No man is an island but everyone is a crowdLike Nietzsche, when I think of Venice, I think of music, only not Wagner, but Madonna.
Venice is a city whose canals, gondolas, madolins, guitars, accordians, and picturesque buildings seem little changed since the Renaissance..I'll never forget the MTV Like A Virgin shoot. Yet, the the city can't really accommodate the new, just the now.
One Day Instant Tourist
As a pre-packaged tourist-or Pendolaro, it is clear that the end of Venice as a city of Venetians is upon us. I am about to become part of the 80%ers-who stay less than a day in the lagoon. It's not just visited by tourists, but inhabited by them. Even though I am hitting it and quitting it, it seems in the gaze of locals that "we" are just one critical mass, and more than that, from their POV, "always here" and "Here comes everybody!".
Yet it remains the epitome of the tourist experience, created and re-created in an instant feedback loop of desire and demand.
A Tale of Two Cities
It is easy to see the difference between the cardboard Venice that created a manufactured Vegas Tourist attraction and overwhelming kitsch , and the live version where the PIPL are custodians of an organic destination spot, saturated in meaning.
Venice and Vegas, however, usurp their own publicity.They both produce and export nothing. The both use the same business model:They both blend entertainment and information. They both eploit cash bearing adventure-seeking tourists. The three C's crowd-cash, condos and cars-meet the 3C's-- culture, consumption and conferences.
See Capri and die. To See Venice, you must die first...
With the highest density of ice cream shops in Europe, there's plenty of Gelato. In fact, that is the only thing Venice you actually consume, everything else is actually consuming the image of a vintage Venice of frozen yet beautiful architecture.
I'm living the dream er I mean, Being here is better than the dream. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas verses Death in Venice. Make the call.
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