Globe-trotting Editor at Large ALEXANDER HANKIN reports from Save Venice’s wildly extravagent Il Gran Gala a Venezia: Carnevale.
It’s that jet-set time of year. I fly eight hours from New York to Milan, take a three-hour car ride and then board a boat and zip through the Venetian canals to the legendary Gritti Palace. My (upgraded, natch) suite has frescoes on the ceiling and crystal chandeliers. I feel like the Doge himself. I’m in Italy for Save Venice’s Il Gran Gala a Venezia: Carnevale – a multi-day extravaganza that transforms historic venues into stunning celebrations of art and culture all raising funds for the preservation of Venice’s treasures.
Right away, I race over to St. Mark’s Square to score my costume. My head-to-toe “fancy dress” (as the Brits say) is by haute couturier Antonia Sautter. Sautter’s congenial team attempt to get me into something simple, but I’m not having it. I’m a Leo. I ask for something way, way more over the top. At the ball, I plan to make a very dramatic entrance.
The Symphony of the Sea Soirée at the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello kicks off the festivities. Ryan Jensen, Faryn Altschuler, Natalie Dougherty and I board a private gondola from the Gritti and head to the event. Acclaimed pianist Ergi Cane performs in the grand Salone dei Concerti. Dressed to the nines in black-tie adorned with masks inspired by emeralds and sapphires, we mingle over cocktails and traditional Carnevale sweets. I get home early as tomorrow is a big day.
The morning starts at the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore with a lecture on Venetian sculpture at Sala degli Arazzi by C.D. Dickerson III, Save Venice board member and senior curator of European and American Art at the Washington D.C. National Gallery of Art. Lunch is in in the Refectory, the palatial dining room designed by Palladio. On one end of the room is a facsimile of Paolo Veronese’s Wedding Feast at Cana, which was displayed here until 1797 and now resides in the Louvre. I catch up with board chairman Frederick Ilchman and tons of friends like Adelina Wong Ettelson and Meri Miller. After dessert, Melissa Conn, director of the Venice office for Save Venice, takes us to witness the beginning stages of the conservation on Jacopo Tintoretto’s paintings The Last Supper and The Israelites in the Desert at the Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore.
After a disco nap, I hit The Palazzo Labia Ball. The theme is celestial black and white. I wear a Fendi tuxedo, complete with cap, taking inspiration from the Sailor Moon character “Tuxedo Mask.” The ballroom is lined with Giambattista Tiepolo’s frescoes, including The Banquet of Cleopatra – the inspiration for the ball. Charles Tolbert thrills guests with unexpected news: Save Venice’s ambitious plan to restore the hall’s frescoes. Everyone cheers. Then Jeremy Irons surprises everyone, taking the stage to read from Shakespeare’s Antony & Cleopatra. More cheers. Jeremy brings his wife Sinéad Cusack on stage, and they perform a scene as Antony and Cleopatra. I scan the room for producer friends – this performance warrants an encore on Netflix. Over dessert, opera star Alex Simpson sings arias, accompanied by The Venice Music Project. When the Goldsingers, known as “the party band” from Monaco, start playing Abba’s “Dancing Queen,” I grab Casey Kohlberg and Lizzie Asher, and we throw our arms in the air and dance like we’re at a Venetian Bar Mitzvah.
Sunday morning is a bit rough. I don my new Golden Goose blazer, pinned with a Schiaparelli lion brooch and meet up with Henry Campos. We tour the Jewish Ghetto and the incredible renovation efforts taking place in synagogues and museums, all funded by Save Venice. The rebirth of the synagogue moves me immensely. I saw the dilapidated state it had been in just two years ago and I am awe-struck by the splendor that has been restored. Next, we go to the (also newly restored) Palazzo Bottega Veneta, where we have lunch. The day feels very Shakespearian, probably because Jeremy Irons and Sinéad Cusack, our Antony and Cleopatra from the night before, are with us every step of the way.
“During Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye,” Dewi Sukarno the famously stylish former first lady of Indonesia, is brought up and serenaded in front of everyone.”
Tonight is the big bang: The Artist’s Dream Masquerade Ball at the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. I make my dramatic entrance, looking like the Doge in an elaborate embroidered silk opera costume by Antonia Sautter. I see Cornelia Jackson Holst and Daniel Howard in 18th century outfits, looking like something out of an Italian fairytale. Inspired by the paintings of Tiepolo and Canaletto, the grand room two long tables leading to an alter where dancers and singers perform in – what else? – costumes by Antonia Sautter. During Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye,” Dewi Sukarno the famously stylish former first lady of Indonesia, is brought up and serenaded in front of everyone. Then Madonna’s “Vogue” comes on. Save Venice executive director Amy Gross and I sweep everyone into a dance party frenzy. And as for the rest of the night… well, what happens in Venice, stays in Venice.
