We’re nearly finished filming two new TV shows on Venice. Thinking back over a very productive day, I realize how much I love this work. Our scripts are about 3,400 words per half-hour show. They are split between “on-cameras,” with me talking directly to the camera, and “B-roll,” where we “cover the script” with footage that illustrates what we’re describing. While it’s been called “shooting the nouns,” we think of B-roll as more than that.Today was particularly productive and required a typical dose of on-the-fly creativity from the crew. “On-cameras” (OC) have me working the hardest, and we got six in the can today. Here’s how the day went:
We started early, on St. Mark’s Square. While it’s littered with kitschy souvenir carts and jammed with tour groups most of the day, at 7:30, there is no tourism. The square is clean, with just a few well-dressed businesspeople walking to work, the random jogger, and very focused photographers like us marveling at how the history pops with the architecture and without the modern tourism. The Gothic is so lacy, and the Renaissance so capable. We got a few “walk-bys” to establish me in what looks like a pure, computer-generated Venetian cityscape.
At 8:30, we met our local guide, Michael, who has been instrumental in setting things up in advance for us. He is brilliantly navigating the Byzantine bureaucracy of the city and helping us open all the right doors — some of them literally pillaged from Byzantium.
We climbed the Torre dell’Orologio, or Clock Tower. This was built 500 years ago, providing the city with an appropriately aristocratic front door and an impressive clock — something any self-respecting city during the Renaissance was expected to have. At the top of the hour, on the rooftop, two bronze giants pivot, swinging their massive clappers — pendulous hammers with which they bang the bells. (Their other “clappers” are big, too, and hang out under their John the Baptist-style tunics.) This is so cool to have on film, and it’s a rare instance when we shoot a sequence before I even know where we’ll splice it in.
The day before, we were atop the higher Campanile (the bell tower just across the square), hoping to shoot an aerial view of the distant causeway — the two-mile bridge that connects Venice with the mainland. It was almost invisible in the haze. Today the air was crisp. The snowcapped Alps were vivid on the horizon — striking when viewed with the elaborately Eastern-looking domes of St. Mark’s Basilica. We asked Michael to beg us into that tower again (“Just one man for five minutes…pleeeze?”) to take advantage of the crisper air. They agreed, but without a tripod. Our shooter Karel went up the Campanile, zoomed in, and the causeway popped crisply — giving us one more tiny but important piece of the puzzle that will eventually be a 30-minute TV show.
At 10:00, we had an appointment at the oldest and most venerable café on St. Mark’s Square, Caffè Florian. I love this place, with its smoke-stained mirrors, white-tuxed waiters, and finicky piano and string quartet, which somehow gets called an “orchestra.”
[60] The venerable Caffè Florian, one of the first places in Europe to serve coffee, has been the place for a discreet rendezvous since 1720. Today, whenever locals want to impress visitors, they take them here for a drink. In these richly decorated 18th-century rooms, Casanova, Lord Byron, and Charles Dickens have all happily paid too much for their prosecco.
[61 OC] Venice peaked in the 16th century. But after the discovery of the Americas and new trade routes outside of the Mediterranean, its power plummeted. As Venice fell, its appetite for decadence grew. Through the 17th and 18th centuries, the Venetians partied, as if drunk on the wealth accumulated through earlier centuries as a trading power.
One challenge was getting a sophisticated-looking clientele for this café, where, historically, people dressed up to visit. The manager lamented how, in the last decade, the café’s elegance and class has been trampled with poorly dressed tourists. (Not unlike me, I must admit.) There’s also a big concern about “discretion.” People come here for a private meeting in public — not to be filmed. We decorated my table with an elegant coffee setting and I nailed my on-camera. Then I trolled for any well-dressed couple who would sit for us. With my bait of free coffee, I managed.
Illustrating the fact that Venice floods and is sinking was a fun challenge. My on-camera (which we didn’t shoot today):
With the right combination of high tide, wind, and barometric pressure, the city floods. Locals are used to it. Elevated walkways are put up, they pull on their rubber boots, and life goes on.
For B-roll, I really wanted to shoot the crypt of the San Zaccaria Church, which floods a lot. We dropped by early in our stay here, and it was beautifully flooded — but we had no permission, so we couldn’t shoot. After getting permission, we dropped by several times again, only to see it dry. Even at high tide, it was curiously dry. This morning we popped in again. This time, the altar was floating on a glimmering platform of water under romantic 12th-century brick vaults. We tossed in a pebble and filmed tiny waves lapping against the altar. It was a powerfully beautiful way to illustrate our point.
While we like to show reality, we are also shameless about making things beautiful — taking time to clean up garbage, avoiding graffiti (which is a real problem in Venice), scrubbing pigeon poop off of statues, shooting well-dressed people in a café, and — to be honest — shooting around the poorly kempt ones. Obese tourists, local kids with goofy haircuts, and immigrants selling kitschy knickknacks stay behind the camera.
I am really fascinated by Venice’s “Age of Decadence,” and the tradition of Venetian masks need to be explained in that context. After filming a great mask shop, we took our favorite mask out into the back lanes. The sun was still high in the sky, making it tough to find a place where I could be in moody low light with a picturesque background also in low light (rather than in sunlight, which causes it to burn out on film). We found a fine spot moments before the arcing sun would mess up the light. I looked at the camera (covering my face mysteriously with the delightfully painted mask for the last three words) and said:
[68 OC] Throughout Europe, but especially here in Venice, Carnevale provided a safety valve for people to really cut lose before Lent — a time of austerity leading up to Easter. That’s when rich and poor alike enjoyed a burst of Mardi Gras-style fun, when anything goes…and nobody knows.
Tourists in Venice hardly notice the wellheads that decorate almost every square. We had been “scouting” these for a week, looking for a pretty, graffiti-free stone well on just the right square with good light. We were ready with our B-roll content:
[38] While plenty wet, Venice had no natural source of drinking water. But a thousand years ago, residents devised a clever way of using town squares as cisterns.
At Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, we hit the jackpot. Walking up to its wellhead, I explained the cistern system, saying:
[39 OC] The rainwater would flow into these stone grilles, through a sand filtering system, and on to a central well. Only after it devised this safe, local source of drinking water was Venice’s population able to grow.
[40, B-roll, show three more cisterns] Hundreds of these rain-collection systems provided drinking water right up until 1884, when an aqueduct was opened, bringing water in from nearby mountains.
It’s fun to share “aha!” insights, and one of those is the fact that the original “ghetto” was in Venice. I was wishing we could shoot the ghetto’s main square in the early evening for lower light and a more casual ambience, but we didn’t have the luxury to wait. We were determined to cover a lot of on-cameras today, as we have only two days left to shoot (and one of them is supposed to be rainy).
It usually takes us six or eight tries to get the background action, the camera moves, and my performance all right at the same time. As I did my takes, we were stopped by a group of four policemen. (Filming at a Jewish sight in Europe always brings out the security.) I enjoyed the occasion to pull out the permission letter we had obtained — the only time we ever needed to show it. Later, an Orthodox Jewish man stopped to check us out. He listened to my delivery, gave us a smile and a thumbs-up, and walked on.
With the police cool and the Jewish Orthodox man’s approval, I looked into the big lens and said:
[50 OC] In medieval times, Jews — who were the moneylenders of the day — were allowed to do their business. But they were segregated on this easy-to-isolate island, which was a former copper foundry. In fact, the term “ghetto” comes from the Venetian word for “foundry.”
With the ghetto in the can, we headed to the far side of Venice (Zattere) for our “get lost” segment. This is where I really wanted the “magic hour” light (the hour before sunset, when the colors are richest and the harsh shadows are gone).
By now the light was just perfect, and the crew caught me wandering back lanes, looking happily lost. We covered this:
[33] Venice can be mobbed with tourists. But savvy travelers leave the center and explore. Walk and walk to the far reaches of town. Don’t worry about getting lost. Keep reminding yourself, “I’m on an island, and I can’t get off.”
For my next on-camera, I was envisioning using a favorite hotel’s canalside café terrace. The café was closed but, since the hotel is in my guidebook, they were happy to set up a couple of tables literally hanging over the edge of the city, with the vast lagoon beyond me.
We needed to populate the background and, thankfully, we bumped into a fine “PBS-looking” couple happily using my guidebook. We offered them drinks and they were happy to sit behind me. I assumed the hotel’s business card would come with a map (as most do), but it didn’t. So I had to hike for a few minutes to find a restaurant whose card had a little map for my show-and-tell. Then we were ready to shoot the on-camera.
Sipping my spritz, I said:
[34 OC] The worst-case scenario: Your island ends, and you have to enjoy a drink on the edge of town while studying your map. Invest in a good map. If you do lose your way, pop into any business and ask for their card — it comes with a map and a prominent “you are here.”
All week, we’ve been trying to capture romance in Venice. For 30 years, I’ve marveled at how Venice pumps up the romance in people. I even had an unforgettable “Stendhal syndrome” experience (where someone literally goes crazy over the overwhelming beauty of an experience) with one tour member back in the 1980s — an incident that has become company lore at ETBD. But these days, people seem to be so distracted by their electronic gadgets that they hardly notice each other. Even on the ultimate romantic ride in Europe, a gondola (which people pay $130 for a ride), we rarely saw two lovers enjoying a threesome with Venice.
The final on-camera on today’s wish list was showing how great the vaporetto water buses are for simply joyriding, while also illustrating the contrast between the midday/rush-hour mobs and the easygoing joy of riding at quiet times. We have all been really struck by how Venice is two cities: one garishly touristic, and the other so romantic and tranquil that it makes you go fortissimo in describing it.
Apparently they’re phasing out the vaporetti with seats up in the bow where, for years, I’ve recommended sitting to enjoy the dazzling Grand Canal can-can of floating palaces. There are still a few, but every time we hopped on a boat, it had no front seats. It was nearly 8:00, and the sun was going down. We were all getting tired. I really wanted front seats, but time after time, the boat we drew had none. Finally, we framed a shot of me enjoying the ride from the standing point mid-boat. The light was gorgeous. Gondolas glided by. And, leaning against the cleat with its beefy and classic old hemp rope, I said:
[30 OC] Not only is it handy public transportation, the ride’s great for sightseeing — especially late in the day or early…when there are fewer crowds.
Updating our script back at the hotel later that evening (my nightly chore), it occurred to me what a productive and fascinating day we enjoyed — and how much I love Venice. After twelve similarly rewarding days, we’ll fly home with two new shows on Venice. Stay tuned this fall as we release season seven of Rick Steves’ Europe (with 14 exciting new episodes) across the USA on public television.
My brother and I were in Venice in 2000 and just loved one of the most unusual and oldest cities in Europe. It is so unique with the gondola’s, St Mark’s and all the unusual buildings and sites that only Venice can create. Yes, Amsterdam is also a wonderful city and is unusual in its surroundings, but only Venice is Venice and so colorful and unique.
Happy you had a great day and filming for your new episodes on Venice for this coming year. Take care.
So true about the romance of the city. My husband and I, while waiting for our turn in the gondola line, were arguing (quietly) about something silly that I don’t remember now. Gondola pulls up, we get in, seconds later…argument over. There’s some kind of magical energy there that takes my breath away.
Will definitely keep an eye out for this episode. Thanks for the fascinating insight into how the show comes together.
For years I have watched and enjoyed your shows. In fact right now I’m reading Europe Through the Back Door to get ready for a trip to Italy.
The statement below struck a chord in me, but not in a good way.
“While we like to show reality, we are also shameless about making things beautiful — …. Obese tourists, local kids with goofy haircuts, and immigrants selling kitschy knickknacks stay behind the camera.
Just to let you know obese people tourist or not are Beautiful!
Annette
We leave for Venice this morning, capping off our 15 day trip to Italy, thanks to your guide book! We’ve been in Rome, Siena, the Cinque Terre and Florence with a quick stop to Pisa for the requisite pictures of the Leaning Tower. Italy is fabulous!! I was in Venice with my daughter last summer and have been planning to go back with my husband ever since– can’t wait for him to experience it!
Since I will be returning to Venice this fall for the first time since 2006, I am sad to hear about the disappearance of the Vaporetto’s front seats. I hope in November I can find a ride with those seats still there.
My first night in Italy was in Venice: never forget it, hopping off the Alliguna in the late afternoon and wandering the back streets at night. Walking alone with La Piazza di San Marco all to myself on a chilly November midnight is a memory I shall always cherish….
Venice is a mixed bag. Great in November not so great in peak season during the day. But Janet, Steves has a business to run and he (along with his guides) is its biggest asset. Of course he is going to put his face out there. Remember Col. Sanders, Chef Boyardee, Brangelina, Steve Jobs? On the other hand, take everything you read from somebody selling something – with a large grain of salt.
I always love the in-depth insights into the making of the episodes, thank you Rick. The nature of being a tourist is that one will usually see a city when it’s full of other tourists, but you’re right–it is often those times when one has a “threesome” or for the solo traveler a “date” with a city that are often the most enjoyable and memorable … and these often happen at off-peak times and locations. I also enjoyed the candor about what you try–and try not–to capture on camera, even if it (predictably) brought out the trolls. I look forward to watching the new episodes, keep up the good work, and greetings from Spain, where your guidebook has been an invaluable asset!
You can still get a vaporetto with front seats but you have to take a #2 which is the express. To get a front seat, get it at Piazzale Roma when it pulls in, as most people will get off for the bus station. Steve, quicken up that Grand Canal audio for the new reality. The boat captains apparently got tired of pounding on the windshield to get the tourists to sit down, so “no front seats” was probably part of the spec for the latest boat order. They put all of the new boats on the #1 line. Steve, its all your fault!
It’s incredible how this man can find time and energy to write and publish a blog entry every couple of nights, after all that work he does during the day, and all the things he has to put in order in his mind that night. Please, keep it up!
Better keep filming in Italy, Rick. Unfortunately, Italy, like London Bridge, is falling down. Scary times for the people there and I pray for their safety.
I love the bracelet but I haven’t seen aynnhitg similar at all. The only old guide to Venice I have is Venice by Jan Morris, the old version. From the 60s I think but even so it’s probably stretching it to say it’s vintage.My grandfather was from Venice and though I never knew him, I feel it’s a special place. We’re hoping to visit again sometime this year fingers crossed.