Boston Flora

Tag: Venice

  • Friday, November 14, 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm Eastern – Venice and Water: A Hydrological History, Online

    Few cities in the world are as intertwined with water as Venice. Built on more than 100 small islands in a lagoon along the Adriatic coast, Venice evolved from a marshy refuge into a powerful maritime republic—and its relationship with water has defined its history, politics, culture, and identity for more than a millennium.

    Historian Dennis Romano, author of Venice: The Remarkable History of the Lagoon City, explores how the aquatic environment of the Venetian lagoon has shaped nearly every aspect of life in the city. Over the course of its 1,600-year history, citizens have regarded the surrounding waters in remarkably varied ways: as a vital safeguard and source of sustenance; a complex engineering challenge; an obstacle to be overcome; and today, an existential threat. Romano examines the physical and hydrological characteristics of the lagoon and considers how shifting perceptions of water have influenced Venice’s development, resilience, and vulnerability. Through this lens, he offers a deeper understanding of the city’s past and the urgent questions it faces in the present.

    This Smithsonian Associates online program is presented on Zoom on November 14 at noon, and is $20 for Smithsonian members, $30 for nonmembers. Register at https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/programs/venice-and-water

  • May, 2017 – Wildflowers of the Italian Lakes & Croatian Islands

    Discover the pristine lakes, Romanesque architecture and gardens of the Italians Lakes district, before crossing into Slovenia to the beautiful town of Bled. Continue into Croatia then sail along the picturesque Dalmatian Coast. This two week Botanica World Discoveries tour will take place in May of 2017. Following your arrival in Milan you will travel to the magnificent Italian Lakes District. The three first days will include city sightseeing in Milan, a ferry ride to Isola Bella and the Isola Madre Gardens, Villa Carlotta and Villa Melzi Gardens, a tour of Verona and the Giardini Giusti, and a morning in Venice. Then, you will cross the border into Slovenia and the town of Bled. On day seven Croatia beckons, and the World Heritage-listed Plitvice Lakes National Park (pictured). In the city of Zadar, you will board the Royal Eleganza, your cruise ship home for the next seven nights. You will visit Split, travel up the River Cetina to Hvar, and cruise the Dalmatian Coast to Korcula, then on to Dubrovnik and Montenegro.  Photo from www.youramazingplaces.com. Prices begin at $9,135 per person, flights not included. Maximum 30 guests. The complete itinerary and details may be found at www.botanicatours.com. 

  • Sunday, May 1, 12:00 noon – Wednesday, May 4, 2:00 pm – 19th Annual Newport Symposium: Great Places

    What makes a great place? The 2011 Newport Symposium, May 2 to May 4, will answer that question, examining the great places of the world and their creators, whether stately houses, gardens, galleries of art treasures, or entire cities. The illustrious line-up of international speakers for our 19th annual Symposium is available online, or call Patricia Peterson at (401) 847-1000 ext. 154 for more information and to register.  Highlights include a pre-symposium tour of Great Places in Colonial Newport: Hunter House and The Samuel Whitehorne House, an opening reception at The Elms, Piranesi’s Rome: The Imagination of an Archaeological Fantasy, Gondola Days: Venice in the American Imagination, Illusions of Grandeur: Chick Austin’s Stage-Set House (pictured below), Beauport: Henry Davis Sleeper’s Eclectic Showpiece, The Grandest Room in the Colonies: The Cadwalader Furniture Rediscovered, Great Galleries: Great Spaces for Art and Science, Dumfries House, A Timeless Place: The Chateau de Montgeoffroy, tours and dinner at The Breakers.

  • Wednesday, December 1, 12:00 noon – Soft Infrastructure

    The final lecture for the Fall season of The Environmental Institute will be presented Wednesday, December 1, at noon at 105 HLLS North, Procopio Room at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  Catherine Seavitt, Principal, Catherine Seavitt Studio, and member of the faculty at Princeton University School of Architecture, will discuss the Palisade Bay Project, a proposed adaptive transformation of the Upper Bay of New York Harbor in the face of climate change and global sea level rise. This collaborative research imagines a “soft infrastructure” for the Upper Bay, rethinking thresholds of water, land, and city, and challenging the “hard” infrastructure of storm surge barrier solutions to flooding. “Soft infrastructure” strategies work to alternatively buffer or absorb flooding, while also creating a new destination on the water. The work, published in the book On the Water: Palisade Bay (Hatje Cantz, 2010) is the result of a two-year research project funded by The Latrobe Prize, a biennial research grant awarded by the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects for collaborative research. This work served as the inspiration for the workshop and exhibition “Rising Currents: Projects for New York’s Waterfront,” which opened at the Museum of Modern Art in March 2010, and is currently on exhibit as part of the U. S. Pavilion exhibition Workshopping: An American Model of Architectural Practice at the 2010 Biennale di Architettura in Venice, Italy.

    For directions and more information, log on to www.umass.edu/tei/TEI/LectureSeriesFall2010.html