Italy Blog #10 Venice: Tom's Favorite Shop, Mozart Played Here, "Phoenix-like" Opera House

Tom's Favorite "Medicine"

In this 10th blog of our Venice experience, we'll take you to Tom's favorite shop, show you where Mozart played,and a famous opera house that has "risen from the ashes" three times over the last 400 years.
 
TOM'S FAVORITE SHOP NAME - As we walked through the Dosorduro island of Venice we checked out a lot of little shops. There were some GREAT bakeries and I (Rob) made sure we stopped at most of them (despite the sinus infection (it was only on the left side), I could still taste the great pastries). Of course, Tom would take a Margarita (the alcoholic drink) any time over pastries, and when we found a pharmacy with the name Margarita (spelled slightly differently), Tom said "Margarita's are my kind of medicine!"

Mozart was here

MOZART PLAYED HERE - On one of our walks around we came across a plaque on a building that said "Amadeus Mozart played here." We couldn't read much of it because it was all in Italian, but it's always interesting to see where Mozart played. The building was in decay, but we imagine it must have either been a small concert hall or a wealthy person's home.

Rosanna and Tom outside the opera house

THE "RISING PHOENIX-LIKE" OPERA HOUSE - Our second tour guide, Rosanna was a walking encyclopedia, and she knew where all the good bakeries were! :)  One of the first things we saw was an opera house called "Teatro La Fenice" on San Marco Island.It was originally built in 1792 and is located at Campo San Fantin, 1965, 30124 Venezia, Italy.

  WHAT OPERAS WERE THERE? - In the 19th century, La Fenice became the site of many famous operatic premieres at which the works of several of the four major bel canto era composers—Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi were performed.

3 FIRES - Rosanna told us the theater name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes,"  like the mythological bird, the phoenix.
  Fire #1 happened in 1774 and it wasn't reopened until 1792; Fire #2 happened in 1836, but rebuilding was completed within a year. Fire #3 was arson and destroyed the house in 1996 leaving only the exterior walls, but it was rebuilt and re-opened in November 2004.   Although we didn't get to go inside and explore here's a picture of what the rebuilt opera house looks like - amazing!

Inside Teatro La Fenice. Credit: Expedia

NEXT: ST. MARK'S SQUARE