Venice for Typophiles

[rs_donsata]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

Hi, I'm passing my honeymoon on Venice next November. Are there any type specific spots to visit? I tought that there would be some Nocholas Jenson or Aldus Manutius museum but I just can't find anything.

At least I can shoot a picture of the houses where the shops were located if somebody knows the location.

Thanks!

[Andreas Stötzner]

I just can't find anything

… because there is nothing. The actual place of the Aldine officina is not known, nothing remained.
Maybe you make some discovery.

Besides that: scroll through the city, get off the beaten tracks.
Fine-tune your eyes for the glyphic language of the architecture. Go inside the churches and view engraved lettering on epitaphs and tombs …

Have a good time.

[J.Montalbano]

When strolling in Venice alway remember:

sempre diretto

[angelsanchez]

Carlo Scarpa is an italian architect who always took care of the lettering in his works, specially in tombs. Here you'll find a relation of his projects:

http://www.carloscarpa.es/Obras.html

One of the best known is the Olivetti Showroom in Piaza San Marco:

http://www.carloscarpa.es/Olivetti.html

Congratulations!

[John Hudson]

This is the plaque on the wall of a modern building near the Piazza Manin, commemorating the workplace of the Manutii. I stumbled on this by chance when I was last in Venice, ten years ago.

[angelsanchez]

You will also find beautiful signs like this one I photographed there last year:

[rs_donsata]

Well, that´s a good starting poing John. I promise some good lettering snapshots and maybel I´ll buey something on the Olivetti Showroom.

[J.Montalbano]

A few things from my visit to Venice a few years ago...

[dfp]

It's a strange advice for a person who's going to pass his honeymoon in Venice, but...

I live in Mestre and I recommend you to visit the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (Marciana Library), the most important library in Venice and one of the most important in Italy (not only the museum: go into the library). There you can find a lot of incunabula and books of the sixteenth century (see OPAC at http://polovea.sebina.it/SebinaOpac/Opac). In Marciana there's the complete aldine collection (for example, there are two copies of DE AETNA by Pietro Bembo [IMPRESSUM VENETIIS IN AEDIBUS ALDI ROMANI MENSE FEBRVARIO ANNO .M.VD.]; the most beautiful copy is "ALDINE 380": it's a magic to hold it in your hands [but less then to hold your future wife in your arms]). Warning: to read requested book(s) you have to wait half an hour, at least; so, if you are going to take a visit, you must have clear ideas of what you want to see before entering. You can find information about the rules of the library at http://marciana.venezia.sbn.it/ (in italian).

And if you have time, you can visit "Tipoteca Italiana Fondazione": a typeface and printing museum in Cornuda (not so far from Venice; nevertheless there's some difficult to reach it by train). It's very very interesting (information at http://www.tipoteca.it/) and it's near to Asolo (remember Bembo) and not so far from the Dolomites (better than a museum for the honeymoon; and in november is not so cold yet).

Good luck.

[rs_donsata]

Great, I won't miss the Marciana Library!

[vinceconnare]

[ak]

San Michele cemetary

[quadibloc]

Yes, that even in Venice, workplace of Nicolas Jenson and Aldus Manutilus, we see Comic Sans used inappropriately... is hardly surprising.

[John Hudson]

James, we have many of the same photos I think.
_____

If you find yourself in the vicinity of San Giorgio dei Greci, the Greek Orthodox cathedral, keep your eye open for a lovely sign that was outside when I was last there: an imaginative use of brass Latin letters to represent Greek. I recall an upside down U representing Π as the biggest stretch.

[rs_donsata]

I found it but i can't insert images, I get: onHTTPError: 500.

Apart from a very rewarding visit to the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (no photos allowed) I had little time to watch for type and inscriptions but I will be posting a few pics the next days as soon as I can figure out the 500 error.

[kentlew]

The Punchcut IT guys are working on resolving the image upload issues.

In the meantime, you can embed images using <img> tags if you want. If you have a lot of images, you might upload them all to Flickr, then embed one or two here with <img> tags, and then link out to the whole set there.

[rs_donsata]

Three humble Found Type Snapshots from Venice, next week I'll post a couple more from Rome:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hectormunoz/sets/72157623644292427/

[hrant]

Sorry I had missed this thread!

Venice was one of the stops during my own honeymoon (back
in 1995). And we were lucky to have been there on a Tuesday,
since that's when you can catch a ferry to the Armenian island
of San Lazzaro, which is a surreal place even in the context of
Venice... Typographically, they have a truly amazing library
containing ancient, delicate tomes in numerous writing systems.
Related: http://armenotype.com/2010/11/remembering-the-mekhitarists/

BTW, I hope you had a great honeymoon!

hhp

[rs_donsata]

Yes, it was very good. We actually lost our train to Rome because I was on the Biblioteca Marciana sniffing the copy of De Aetna recommended by dfp, I'm sure I could have found a better use for those 150 euros but the experience was worth it and she forgave me soon.

[rs_donsata]

Ok, here are some pictures from Rome:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hectormunoz/sets/72157629356629948/with/703...

The last five pictures of this set are found type in Rome. Nothing original.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hectormunoz/sets/72157623644292427/

[hrant]

Nice!
Thanks for sharing.

hhp