All souls day - I morti (the dead)

After a week of clear sunshine, today is appropriately misty and grey.

San Michele, as viewed from Fondamenta Nuove.

It is like Christmas trading in the cemetery supply district across the canal from our house.

The florist we can see from our apartment.

The florists are overstocked with chrysanthemums, roses, lilies, carnations, plastic peonies, and potted orchids.

One of the florists on Fondamenta Nuove took their counter onto the street to catch the passing trade.

There is a regular gratuite vaporetto service running all day between Fondamenta Nuove and San Michele.

They even installed an extra vaporetto stop for the occasion (on which I was standing to take this photo). 

Chiesa di San Michele in Isola is holding services almost continuously.

Built in 1469, apparently the first Renaissance architecture in Venice.

Within the space of an hour we saw two coffin boats drawing up to the cemetery island, leading us to wonder if people save up the bodies of their dead to be buried on this day.

I was too slow for photos of the coffin boats, so here's one of a big angel through an archway in the (freshly flowered) cemetery.

On the island, everything was spic and span with almost every grave adorned in bright fresh (and faux) flowers.

It was a stark contrast to our summertime visit when everything was parched and seemingly neglected.

The island of San Michele was apparently a prison island until Napoleon came to Venice and told everyone to stop burying the dead in their backyards. That was sometime around the end of the 18th century.

Looking across the cemetery through the trees to Venice.

The island is wrapped right around with high walls. The cemetery itself is set out in a grid pattern with tall cypress-lined avenues and mausoleum walls. The northern corner is occupied by the church and monastery. 

From one of the many raised tomb-walls across a section of cemetery.

After two visits I still feel like we have more areas yet to see, but despite its size it doesn't feel really large enough to house all of Venice from 1797 until... well actually I guess it's quite soon that they predict Venice will no longer have a resident population.

A section of outer-edge cemetery as yet mostly undeveloped.

We were disappointed they didn't erect one of their barge bridges between Fondamenta Nuove and the entranceway to San Michele opposite.

We would only have had to step out our door and walk across the water.

The next celebration here, which will have it's own bridge, is Festa della Madonna della Salute on 21 November. Apparently they also have doughnuts!

Which reminds me... The celebratory food of all souls day in Venice are these little amoretti-type biscuits coloured pink and brown and white and called fave. Apparently they are called fave, like the beans, because beans were traditionally the food eaten on all souls day. But at some point, wealthy Venetians decided they'd really rather not eat beans and so instead someone clever made biscuits and called them beans. Genius.

2 November 2011