We spent a week in Venice recently. Mom was able to join us and we had a really great time. I've started putting a few pictures up at http://public.marthajeanne.fastmail.fm/pictures/ if you want to see what we were up to.
One thing you won't find there is pictures of the Museum for the History of textiles and fashion in Palazzo Mocenigo. I found it fascinating. There weren't a lot of displays, but the ones there were very interesting, and having them in situ in the Piano nobile of a Venetian Palazzo was wonderful. At the end there was a display of lace. Not only were there several examples of old Venetian lace, but also partially done pieces, and a Doge's hat made in 1999. After seeing a dummy dressed as a man of fashion, I was dying to peek under his jacket and see how far the fancy embroidery of his vest went. A few rooms further (the Bedroom, I believe) a few vests were laid out, and my question was nicely answered. The really fancy stuff was right where it would be visible under the jacket, but it tapered off in such a way as to make the garment attractive even without the coat.
I bought the catalogue, but it is only available in Italian, which makes it somewhat less useful. For those who do textile research, I should add that the Palazzo also houses a study centre, and without actually penetrating into the library proper, I did get a look at some of the shelves. The books I saw were mostly fairly old- Not old, old, but certainly several decades old, and were in a wild mixture of languages. Italian, of course, but also French, English, German, Russian... and besides books of local interest, also were on topics ranging from Mexican Indian clothing, to textiles from India.
Another museum with interesting textiles was the Hebrew museum in the Ghetto. There were several items of interest, and apparently there will be more to see there next year. The top of my list will probably stay the 18th century lace circumcision outfit.
