Our time in Venice on the Island of Burano

VIDEO: Serenaded on Burano by the Fishermen

Saturday August 13th, Venice

At 5:30 we took a water taxi from our hotel on Lido island to the island of Burano, (The Island of the Fishermen. On the way we passed an island that is completely surrounded by cypress trees so that you can’t see the interior. This entire island is the cemetery of Venice. Burano was amazing even on our approach. From the distance you could see a large church tower in the center identifying the small island. The tower leaned at a great pitch (our guide Roberto complained that the islands of Venice have 9 leaning towers. Pisa only has 1 and gets all the notoriety. We did see a couple on the main island as well to his credit). As we got closer to Burano, the island was very small and very charming and quaint. The buildings were all lttle row houses all painted differently in solid vibrant colors creating a rainbow effect with the buildings. Many shops featured lace materials, all hand made on the island. We had an appointment at a restaurant there with our group and Roberrto said that the shops would all be closed after we were done eating which was very discouraging to Dina and Robin. Our dinner was going to be a long, traditional Italian style meal though so the girls sat on the ends of the table, and went out to the square directly outside of the restaurant between courses to shop and shoot photographs for Robin’s project.
The meal was simple, a liter of white wine, and a liter of red wine, almost rose’ like but a bit deeper red color and chilled. The servers didn’t understand English though and could only answer my question of
“What are these wines?” with
“white and red (you idiot)”.
We started out with some very thin toast with an amazing spread of minced cod fish and mayonnaise. It was much better than it sounds. Then the salad, then fried calamari, fried shrimp, and broiled fish fillets .
“What kind of fish” I asked?
“White Fish (you BIG idiot”!
Cole and I kept amusing ourselves as the girls were running back and forth from outside shopping to gulp down the next course and return. Cole had a bit more wine during this period than would probably have met approval from his mother but in Italy, doctors advise parents of new borns that wine is ok after they reach 5 years old.
Just before dessert was served, the girls came back to sadly say the shops were all closing. Robin was pleased to have found a group of older gentlemen sitting in front of a bar in the main piazza beautifully singing at the top of their lungs in Italian. This I had to see so I forewent the dessert and asked her to show me.

We came upon the sweetest scene I could’ve imagined. Seven older gentlemen, all easily way over 70 sitting around a small table in the square drinking Compari and a liter of white wine. The village shops were closing up, but everyone still in the street were all standing several feet away surrounding this table enjoying the show. I noticed that the wine liter on their table was empty so I went into the bar and it took awhile to make the proprietor understand I wanted a liter of "whatever the old men singing" were drinking. When she poured the white wine, I carried it out to the table and placed it in their midst, and they immediately stopped singing and looked at me.
It was a bit awkward and tense for only a few seconds until I was able to tell them that this was for them and not to stop. They promptly patted me on the back, pulled up a chair for me and I sat with them as they launcehe into another beautiful song at the top of their lungs in my direction. As Robin approached us and sat on my lap, they absconded another chair from one of their friends at a nearby table (he was sitting in it at the time), got her a fresh glass and poured a heaping glass of wine for her.
After their initial song was finished, they all tried to speak to me. It was painful. We so wanted to converse but there was no way I could make them understand me, and they spoke very fast without interruption assuming that I understood them. Robin left to go back to the restaurant, but I couldn’t bring myself to break away from my new friends. The oldest of the group, who was the only one playing an instrument (an accordion older than I am he was more than proficient with) finally was able to tell me his name was Louie. I was able to tell him that was my padre’s name somehow. Another one who was sitting across from me came over and after a minute or so made me understand he was from Austria.
“Ah”! I said, “Sprechen sie Deutsch?”
“Ja “ he said and we spoke very child like and slowly for several minutes in German. His name was Rolf, and he was a fisherman who retired on this island and found it most beautiful and never wanted to leave. Just before they were about to begin the next song, he asked me where I was born. I told him “New York”, and then he spoke to me in perfect English! We both laughed, but too late. The group started up with their next performance and he laughed all the way around the table back to his spot.
During this number, I could see Dina nervously approaching in the distance with Roberto very quickly. I wondered what Robin had told them I was doing. Her anxious gait and expression started softening as she came nearer and she began laughing at me as I shrugged and pointed to the liter of wine in the middle of the table. No explanation needed for her as she leaned to Roberto and said something I couldn’t possibly hear. He laughed and walked over to a nearby table and sat down to watch smililng at me. Dina joined me followed by Cole and Robin and we were all privately serenaded by this magnificent septet while the crowd watched. At the end they all pointed to the kids and to Dina and said “Mama” and to me; “Papa!” and smiled.
Dina handed me the dessert I had missed at dinner, 4 large pieces of almond toblerone. I broke it and gave each of my friends a piece. This was right out of a Seinfeld episode! In unison they all started mumbling about how bad their teeth were and smiled to show me. They all had beautiful smiles, but there was no way their teeth would handle the stickiness of the candy.
Dina was able to tell them I was in the fish business, and I showed them some photos from the seafood counters at Wegmans which greatly impressed them (especially a photo of an 80lb Opah from Hawaii). They asked me to come back tomorrow as the town was now closed but we explained we were leaving and could not and said our goodbyes. This memory will stay with me forever.