A mixture between local and global will be represented by the new Hard Rock Cafè, which will open on 21st December 2008, three days later than expectations because of the incredible high tide of the latest weeks that have slowed down its setting up in basin Orseolo, behind St. Mark’s Square. It is the second location of the well-known multinational dealing with refreshment, belonging to the Indian tribe Serminole, opening in Italy after the one of Rome.

As far as the internal furniture is concerned, as we were saying previously, there will be both elements reminding us of the lagoon tradition – such as a red chandelier “Tiziano di Venini”, or the Venetian floor, and the unfailing aperitif spritz included in the menu – and  the classic relics of the history of music, from the drums with the Beatles’ autographs, to the original version of “Is that a fact?” pen written by  Noel Gallagher, beside the leather jacket of John Rotten of the Sex Pistols and Richie Sambora’s guitar, namely

From 12 to 22 december 2008
Venezia, Favaro, Fossò, Quarto d’Altino

The tasting dedicated to chocolate, the multi celebrated ‘food of the gods’, strengthens the common thread of Winter in Venice for purity tied to taste, generated by the genuineness of the raw and natural products. The cooperation with Slow Food Veneto guarantees the quality of the events and care for the preparations of those combinations between chocolate and other flavors presented in an attractive and new fashion. In December, villas, gardens, palaces and theatres will be transformed in warm and charming tastes laboratories, where master Chocolatiers and spices connoisseurs will reveal their secrets and will let the

from 29 november 2008 to 23 december 2008
Campo Santo Stefano

Christmas on the Lagoon is back. That’s the 10th edition of the colorful Christmas Market held in Venice and it will start on 29 November and open every day, from 10.30am to 7.30pm, until December the 23rd. Gastronomic stands and local handicrafts and items: glass, bijoux, paintings, hats, home decor and much more

from november 29, 2008 to january 25, 2009

Involving the collaboration of both Ca’ Pesaro museums – the International Gallery of Modern Art and the Museum of Oriental Art – the exhibition comprises some eighty works by the Japanese artist Kuniaki Kurioki (Suki, province of Miyazaki, 1945).

Produced over the last twenty years, these draw upon the unchallenged masterpieces of Japanese art. One source of inspiration is the art of Ogata Kōrin (Kyoto, 1658-1716), a painter and lacquer-worker whose art exemplified the seventeenth-century Rimpa tradition of decoration, which was itself inspired by the art of the Heian period (794-1185). Another is The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, a famous set of coloured wood-cuts created in the years 1833-34 by Utagawa Hiroshige (Tokyo, 1797-1858); enjoying a previously unknown level of popular success, these works formed a sort of ‘travel diary’ in images recounting a journey along the Tōkaidō, the coastal road between Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and Kyoto.

In both cases, Kurioki sets out to interpret rather than replicate the art of former ages. Using his mastery of

December 2008 – January 2009

Since its first edition, Venetian Winter has tried to describe Venice in an apparently colder season, with its places, history, art, customs. Venetian Winter, promoted by the Tourist Promotion Company of Venice in cooperation with the Province and the Venetian Town Hall, the Town Councils of Riviera del Brenta, of Tiepolo’s Land, of Quarto d’Altino and Marcon, proposes, every year, a review dedicated to the taste of chocolate and spices organized with Slow Food, namely the tasting of typical oenological and gastronomic products, concerts like the wonderful one of the Neri per Caso and of the Accademici of the Fenice, and then Christmas meetings, choruses, art exhibitions and the unfailing street markets.