On Friday, September 12th, there was a special Souper in Venice. At our table we had Ankie Schellekens (owner Venice Planner), architect/ photographer Giovanni Vio (phd IUAV) and architect Silvia Dainese (studio GRISDAINESE). Later architect Stefano Gris (studio GRISDAINESE) also joined us.

The exhibition Monditalia at the Architecture Biennale was a good input to talk to people who live in Venice. Monditalia shows that the country has a nice history, but also a very uncertain future in many ways. Living and working in Italy in general and in Venice in particular are obvious themes for this evening with people from the tourism industry and architecture business.

80,000 tourists visit Venice each day, while the population has now dropped to 60,000. No one has an idea how population decline and mass tourism can tolerate each other well. In Ankie these phenomena come together. She lived for many years in the city center and she conducts a visit to the city tailored for different types of businesses. Pleasant reside in Venice finally has everything to do with the precise organization of the stay of visitors to the city.

Giovanni and Silvia work in a country that has one architect per 450 inhabitants This density is outstanding. In the Netherlands, for example, there is only one architect per 1650 inhabitants. Both have broadened their design activities. Giovanni with research and the office of Silvia also designs many temporary structures for exhibitions and retail.

We have learned a lot about living in Venice and working in Italy from our pleasant and enterprising guests. The waterfront terrace of Trattoria Altanella in the district of La Giudecca was a perfect place for this special evening. The restaurant is runned over 100 years by the same family. The homemade gnocchi nero di sepia was delightful.