Venice – our partnership to help preserve la Serenissima

Dr Susan Steer is an art historian based in Venice, where she is also the representative for the charity Venice in Peril. Here she describes its work and how MRT is contributing to its efforts to safeguard the future of the World Heritage site.

In 1966 Venice was devastated by a great flood. The catastrophe prompted an appeal by UNESCO and the Italian state for the world to assist in preserving this incredible city. The Venice in Peril Fund was the first of the international bodies established as a result, to safeguard Venice and its monuments and artworks.

The charity was founded in Britain by Sir Ashley Clarke, former ambassador to Rome. It began life as the Italian Art and Archives Fund and was renamed Venice in Peril in 1977, because Florence, which had also suffered from flood damage, had somewhat taken the limelight. The organisation needed to highlight Venice’s plight.

Not everyone will know that Martin Randall Travel has been a significant supporter of Venice in Peril over the years. Along with other funders, it has been an important donor to one of our most ambitious and high-profile projects – the restoration of the cenotaph of the celebrated sculptor and diplomat Antonio Canova (1757-1822). The Canova Monument, in the great Basilica of the Frari, had deteriorated over many years and was in danger of collapse. It required partial rebuilding with noncorrosive steel cramps and dowels because the internal iron metalwork had corroded due to the saline content in the water. Historic conservation treatments had further exacerbated the problem.

A unique environment

The half-a-million euro project to save this important Neo Classical monument was highly complex. It was also emblematic of the unique environmental conditions that apply to Venice: the water, damp and saline levels are factors affecting all of the city’s fragile historic fabric and infastructure.

Both Venice in Peril, and MRT, are about valuing and making a really significant contribution to supporting cultural treasures. With Martin Randall Travel, it’s about engaging in a really meaningful way with the culture of a place, whether the music, the gastronomy, or with my tours, the art and the architecture.

Making a contribution

In a recent initiative that further cements our relationship, MRT has instigated a donation to Venice in Peril that pays a sum for each of its tours there, per person, per day. This is a direct contribution to the work of the charity.

As well as focusing on particular sculptures, buildings, paintings and manuscripts, Venice in Peril also supports and funds research into the city. For example, it has supported the Venetian paintings research laboratory in various ways since the latter’s inception at San Gregorio in the late 1960s.

In recent years the charity has funded a research post at the laboratory, which is now based at the Scuola Vecchia della Misericordia. For the last 14 years, it has also supported an internship for graduates of the London City and Guilds programme in Conservation. This enables two postgraduates to come and work on the church of San Giorgio Maggiore as part of a larger coordinated project. This has beautiful synergies; the interns are getting experience and prestige in contributing to the study of this great Palladian monument. But they’re also learning about the particular challenges of the environment in Venice. So it’s about developing the next generation of stone conservators and experts on the city.

I’m hugely grateful to Martin Randall Travel not just for inviting me to lead groups that have a really deep interest in the material culture of this city, but who in doing so, actually make a financial contribution to help support its future. I think that’s lovely.

Visit www.veniceinperil.org for more information on this important charity.