in our house, including this by the Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker, and author.

Jane Weaver – "Flock" (2021). Track "The Revolution of Super Visions". Weaver is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

Pond – "Tasmania" (2019). Track "Burnt Out Star". We like our psychedelic rock and we like Pond, a psychedelic rock band from Perth, Western Australia, formed in 2008. The track "Burnt Out Star" changes in the middle to a good groove built around the date 1917. Meaning?

Tracks 21 – 25

Warhaus – "We Fucked a Flame Into Being" (2016). Track "Time and Again". Warhaus is Maarten Devoldere, is a Belgian singer-songwriter and music producer.

The Colorist Orchestra, Emiliana Torrini – "The Colorist & Emiliana Torrini" (2016). Track "Catepillar". The Colorist Orchestra is a pop/chamber music collective that rearranges the repertoire of an invited singer-songwriter, in this case Emiliana Torrini.

Quarteto Em Cy – "Quarteto Em Cy" (1972). Track "Tudo Que Voce Podia Sera". The group's name Quarteto em Cy is a play on words of the Portuguese for Quartet in B by poet and lyricist Vinicius de Moraes. Quarteto em Cy is a Brazilian girl group originally composed of four sisters from Ibirataia, a in the Brazilian state of Bahia: Cybele, Cylene, Cynara and Cyva.

Leifur James – "A Louder Silence" (2018). Track "Mumma Don't Tell". James is a London-based experimental producer, composer and vocalist known for his esoteric avant-garde style.

Kraak & Smaak – "Juicy Fruit" (2016). Track "Hands of Time". We end the playlist with a track from the musical production trio from the town of Leiden, Netherlands.

A Snowy Walk for Lunch at Trattoria del Moro and Cassoeula

Upper left: View over Ponteranica - with Monte Rosa in the distance.
Upper right: Trail 533 to Maresana with snow.
Lower left: Trattoria del Moro – cassoeula, a traditional Bergamasco dish..
Lower right: Trattoria del Moro - foiade al ragù di lepre.

Length: 16 km
Duration: 3.5 hours (walking time)
Elevation: 505 m (1,656 ft) gain
Location: Italy, Lombardy, Bergamo - Ponteranica

When we need to think, we walk. When we walk, we get hungry and want to eat. To do that, we head to the hills north of Bergamo. Our usual path is up trail 533 to Maresana (546 m) and from there depending on our mood we select a destination. Today, we had in mind a nice pastas (made on-premises) from Trattoria del Moro. This would be our 7th time there. To think our first time was in 2016.

Trail 533 today was covered with some snow from the day before. Temperatures hovered around 0 degrees and we kept dodging trees dropping their little snow bombs on our heads. As we climbed, Bergamo disappeared under a snow fog. At Trattoria del Moro, we started with affettati misti con sott’olio e sott’aceto, continued with foiade al sugo di lepre and tagliolini con funghi porcini, and finished by splitting a cassoeula. The pastas are made fresh and are always good. The cassoeula is a popular winter dish you find in Bergamo and Lombardy in the winter. If you like pork and cabbage, you'll love this dish. Depending on the preparation you can find ribs, trotters, tail and much more on your plate, the less "valuable" parts of the animal used with no waste.

Trattoria del Moro is located in Ponteranica, a small municipality about 4 km northwest from Bergamo and is easy to get to from Bergamo, walking. Ponteranica is also home to the Santuario di Rosciano – the Mini Grotta di Lourdes. On today's walk we walked up trail 533 but returned on the road Via Maresana, where we crossed over a small brook to get on the bicycle path to follow Via Valverde back home.

The "Lapide Botti" is a marker on the trail that signals you've almost reached Maresana climbing the "Filone della Maresana" from via Quintino Alto. The inscription documents that Giacomo Botti died tragically at (or near?) the spot in 1951. It's odd because it's a common point of reference on this trail, but we've not been able to find much information about Botti.

A sampling of different cassoeula that we've had recently. Left: Trattoria del Moro cassoeula. Center: La Tana cassoeula. Right: Il Coccio cassoeula.

Left: View over Ponteranica toward Monte Linzone and Resegone. Right: Trail 533 looking down over Monterosso.

Left: Trail 533 looking back toward Bergamo which has disappeared. Center: Lapide Botti on trail 533. Right: Fitbit tracks showing the walk, going counter-clockwise.

Trattoria del Moro - Affettati misti con sott’olio e sott’aceto.