How Campo Santa Margherita had been designed

The Venetian lagoon was born in 800 b.C. and there were already some settlements; since then the city had been developing through many and different phases: Romans, Barbarians, Byzantines, the Serenissima (Republic of Venice), the Turkish Empire, Napoleon, the Austrian dominion and the Fascism.

Campo Santa Margherita hadn’t always been as we can see it now in 2010; before the XIX century, in the south it was defined by a canale, where the Scuola dei Varoteri was (it was where people lernt how to work the leather).

The school was the building isoleted in the southern side of the campo; nowadays, it belongs to the municipality. In 1800 Campo Santa Margherita landed up at the back of the little house and it gained its present aspect when many rii (canals) were filled in. In that period this urban operation was really common because of the need to enlarge the road network, to land reclamation and the necessity of better hygienic conditions.

In Campo Santa Margherita there’s a stone decoration in which “COLMATO IL RIVO A MAGGIOR AMPIEZZA” is engraved. It means exactlly that the canal was there had been overwhelmed.

The Chiesa di Santa Margherita was built by Geniaco Busignaco in the IX century, at the birth of the Venetian Republic. It was deconsecrated after 1810 under the Napoleon’s control; since then it was used for social activities and now it’s the centre of the Auditorium of Ca’Foscari University. Its bell tower is the only element on the campo. It’s characteristic in Santa Margherita because it’s cut off: the higher part was demolished in 1808 because precarious.

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Persone: a social exhibition

Persone was a project organised by “Chiama l’Africa” in 2008. It began in Venice, in Campo Santa Margherita (18th-21st April 2008) and then it continued in many other Italian squares. 100 silhouettes of African people were put all around in the area. These were shapes of real people, who accepted to be photographed in order to tell their stories. They came from different African zones and had different experiences. The aim of Persone was the comunication and connection between cultures. Among the outlines, there were some mirror silhouettes: in this ways, the person walking through them, could see him/herself and feel part of the group, integrated.

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This is C’art. Art and comics in Campo Santa Margherita

C’art is a project taking place in Santa Margherita once per year. It’s composed by meetings and presentations by famous comics drawers. Moreover, workshops are shelduded for children in order to try to put them in contact with the world of illustrations and drawing.

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Why Campo Santa Margherita? Interview: Ezio Micelli

On Saturday 15th of May I interwied Ezio Micelli, the new town-planning assessor of Venice. During this meeting I had the chance to get to know my city better. Since I’ve moved to Milan, I’m spending not so much time in Venice and I’m losing all its workings and logics; and I’m happy that Mr Micelli helped me to focus and understand them.

As we know Campo Santa Margherita has got an huge social and funtional role. But why it? Well, Mr Micelli explained me that the new Venetian centre is Piazzale Roma, no more the old town. Almost everybody, who has been to Venice, knows it: it’s the big square full of parking near the railway station, it’s one of the few places where there’re cars in the city: P.le Roma is the most important coupling to reach the terraferma through the Ponte della Libertà.

 

 

I didn’t expect that a big park could be the city centre; however, that’s it! Lately, it has been developed a lot. First, many headquarters of public institutions have moved to round this area; second, the Calatrava’s Bridge (the 4th on the Canal Grande) has been built and it links P.le Roma to Santa Lucia Railway Station. The bridge has got a very important funtion because, before its building, to reach P.le Roma from the railway people had to lengthen the route and nowadays the cover to go through is shorter.

Third, another mean of transport has been built: the People Mover. It’s a train, it goes from P.le Roma to Tronchetto and vice versa. Like the Calatrava bridge, it also shorten the distances so that now it takes just 3 minutes.

Thanks to this changes, P.le Roma has been transformed from a peripheral area to the new centre. It’s interesting to focus our attention to this aspect: Venice is becoming more and more touristic and its centre has moved from the centre that attracts tourists (Piazza San Marco) to a very important coupling. P.le Roma isn’t just the link to the terraferma, it’s the link to the world, in the way the city lives in its reality.

However, P.le Roma couldn’t be a social area where people meet. So, where do the people go? To the closer area: Campo Santa Margherita that it’s just 5 minute walks far.

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Shall we dance?

It’s summer, night: immagine you arrive in Campo Santa Margherita andthere’re peole dancing. Trust me, I’ve been there and I can say it’s amazing! A group stages tango classes and shows in various campi. I love this aspect of Venice: usually there’s nothing to do but you could decide to use and the live the space as you want, of course respecting law: just a bit of fantasy and imagination and you could create your fun and be the artist, the protagonist.

 

I can’t find a video about these events in Campo Santa Margherita; however, just to have an idea, here the links to videos of similar situations in Campo San Giacomo and in Madonna della Salute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx-watfKN_w 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOib7p6PYl4

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Interviewing Matilde

I’ve already underlined the uniqueness of Venice for its atmosphere and for its habits. Differently from other cities, there are very few common things to do for a young people. In Venice everything is different! We know that young people meet in Santa Margherita on Saturday nights and they usually have a spritz as appetizer. From this point of view, the city is really boring! Here we have the experience from a young girl.

Matilde studies architecture at IUAV in Venice and she’s attending the last year. I’ve have the chance to talk to her and therefore to have a testimony by an off-residence student.

I’ve asked her if she attends Campo Santa Margherita and in which way that means what she is used to do there. Matilde’s said: “I attend the campo less than other people because I live near Campo San Giovanni e Paolo that’ s a little bit far from Santa Margherita. However, sometimes it happens that I pass through it both in the mornig and in the evening, when I  go to class to Santa Marta. If I attend it, I do expecially in the night: after lesson, we often have an appetizer there. It could sound common, but many students meet there! They go to Santa Margherita to drink something, to celebrate their graduation and so on. It’s the meeting point in Venice (with Erbaria di Rialto).”

Matilde has also described Campo Santa Margherita lived by children and tourists: “It’s amazing to see children playing football in the campo or drawing on the masegni. Of couse, the campo belongs also to the tourists, that have a stop there to drink and eat something”.

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Maggio Veneziano: Paolo Trevisanato (2)

On 8th and 9th of May during the Maggio Veneziano, in Campo Santa Margherita there were a lot of stalls by social associations.

Also Paolo Trevisanato was there to promote his foundation, called fondazione elena trevisanato onlus. It was founded in 2007 by Paolo, his sister Sara and their parents in remebrance of Elena, Paolo’s sister, after her death. Many times Elena had expressed her intention to dedicate herself to children; for this reason the aim of the foundation is to carry out solidarity activities expecially addressed to childhood.

The aim of the market in campo was to sell different kind of objects (t-shirts, bags, shops, baskets made by Ethiopian children, wooden objects, etc.); the earnings are going to be used by the foundation. Unfortunately, they haven’t taken any photo.

Visit the link to know more information about what they do:

http://www.fondazione-elena.org/pages/index.php?m=2

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Maggio Veneziano: Vetrina del Volontariato e della Solidarietà(1)

During May, the municipality of Venice (Direzione Politiche Sociali Partecipative e dell’Accoglienza) organizes a lot of initiatives in the campi and calli.

Also in this occasion, Campo Santa Margherita shows its social rule; on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th it gives hospitality to many Voluntary Associations. They are organized in stalls selling every kind of things and the earnings will be used to social aims.

Here below the program:

XVI FIERA DELL’ASSOCIAZIONISMO E DEL VOLONTARIATO DI VENEZIA Campo S. Margherita

Sabato 8 e Domenica 9 Maggio ore 12-20 e 10-20

Mercatino delle Associazioni, favole e teatro dei burattini, animazione e giochi in campo.

Sabato 8: ore 12 Apertura Mercatino delle Associazioni; ore 16. A.A.A. Famiglie solidali cercansi; ore 16.30 favole animate per bambini e laboratorio “Giochiamo agli artigiani”.

Domenica 9: ore 10 Apertura Mercatino; ore 12 “La ricchezza delle differenze, uno Spritz per dialogare”; ore 16 spettacolo di burattini.

Vetrina del Volontariato e della Solidarietà

http://www.comune.venezia.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeBLOB.php/L/IT/IDPagina/36069

locandina maggio veneziano

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Not to be a tourist

If you walk through Campo Santa Margherita, you will be able to notice that it’s really different from other more touristic areas of the city. As we’ve already seen, it’s a trade and meeting centre, but if you would like a souvenir you’re in the wrong place. In Campo Santa Margherita there’s just one characteristic shop and it sells masks: that’s it!

Santa Margherita is a place where a tourist could feel as a Venetian. Usually, whole Venice is crowded by people provided with a map and a camera, too worried about what they have to see rather than see and visit. I believe that the secret to know such particular and special city is to get lost: walking through these little streets (calli), listening to people speaking in dialect, watching at strange Venetian habits i.e. putting out the windows the wet clothes. Well, Campo Santa Margherita is the right place to get in contact with the real soul of Venice.

From my point of view, Venice is one of the most beautiful and amazing cities in the world not because of its “no cars situation” and everybody must move on foot; it’s special for its atmosphere. When I lived in Venice, I used to walk a lot, sometimes without a destination and I love the sensation that I used to feel: it was the occasion to reflect and stay with myself. When you’re in the no commercial Venice, it seems to live in a dream, to be in the past in some little town around a castle; everything is equal to people! You’ve to try this! Above all, all this feeling could be amplified by a foggy weather.

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Mayor, what do you think about it?

Through my blog you’re discovering how Campo Santa Margherita is used and what it means for the Venetians. During the last weekend, I’ve had the chance to interview the new Venetian Mayor, Giorgio Orsoni.

“As everybody knows, Campo Santa Margherita has got a very important social function, young people always meet there on Saturday, but there are many law and order problems“, said Orsoni. As we already know, the campo is a meeting point but when I’ve talked about it, I haven’t focused on all the conseguences of this tradition. People meet there, chat while they’re drinking something but they bluster and soil. For those who live there, it’s a big problem, because kids keep making noise till late in the night; moreover, they maybe get drunk, feel bad and leave the area dirty.

The Mayor is working on it in order to find a solution, to conciliate citizens to the “fun stuff”. Suggestions?

http://giorgioorsoni.com/

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