JAN 408 - TRAVEL: Decadence in Venice

Level:  Upper-division (400 Level)

Please note: First-year students are not permitted to travel internationally for Jan Term

Travel dates: Thursday, Jan. 2 - Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025

Course fee: $4,100

Contact: Gabe Pihas, gdp2@stmarys-ca.edu

We will try to understand decadence, and Venice as a symbol for decadence, from several angles. We will try to understand Venice through works of visual art 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 modern tourist decadence. January is the perfect time to visit the city because it is low season for tourism, allowing us to experience the beauty of the city.

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 amid a decadent culture? Or, since much great art and literature that has been branded “decadent”, is decadence in fact really something to avoid?

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 unclassical art was typified by a hazy picturesque or by excessive, voluptuous color. As the enlightenment gained ground, Venice was a center both for liberalism and an escape. Once a meeting point for rationalism, liberty, and commerce, it became the city of sentimentalism and idleness.

In the early 20th century, amid the decay of Venice’s power, its elegant cafes became the place for modernists to reflect on the incoherence they detected in European humanism. Venice continues to be the 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. 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 about the city. 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 the crowds of people taking selfies in front of gondolas in the summer? Could they survive without it? We will study our theme through a combination of (1) seminars on three classic texts, plus one opera, and a recent book in urban studies (the readings are short 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) exploration of the lagoon of Venice and its natural environs by boat.

As well as Venice we will explore Padua, an intellectual center attached to Venice, home of an ancient university with a vibrant present. We will also visit Trieste, which like Venice has a multicultural history, and was also an important center for “decadent” artists and authors, like Joyce, Rilke, and Svevo. We will hike the beautiful sea cliffs of the Carso close to the town of Duino. You will be living in dorm accommodations right in the heart of Venice, which is beautiful in January. The off-season is usually the only way to really see the city. There are many, many fewer tourists, it is really the very best time to visit. The dorm is a modern building built within the walls of a ruined medieval church with a particularly important place in Venetian history. It has two large courtyards and a basketball court/soccer field.

The student fee includes, among other things, airfare, watertaxis to/from the airport in Venice, housing, all tickets for transport around Venice and all museums, churches, etc., groceries for three meals per day (breakfast and dinner) which will be in a communal kitchen, as well as occasional meals out at restaurants, and a couple of receptions.

Prerequisites & Notes

• Attend at least 1 information session
• Permission of the instructor

General Travel Requirements

• Attend at least 1 Health & Safety Orientation (October)
• Submit a valid passport (November)
• Apply or renew no later than September for on-time delivery
• Submit completed & signed health forms + proof of vaccination(s) (November)

Note: Failure to complete one or more of the above requirements will result in an immediate drop from the course. Once registered, all course fees are non-refundable. 

Credits: 3-CU