Last night we left off before our meal at Alla Staffa. Alla Staffa is a tiny neighborhood restaurant very near our apartment. We thought it had closed but found out last night that it had different people running it and was still open. We had a great meal but forgot to take pictures until dessert. We shared raw fish antipasti and caprese salad, and then Noelle had pasta with mushrooms, Alan had pasta with scallops and chantarelles and I had seppie with polenta which the owner assured me was a recipe from his “nonna in Palestrina.” Great food. For dessert we had both a strawberry torte and chocolate salumi which was amazing.

Today even with Noelle here to prod us along we didn’t leave until 11:30. We decided we were going to do one of the Brunetti walks. Guido Brunetti is a character in Donna Leon’s book who is with the police department in Venice. We did Walk No. 4–Food and Faliers. The walk took us over the Rialto Bridge, through San Polo to Dorsoduro and Campo Santa Margherita and Campo San Barnaba. This area was not terribly familiar to us and it was such great fun to explore it along with Guido and his wife Paola.


This was a store display window that caught our eye especially with Noelle living in England. The hands do the Royal Wave!

We stopped for lunch in Campo Santa Margherita and while there watched several just graduated students celebrating their laurea by being surrounded by family and friends and getting drunk to their singing and teasing including giant rude posters, which they are forced to read aloud, about the now-graduated student which gets posted on a storefront! As they read, any mistakes are greeted with jeers of “sbaglio, bevi!” (mistake, drink!) Of course as the reading continues there are more mistakes made as the laureate gets drunker. The laureate is frequently also forced to dress funny, in this case dressed in alpine garb with the hat with feather and bib overalls.

Finally I got to cross the Ponte dei Pugni or Bridge of the Fighters. Here representatives from rival families or rival guilds would meet and try to knock the opponent into the canal.

We went by the barge selling fruits and vegetables. I remember at one point last year or the year before I had read that it was closed, but it was open and definitely in business.

The walk really ended in Campo San Barnaba but we continued on after the barge and went over to San Trovaso Church and saw its Tintorettos (both father and son). Then we got to see the Squero di San Trovaso (from the outside with little peaks inside).

We continued down the Zattere and went into the Gesuati Church which we didn’t get to on Saturday. It’s a beautiful church with a Tiepolo ceiling, stunning sculptures by Morlaiter and at least one Tintoretto. It is really a wonderful church to see.
We then went over the Accademia Bridge and headed toward Campo San Marina to meet our friend Christy (JustTravel on SlowTrav) for a welcome spritz. She and her husband Paul are starting their annual three month stay in Venice so it will be fun to see them while we are here.

We left Christy as dusk was falling, stopped at the Coop to get dinner supplies and walked home. A lovely day!