Saturday, September 4, 2010

Venice Bookstore Palette

Most Beautiful Bookstore in Venice
When my sister and I were in Venice this past May, we came across a bookstore that touted its claim as the "Most Beautiful Bookstore in Venice" outside its door. Intrigued by the cats that were sleeping in their outdoor basket homes outside, and the interesting entryway, we ventured in. There were gondolas filled with books, boats filled with books, gondolas suspended from the ceiling (filled with books) and piles and piles of books everywhere!! The store owner was a really nice man who liked us a lot, and it was apparent that he had a lot of cool books in three main languages: Italian, English and German... the three languages that he spoke. The whole store had a bookish musty smell to it that I love. And out back there was a really cool little courtyard for a breath of fresh air, I suppose. The entire place had this crumbling old paper color to it that I tried to capture with this palette. Here are a few more pictures of this cool place...

The entrance to the bookstore
Cat baskets with sleeping cats inside
Green courtyard out back
A bathtub filled with... books, of course!
A view down one part of the bookstore
 So, in looking at the general colors of the bookstore, what do think of my palette? Does it represent the feel of the place? If you ever go to Venice, I'd recommend stumbling across this place. (Ha ha!) There aren't really any ways to explain how to get there, though... you just sort of wander around until you see something you like. That's the only way to go. If you actually try to find specific places, it's an exercise in futility. (My sister and I tried to get to the Dorsoduro, an entire AREA of Venice that is basically "the bottom" of it, and had a VERY hard time! We never actually got to explore it, as it took ALL DAY to find it, and then it started to pour and we had no umbrellas.) But if you stumble across this place,  definitely go in and wander about. The owner is friendly and likes it when people just hang out for a bit and admire his store. It's really fun and gives you a bibliophile's view of true Venice. 

3 comments:

Brandi Hussey said...

LOVE that book shop! I so want to be there right now, browsing through. Finding anything seems a bit intimidating, but still. What a great way to spend an afternoon in Venice!

shari said...

Totally... at FIRST it's intimidating because there's so much to see. But then you realize that everything is just in general sections, like: art, photography, fiction, non-fiction... and nothing is greatly organized. So you don't feel so intimidated and wandering around slowly seems to be the best and only way to go!

Orion Designs said...

What a great find that bookstore was! I love your photos of the place and your palette is perfect.

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