Rendez- vous at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum on 9, 16 and 23 of May for the most appreciated event by local people, when art, live music and fun meet together…in a world happyspritz@guggenheim!

Only 7 euro to enter in the suggestive location, for a unique aperitif from 7 to 9.30 in the evening . Jazz music, rock, black, electro, indie, post-punk, hip hop and latin sounds will be the background music of your chatting, with great artists coming from all over the world. Four soirée to discover the treasures at Peggy home drinking your cocktail in a charming atmosphere…you will long for the Monday to arrive!

Here there’s the program:
Monday 9 May – Happy Spritz Rock with Eva Poles (Prozac+, Rezophonic), classic revival mixed by Ricky Russo with the hit underground and finally Dj Stoner will play Gypsy music of the Balkans.
Monday 16 May – rythms more hip hop, r&b and reggae will be played by Dj Doubles, BQ:RAM and Miguel Selekta
Monday 23 May - Dj Spiller and DJ Ca$hmere will perform with disco, black and deep sounds.

Located on Venice’s Grand Canal, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is one of Europe’s premier museums devoted to modern art. With masterpieces ranging in style from Cubism and Surrealism to Abstract Expressionism, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni was donated to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation by Peggy Guggenheim . She used to say that it was her duty to protect the art of her own time, and she dedicated half of her life to this mission, as well as to the creation of the museum that still carries her name. She used to say: “It has always been taken for granted that Venice is the ideal city only for honey moon but this it’s a big mistake: living in Venice, or simply visit it, it means to fall in love with it and to fill your heart with it.”

What if you saw thousands of people running up and down the bridges all over Venice? Don’t worry, it’s not an hallucination! It’s “Su e Zo per i Ponti”, an t

raditional race taking place each year and involving young people, adults, families, school parties and sport groups in an amazing walk through the Venice calli (alleys).

This year the event takes place on Sunday 10th of April at 10 am, starting from Piazza San Marco (corner of Palazzo Ducale)…13 km of track, crossing 53 bridges, that circles all the island to arrive again in Piazza San Marco.

More than 600 volunteers will be there working at the refreshment points and along the race route itself to make sure everything is fine…and of course to slake your thirst!

At 12.30 don’t miss the Folk groups parade in Piazza San Marco that will entertain the runners and the visitors with artistic and musical exhibitions.

This peculiar walk is a funny way to discover Venice and its soul and to have great time celebrating an important festival!

How to get to Piazza San Marco from the Hotel Sant’Elena:

By foot: about 25 minutes along Rive dei Sette Martiri
By vaporetto boat: take the n° 1 to Piazzale Roma and you’ll reach San Marco in two stops

Map with the itinerary

DUCALE PALACE

Find the assassin at Ducale Palace. A haunting to discover the secrets of a mysterious murder throughout the Palace. Looking for clues, the participants could learn the several phases of the construction of the building, the apartments of the doge, the history of the institutional saloons so to relive a obscure episode happened centuries before today. Sunday 20th March – 3 pm, 8th March – 11 am and 3 pm, 22nd March – 11 am and 3 pm

The fear time. An itinerary in the Prisons of the Ducale Palace to discover histories and memories of the prisoners who were held for an entire life. Sunday April 3rd, May 1st and September 25th at 11 am and 3 pm

MUSEO CORRER

A meter of colored beads. An interesting experience to run over the history of a particular product of the glass art, called “ glass of the conterie”, that are pearls extracted from the glass tube. In labs the participants have the possibility to compose long string of pearls to create framings or necklaces and use their fantasy. Sunday 27th March – 11 am and 3 pm, 17th April – 11 am and 3 pm

CA’ REZZONICO

Sky, clouds, rivers and hills. Oil painting. After a tour of the most important paintings in the museum, the visitors will realize their own painting with oils. Sunday 10th April – 11 am and 3 pm

At the BEST WESTERN PREMIER Sant’Elena families traveling with kids up to 8 years have now aspecial room with special amenities and services…it’s the “kids room”!

Every work of architecture is  a chance of building relationships between people. The spirit of this year’s 12th International Architecture Exhibition (29 August – 21 November) is very much influenced by this idea and by the the artistic talent of Kazuyo Sejima herself.

But who is this woman, the first one ever to be appointed director of the Biennale in Venice?

Born in Japan, in the prefecture of Ibaraki in 1956, in 1981 she took a degree in architecture at the Japan Women’s University and began working in the studio of Toyo Ito. In 1987, she opened her own studio in Tokyo. In 1995, together with Ryue Nishizawa, she founded SANAA (recently awarded with the 2010 Pritzker Prize), the Tokyo studio that has designed some of the most innovative works of architecture built recently around the world, from the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York to the Serpentine Pavilion in London. The recent Rolex Learning Center in Lausanne, Switzerland (March 2010) and a branch of the Louvre Museum in Lens (now under construction) are also major projects of SANAA.

Sejima has a completley new idea of an architecture that is liberated from any traditional background and deeply immersed in space. The exhibition reflects this ideal, and sets up an environment in which ideas and projects are free to circulate, meet and be re-shaped by visitors.

Among this year’s new features, for example, there’s the Architecture Saturdays a series of conversations and opportunities for discussion held weekly with architects, critics and figures from the world of architecture in Italy and abroad for the entire period of the Exhibition’s opening (see program). This will be an occasion for people, to meet and for the conversation on architecture do go on.

The 12th International Architecture Exhibition will be held from August 29th to November 21st, 2010, at the Giardini and at the Arsenale (preview August 26, 27 and 28, 2010), and in various other venues in Venice. The Best Western Premier Hotel Sant’Elena is located just a few meters away from the Giardini.

Walking the whole day in the hot sun tires both parents and children. And yet, for those who are able to find the right way, this city has plenty of stories to tell - stories that seem to have been written precisely for kids. That’s how your visit to Venice can turn itself into an exciting game.

Leave the Best Western Hotel Sant’Elena in the morning and make for Piazza San Marco (if you take the Vaporetto it’ll take you 5 mis only). From the square look up at the clock tower. What are those two statues doing up there in the flat roof? Are they striking the right hours? Not at all: the Moor on the right, facing the future, strikes the bell two minutes in advance; the Moor on the left, looking at the past, strikes the bell two minutes after. Does it sound strange? Why not going upstairs and seeing it yourself? If you’re at least 6 years old and don’t fear taking the stairs to the fifth floor, hurry up!

If you make your way through the “Riva degli Schiavoni” towards the Arsenale, your long walk will be repaid by the Venice Naval History Museum (open till 13.30). Cannons of the XIV century, torpedos of the World War two and old boats reconstructions will drive your imagination and take you far away, dreaming to be somewhere in the sea. Or maybe you will dream to be on the Bucintoro, the queen of all boats, chosen by the Dogi of Venice as ceremony boat during the celebration of the Bridal of The Sea festivity.

How not to mention Murano, the well known isle of glass. A glass master at work is a great attraction for every child. The melting glass, blown as a soap bubble, transforms into a wonderful vase. Parents will find plenty of souvenirs and children will make an unforgettable experience (for more info on the furnaces opened to the public visit www.promovetro.com , phone: 0415275074).
Venice, of course, is also a city of art. But will art exhibitions and children ever meet together? At the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, every Sunday afternoon at 15.00 the Kids day begins: a visit to the museum and a workshop organized exactly for children from 4 to 10 years old.

photo credit: rachdavies

The main attractions that will open their doors free to the public are:
• The “Ca d’Oro” and the tour exhibition of Flemish tapestries of the 16th century.
• The Museum of Oriental Art and the opportunity to see some masks representative of traditional Japanese Noh theater.
• The  “Gallerie dell’Accademia”, where for the first time there will be organized the show of two drawings by Jacopo Tintoretto and Francesco Guardi, acquired in 2009.
• The “Palazzo Foscari”, last residence of the Doge Francesco Foscari and now seat of the Venice University, which hosted illustriouscharacters such as Henry III of Valois, King of France and Poland.
• The “Palazzo Grimani”, a noble residence in Venice of the sixteenth century.
• The “Libreria Sansoviniana”, with the inauguration of the exhibition ” Tesori della musica veneta del Cinquecento. La policolarità Giovanni Matteo Asola e Giovanni Croce”.
• The Provincial Museum of Torcello - Archaeological Section and Section Medieval and Modern, which includes ruins and artifacts related to the island and lagoon.
• The “Arsenale”, whose visit will be preceded by an introductory lesson by the architect Claudio Menichelli in cooperation with the Maritime Research Center.
• The house of the famous Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto.
• The National Archaeological Museum of Venice.

For more information or details regarding specific dates and opening hours, please visit the website: www.beniculturali.it

There is a mosaic on the basilica showing how the sailors covered the relics with a layer of pork. Since Muslims are not allowed to touch pork, this action was done to prevent Muslim intervention in the relics removal. Moreover, according to tradition, in 1094 the saint himself revealed the location of his remains by extending an arm from a pillar. The newfound remains were placed in a sarcophagus in the basilica.
Nevertheless, the destiny of  the relics of the Saint is vexed: copts believe that his head remained in Alexandria. Every year, on the 30th day of the month of Babah, the Coptic Orthodox Church celebrates the commemoration of the consecration of the church of St. Mark, and the appearance of the head of the saint in the city of Alexandria. This takes place inside St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Alexandria, where the saint’s head is preserved.

In other countries, like Italy, Shrove Tuesday is known as ‘Martedì Grasso’, This means ‘Fat Tuesday’ in Italian and also comes from the idea of using up food before Lent.

Many countries round the world have ‘Martedì Grasso’ celebrations and carnivals. Some of the most famous are in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, New Orleans in the U.S.A., and Venice in Italy.
One of the most exquisite, unique and typical  Venice Carnival specialty is the home made ‘frittella’ (‘fritoleri’ in Venetian dialect) that you can find in every coffee and pastry shops of the city. These ‘frittelle’are one of the symbol of the Venetian Carnival.
Here you have the traditional recipe to make your own traditional sweets…

Ingredients for 4 people:

12 g of beer yeast
200 g of flour
40 g of raisans
40 g of pinoli nuts
40 g di candied fruits
ca. 350 g of seed oil
40 g of sugar
16 g of icing sugar
ca. 0,5  of grappa or rum

Preparation:

Dissolve yeast with a little warm water and sugar.  Add grappa and then flour adding water when needed.  Mix well until there are no air bubbles on the surface.  Cover and leave to rise in a warm place.  When the mix has doubled in size, add raisans, candied fruits and pinoli.  Heat oil and cook draining each doughnut on paper towels.  Arrange in a pyramid form and sprinkle with icing sugar.  Serve hot and enjoy your “frittelle”.

The phenomenon largely depends on three main factors:
• an astronomical component, which results from the movement and alignment of celestial bodies, principally the Moon; this component is dependent upon the laws of the astronomical mechanics and can be accurately predicted for the long run;
• a geophysical component, primarily dependent upon the geometric shape of the basin, which amplifies or reduces the astronomical component and, because it is dependent upon the laws of the physical mechanics, can be also computed and accurately predicted for the long run;
• a meteorological component, linked to a large set of variables, such as the direction and strength of winds, the location of barometric pressure fields and their gradients, precipitation. This component can only be forecast for the very short run and is probably the principal determinant of acqua alta emergencies.

 
This “Acqua Alta” spreads particularly in the St. Mark’s basin and in the lower areas of the city next to the Grand Canal. Despite some diseases to the local population, it has become a significant attraction for tourists from all over the world who come to Venice. Anyway, if you decide to come to our Best Western Premier Hotel Sant’Elena, don’t worry, our hotel is in a quiet area, higher than the St. Mark’s basin and not interested by this unique and particular phenomenon.