Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton ChekhovTO HIS SISTER,VENICE, March 25, 1891.Bewitching blue-eyed Venice sends her greetings to all of you.Oh, signori and signorine, what an exquisite town this Venice is!Imagine a town consisting of houses and churches such as you havenever seen; an intoxicating architecture, everything as graceful andlight as the birdlike gondola. Such houses and churches can only bebuilt by people possessed of immense artistic and musical taste andendowed with a lion-like temperament. Now imagine in the streetsand alleys, instead of pavement, water; imagine that there is not onehorse in the town; that instead of cabmen you see gondoliers ontheir wonderful boats, light, delicate long-beaked birds which scarcelyseem to touch the water and tremble at the tiniest wave. And allfrom earth to sky bathed in sunshine.There are streets as broad as the Nevsky, and others in which youcan bar the way by stretching out your arms. The centre of the townis St. Mark’s Square with the celebrated cathedral of the same name.The cathedral is magnificent, especially on the outside. Beside it isthe Palace of the Doges where Othello made his confession beforethe senators.In short, there is not a spot that does not call up memories andtouch the heart. For instance, the little house where Desdemonalived makes an impression that is difficult to shake off. The verybest time in Venice is the evening. First the stars; secondly, the longcanals in which the lights and stars are reflected; thirdly, gondolas,gondolas, and gondolas; when it is dark they seem to be alive.Fourthly, one wants to cry because on all sides one hears music andsuperb singing. A gondola glides up hung with many-coloured lanterns;there is light enough for one to distinguish a double-bass, aguitar, a mandolin, a violin …. Then another gondola like it ….Men and women sing, and how they sing! It’s quite an opera.Fifthly, it’s warm.In short, the man’s a fool who does not go to Venice. Living ischeap here. Board and lodging costs eighteen francs a week—thatis, six roubles each or twenty-five roubles a month. A gondolier asks229