On my last trip to Venice, I wanted to find the Libreria Acqua Alta touted as "the most beautiful bookshop in the world".
I have a penchant for jumbled, chaotic bookshops that have stacks of books with a few stray cats roaming the aisles.....throwing a gondola in the middle of the room was just icing on the cake!
I picked an overcast day to find the shop. Located in the Castello sestiere, I wound through tiny calles , some so small that as the rain started, my umbrella scraped both sides of the stone walls.
And then I found it! The tables outside were covered with plastic due to the rain and the cats took refuge inside...a soft rain was falling....perfect book browsing weather!
Luigi Frizzo, owner of the shop, was very kind as he allowed me to dig freely in the two rooms of books. I found a rare book that caught my eye, some art prints and then I found the boxes of postcards!
I was fascinated. I bought way too many, but the artwork and writing on the back was intriguing.
The postcards will be used for reference when I am painting. Some are photos and some are lovely artist's illustrations of gondolas and other iconic images of Venice.
10 comments:
how fabulous! I will have to look for this shop next month - I am hoping to sneak off to Venice for a couple of days!
Wonderful post, Theresa, Italy is next on travel plans.
Dear Theresa, Oh my, what fun! Love this post. My kind of place. A fabulous bookstore and Venice all at the same tme. I would be in hog heaven. Thank you Theresa for bringing back beautiful memories of Venice. ox, Gina
How wonderful Lynne! I found it quite *challenging* to find. Luigi is quite the charmer..."if beauty is a flower, then you are a bouquet" was told to every woman that entered the shop!
Gina- all memories of Venice are lovely! I agree, this shop sums up the true feel of Venice.
Theresa, loved the video. If I can't be there, the next best thing is looking through another artist's eyes. Thank you. Sandy
This looks like the perfect way to spend a rainy day. And when you can chalk up such interesting and aesthetic treasures as reference, that's even better!
I love how the paths wind and suddenly you come across a treasure like this!
A great way to spend a rainy day in Venice!
xoxo
Karena
Special Giveaway from Scalamandre!
Hello! I'm very glad you liked my photo (the gondola)but just a bit sad also that there's no mention to the blog where it comes from:
http://las-palabras-magicas.blogspot.com.es/2011/07/snapshots-from-venice.html
Bye!
My apologies laspalabras...I really thought I had used only my personal photos. I checked mine and it is not quite the same angle, and I had chose yours from the web. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
Post a Comment