JAN 403 - Decadence in Venice
Type: Travel
Dates:
Week 1
Jan 2-3: Depart from SFO/Arrive in Venice.
Watertaxis pick you up from airport and brings you to housing.
- Orientation and Reception.
- Introduction to Venice. Piazza San Marco. Introductory architecture walk.
- Early History; environment. Visit Basillica San Marco (Church and treasury)
- Venetian Painting intro lecture. Visit Accademia.
Weekend off.
Week 2
- Merchant of Venice. Republic of Venice, Visit Palazzo Ducale.
- Merchant of Venice 2. Trip to Ghetto.
- Architecture walk and talk (Madonna dell’Orto, S. Zaccaria, S.M. Della Salute.)
- Plague and Painting, Tintoretto to the 18th/19th c. Scuola S. Rocco
- Museum of Naval History
- Sailing trip from Chioggia across the Laguna, to Venice. Overnight docked in Venice.
- Sailing trip to Islands.
Week 3
- Carnival and Opera. Visit to la Fenice opera house.
- Don Giovanni. Visit to Ca’ Rezzonico.
- Painting: Bellini, Giorgione, and Titian.
- Modernist culture in Venice. Visit Museo Fortuny.
- Modernist culture in Venice. Guggenheim Museum trip
Weekend off.
Week 4
- Joyce, Dubliners.
- Trip to Trieste and Duino. Duino Castle, Rivoltella Museum of Modern Art, Molo Audace, Caffe San Marco, city center.
- Brodsky, Watermark. Renaissance and Baroque Venice walk #3 (Basilica Dei Frari, San Giovani e Paolo, Ca’ D’oro.
- Urbanistic problems in contemporary Venice.
Jan 28: Departure from Venice and arrival SFO, Jan 27th. Second Essay Due after return to US
Instructors: Br. Charles Hilken & Gabe Pihas
Email: chilken@stmarys-ca.edu
Course Fee: $4200 *All expenses included: airfare, lodging, transportation, food, excursions, etc. The only remaining expenses will be souvenirs and food in airports. Travel shot costs will depend on individual insurance coverage.
Course Description:
We will try to understand decadence, and why Venice was a symbol for decadence, from a number of angles. We will try to understand the cultural aspects of Venice through classic and modern works of visual art, music, and literature that made it a symbol of decadence, as well as consider the physical decay of Venice and its place in today’s environmental crisis. Finally, we will look at how Venice is looking to become a better city by limiting tourist decadence. In addition to exploring Venice, we will spend a couple of days exploring the lagoon on sailboats. We will also visit Padua, Trieste, and Duino, nearby cities that reflect the theme of the course. In his novella Death in Venice, Thomas Mann suggested the oppressive problem of decadence for modern culture. What Mann called decadence at the beginning of the 20th century has perhaps become normal life for us today, such that we are no longer aware of modern decadence as a falling away from anything. Can we recover this awareness? What is “decadence”, and is there a way to find meaning in the midst of a decadent culture, or is it really something to avoid? And why is Venice the symbol for decadence?
It is understandable that Mann chose Venice as the setting for his book. After Venice’s empire began to slip away in the 1400’s, the city has been forever sinking and its elegant buildings rotting. Its decadence has long been part of its appeal. Since the days of the grand tour (16th -19th century), a lady or a gentleman from Northern Europe on their way to get an education in Rome would make sure to stop in Venice, as much for its loose living as for its scenery. Its foggy canals, courtesans, and gothic shadows made it the passionate, romantic alternative to classical harmony and clarity. Its un-classical art with its mix of Eastern and Western influences was typified by a hazy picturesque or by excessive, voluptuous color. As the Enlightenment gained ground, Venice was an escape. Once a center for rationalism, liberty, and commerce, it became the city of sentimentalism and idleness. In the early 20th century its elegant cafes became the place for romantics and modernists from all over the world to reflect on the
incoherence they detected in European humanism. Venice was also central to the history of music and continues to be a world capital of contemporary art. At the same time, Venice has always also been in physical decline. The salty moisture in the air, and the annual flooding known as acqua alta eats away at the buildings as the city slowly falls ever deeper into the sea. This year its submerged piazzas called attention to rising sea levels across the globe. Despite desperate attempts to save it, Venice lives on borrowed time. The coronavirus essentially shut down Venice’s tourist business and brought to the fore new questions. Why did Venetians (or anyone) want hordes of tourists rushing through their city? Might the city not be a better place if they could get rid of cruise ships and crowds of people taking selfies in front of gondolas? Could they survive without it? We will study our theme through a combination of (1) Seminars and lectures on classic and modern texts, operas, and a major recent book in urban studies (this year we are making the readings shorter than last year’s version of this course, so as to allow us time to see Venice). (2) Excursions with preparatory lectures that explore the art, architecture, history and culture of Venice, (3) two-day exploration of the lagoon of Venice and its environs by sailboat. We will learn a lot of Venice’s history and environment by understanding how the laguna shaped the life of the city. (4) We will visit Padua, with its ancient university, its art, the beautiful city center, and we will sample its cuisine together. (5) We will visit Trieste, like Venice an important center for modernism and a meeting point of cultures. You will be living in dorm accommodations right in the heart of Venice, which is especially beautiful in January when the fog creates the magical atmosphere for which the city is so famous. The dorm is a modern building built within the walls of a ruined medieval church. It has two large courtyards and a basketball court/soccer field. In an adjacent building is a dorm for Italian university students. We will meet them early in the program so that if you want to, you can make friends with Italians your own age and get to be a part of Italian life. But you will mainly be living in a community setting with your fellow SMC students, so you will have a lot of support to help you feel at home in a foreign country, and create lasting friendships.
Jan Term is a unique opportunity for visiting Venice. January is Venice’s only real low season, when the city not overrun with tourists and you can actually enjoy its mystique. January is the very best time of year possible to see the city.
The student fee includes, among other things, airfare, watertaxis that take you to and from the airport in Venice, housing, all tickets for transport around Venice and all museums, churches, etc., groceries for at least two meals per day (breakfast and dinner) which will be in a communal kitchen, as well as occasional meals out at restaurants, and receptions. The fee also includes the trips to Padua, Trieste, and Duino.
This is a long Jan Term course, almost four weeks. Our schedule allows us to leave two weekends free for you to explore other cities in Italy/Europe on your own should you want to do so.
Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisites:
Credits: 3
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