August in Venice: Blue plumbago flowers and the moving walls effect

An August morning in Venice is the best time to discover the moving walls effect, caused by the ever moving waters in the canals .. Bacino Orselo (behind Piazza San Marco).

Features passati inosservati - i blu di agosto: two typcial features that appear in August here in Venice, which might be easily overlooked. Which is the favorite flower of Venice that actually thrives in the hot August sun while the other plants rather stop blossoming or get parched ?? And what about discovering the Venetian "moving walls effect" that is best watched now - in August ..

Plumbago plant, Corte Rota (Castello)

The first August feature I would like to present to you is that special blue color of the slightly ruffled water, causing volatile bright reflections on the sunlit facades. Have you noticed how that special shade of blue appears, bordering upon a light rose and shimmering brown, slowly turning away from the turquoise of early summer. As the canals get ruffled by little waves, the buildings mirrored in the water come out extremely nitidi - clear-cut and nitid. It is now that you can watch the "moving walls effect" better than during any other season of the year. Lights dancing so sweetly on facades as if a magician had enchanted the houses. I have posted some videos for you which I took a few days ago.

August morning in the Giardini Reali, to the right, hidden behind the marble railing, is the canal (Rio de la Zecca) playing center stage in this post

As a child I used to watch the "moving walls", sitting on a bench in the Giardini Reali and taking in the glittering lights and reflections criss-crossing the walls of the Procuratie Nuove. Just beyond is Piazza San Marco ..

Rio de la Zecca lining the Giardini Reali, and the canalside facade of the Procuratie Nuove

If you would like to discover the "moving walls effect" in Venice, then what you need is a summer morning day, the sun and a wall where a canal flows by. What you get is the lights dancing up and down on the walls as the lights are reflected. The gentle waves twist the reflections of vertical objects,  like the wooden posts of landing stages, and the effect is really unique. 

Multi-layered waters: Blue, shimmering brown and golden rose_ Did you know that the lights of the waters in the canals change with the season. Often you have to wait one year until the same color shade reappears ..

August can be as hot as July, and it certainly is more humid. It seems that this atmosphere which makes for warm but humid mornings, with only the slightest of fogs, favor a terse light ensuring clear-cut reflections. So now is the season where the canals seem a multi-layered blue, what so many painters have been trying to catch .. and they still do ..

Amateur and professional painters exhibiting their works next to the entrance of the Giardini Reali and the Piazzetta

The following two videos try to catch the "moving walls effect". The first was taken from my usual outlook post in the Giardini Reali ..

I took the second video on my way from San Giacomo dell'Orio back to the Rialto area, at Rio Terà Seconda, next to Campiello del Forner (Santa Croce).

But of course there are a hundred other places in Venice ideal to watch out for the effect. At the Ponte della Verona, near the Scala del Bovolo, for example, or nearby at Campiello Feltrina, alongside the Rio di San Maurizio. Both are located in the San Marco district, waiting for you to discover ..
The second typical feature in August is the light blue of the plumbago plants, adorning our window sills. Small flowers, looking so refreshed in the parching summer light. Plinius the elder is said to have used them as a cure for lead poisoning, due to their color which reminds one of lead.

Fondamenta di San Lorenzo (Castello)

Near our house there are quite a few plumbago plants coloring Campo San Zaccaria. But you find the pale blue flowers almost everyhwere in Venice on balconies and window sills, exposed to the summer sun.

Plumbagos flowering in August: Salizzada S. Antonin (Castello)

.. and finally a few plumbago plants, flowering on small balconies overlooking Campo San Zaccaria

Look out for the "twin - plumbago" balconies on Campo San Zaccaria ..