When we were at the top of the San Giorgio Maggiore campanile (see my recent review) we could see down below a delightful garden and green space, a magnificent maze, a restaurant garden and old monastery buildings that I knew as the Cini Foundation, having once been to an art exhibition there. The Cini Foundation is a non-profit cultural institution set up in 1951 by Vittorio Cini in memory of his son Giorgio who had died in an air crash two years earlier. If you have enough time there is plenty to see on this small island in season but in November, with shorter days, I’m not sure everything is open. There’s the Borges Labyrinth (the maze that we could see), Vatican Chapels within the woodland and Teatro Verde (outside theatre), the Palladio Cloister, the Longhena Library (at weekends). For more information about opening times and prices see info@visitcini.com
On this occasion, in November 2024, after seeing an exhibition of the sculptures by Berlinde De Bruycker being held in the Abbazia (abbey) adjacent to the church and campanile, and taking photos of part of the garden through the windows, we walked the short distance past a yacht basin to the San Giorgio Cafe (the museum bistro) to see if we could actually afford to get a drink and maybe something to eat there. We really wanted to sit outside at the back of the cafe as the sun was still shining there. Steps lead up to the door so we walked through the building and down the steps at the other side and could see one vacant table that was still in the sun so we asked if we could sit there. Menus were brought and we looked with trepidation to see what was available at that time of day: I fancied a brioche but they’d either sold out or they only serve them in the morning, so we ordered what they called ‘Venetian cake’ which turned out to be Torte della Nonna, my husband’s favourite dessert when in Venice. The hot drinks, Macchiato for me and some sort of infusion for my husband, were supposed to be served with Burano biscuits but they’d all gone so we given two chocolates each in their place – they were very good. The lunch menu looked very interesting but unsurprisingly, quite expensive.
From the cafe we made our way to the nearby glass museum, which is free to enter. I am not a great fan of Murano glass but the exhibition had examples by various different makers from different periods in the 20th century so there were some that I quite liked, and it was impossible not to appreciate the craftsmanship of those whose design was not to my taste. There is a good gift shop in the museum and a toilet (to the left as one enters the building). We returned to the vaporetto stop as the sun was setting at 4.00 pm, silhouetting the beautiful church of Santa Maria della Salute against the orange sky.
Isola San Giorgio Maggiore is definitely worth exploring for a day and if we’re lucky enough to visit Venice again we might be able to see the remainder of the attractions there.
