Portland woman's Venice tour will highlight Jewish sites

By Paul Haist

Celia Curfman's blue eyes go a little watery when she talks about Venice, and that's not a pun about the city some call the city of water.
Venice is called by many names: city of canals, city of lagoons, city of lovers, of dreamers and of party goers, city of cats and, more recently and poignantly, "The City of Falling Angels," the title of John Berendt's 2005 book in which he also called Venice "the city of masks and riddles."
Venice was home for Curfman for 32 years, until she came to Portland recently with her husband.
She went there first as an art student touring Europe. By 1970 she had returned to Venice and stayed. Now, she will return again this February, and she wants to take you with her on what she is calling her "Falling for Venice" tour.
Curfman takes pains to distinguish her tour from a typical group tour.
"It is more 'Venice by Special Invitation,'" she said. Drawing on friendships built over decades, she will take those who accompany her into private palaces and to private concerts, one in the palace on the Grand Canal where George Gordon Lord Byron lived.
But Venice in February? Venice, whose latitude is almost exactly the same as Portland's, and where the average annual rainfall is 34 inches to Portland's 36?
Well, yes, February, and for good reason, according to
Curfman.
February, she explained, "is a time when Venice belongs to the Venetians, and other tourists are scarce." It is a time, she said, when "the city beats to its own heart?(when) the winter light bestows an extra dose of mystery and expectation to the calle and bridges and piazza."
They will visit the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, the art school where many years ago Curfman was the first student. There, participants will hear special presentations on the work of masters including Raphael Tintoretto.
Tintoretto is of interest among Jews, explained Curfman, because he lived and worked on the edge of Venice's Jewish ghetto, reportedly the world's first Jewish ghetto and where the term ghetto was coined for the proximity of the enclave to a foundry or ghetto in the old Venetian dialect of Italian.
Because of his nearness to Venice's Jewish community, Tintoretto is believed to have been influenced by Jewish thought.
"Students of Kabbalah will be interested in this," said Curfman, who, during her years in Venice, was exposed to an interpretation of Tintoretto's work based on the symbols of Kabbalah.
She hopes to be able to share those insights with those who make the trip with her.
Venice has a very rich Jewish history and Curfman's tour will include much of that history.
Two of the city's five historic synagogues are still in use. Curfman's tour will visit at least two and maybe three of them. There will be a visit to the site of the old ghetto where remnants of its dark past remain.
Curfman speaks at length about the details of Jewish life in Venice before and after the establishment of the ghetto, the historic Jewish professions and the key roles played by the Jewish community in Venice's success as a trading center.
After the ghetto tour, participants will enjoy a traditional Jewish-Venetian dinner at a lovely private home on La Giudecca, an island on the Venetian Lagoon.
But the tour is far from all Jewish.
On the first night in Venice, Curfman and her companions will travel by gondola to the fabulous Palazzo Mocenigo on the Grand Canal, where four generations of Venetian doges and their queens ruled. This is the palace where the great Romantic poet Byron also lived.
"Dinner there is like having a history lesson," said Curfman.
They will be hosted by the renowned Spanish concert pianist Enrique Guzman, a friend of Curfman's, who today makes his home at the palazzo. He will entertain tour participants in a private performance in his imperial-style salotto overlooking the Grand Canal..
On another evening, Curfman will introduce her companions to New Orleanean Tony Green, a painter and musician who has lived for 35 years in Venice. His Tony Green Trio will present a private concert of Gypsy jazz in the manner of Django Reinhardt. Traditional Jewish pastries will be served.
The trip is scheduled from Feb. 1 to Feb. 8.
The cost, including everything but airfare, is $3,600, including accommodations at the four-star Hotel Monaco on the Grand Canal with majestic views of the Church of Santa Maria della Salute and the island of San Giorgio. The cost also covers water transportation, meals, concerts and more.
A fully detailed itinerary (and an advance reading list) is available online at Curfman's Web site: www.inveniceveritas.com
Contact Curfman by e-mail at celiacurfman@hotmail.com or by phone at 503-226-8373.