The Venice Quest (Italy)

Trip DetailsWhere: Venice, ItalyWhen: 2nd - 5th October 2011

I went to Venice (Italy) a few days ago. It was a very exciting trip. First of all, because I was on a mission.

Me and a virtual friend of mine (I’ll just call him C), who I don’t know in real life, decided to play a "The Da Vinci Code" game. C was going to Venice a month earlier so we got this crazy idea that he leaves something for me there.

And so he did. He left a secret treasure somewhere in Venice and gave me a riddle to find it.

"Between ferre and verre, the treasure is hidden at a very pure lady's feet." he said.

I started my research right away. I was very eager to find out more about it. (I’d just seen "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides") So I asked a few additional questions in order to make it clearer. C gave me some hints and in the end I knew that the treasure was somewhere on the outside, not in an envelope (and as he said ‘not alive and not money’) and my name was written on it plus the request ‘If you’re not her, put it back, please.’

Knowing that, I continued with unriddling the puzzle. My first thought was about the "very pure lady" – a statue. Most likely a statue of Saint Mary. I left it at that and moved on to the words "ferre" and "verre".

They’re not in English, obviously, so I tried translating them form Italian (since I was going to Italy, it sounded logical). But it turned out Italian language didn’t recognize them either. So I tried French. (C’s French, so that was the next best logical move). And there was my answer.  Or at least part of it. "Verre" means "glass" in French. "Glass" as in "the famous Venetian glass", I thought.

But then, there was no translation for "ferre". So, guess what? I googled it. The only result I got was Gianfranco Ferre – the designer. The logic took me to a shop. A Ferre shop, opposite a shop for Venetian glass and a statue of Saint Mary somewhere in between. Too easy to be the solution to the quest? Well, yes.

I started searching for a Ferre shop in Venice and when I didn't find one, I started doubting my discoveries. So I asked C again. (You might think I shouldn’t have asked so many questions and should’ve just gone there and searched for the treasure. But you should know I only had a few days in Venice to go sightseeing, feel the atmosphere and finish the quest, so I had to make sure I know as much as possible.) C pointed me in the right direction. "Ferre" wasn’t Gianfranco Ferre but it was a derivative from the word "fer", which in French means "iron".

“Between iron and glass…“

C also mentioned that if I went to Venice by bus, I’d see the "verre" and if I went there by train, I’d see the "ferre". (And if I went by boat, I’d be able to admire the view. But that’s another story.) Another clue he gave me, was that the statue was near a church and that Dan Brown could help me with it.

I automatically decided that "ferre" was the railway station. There’s a lot of iron there. (And as it turned out later "ferrovia" means "railway" in Italian.) So I started looking for the "verre". I opened Google maps and searched for something made of glass near the bus station. It was a long search until I spotted (with the help of another friend) a glass bridge that connects the two stations over a canal.

In the meantime, I made some researches for the statue. After I checked with Dan Brown’s work, I decided it was Mary Magdalene (read ‘The Da Vinci Code’ to learn more) and started searching for a Mary Magdalene church somewhere in Venice. But C made me give up on that idea quickly. He said it was a different Mary and I shouldn’t focus on the church, because it doesn’t exist anymore.

A different Mary… Did you know there were tens of Mary’s all around Venice? Yeah, it wasn’t very easy to find the right one. Especially near a non-existing church. But it was all I got. First, I looked for a ruined one. I found some ruins, but then realized they were on Torcello island, which is nowhere near any of the stations. So then I checked for a place that used to be a church. All I got was "Santa Maria Della Salute", which used to be a church and is a hospital now. But it was too far away.

So after C gave me another clue, it turned out that there used to be a church where the railway station is now. But it was demolished. The only things left from it were its name (Santa Lucia) and the statue in question.

So here I was, getting off the bus in Venice, heading to the railway station right away to find my treasure. I had to cross the "verre" to reach it.

"verre"

A few more steps and I could see the "ferre".

"ferre"

And there, on the square in front of it was the statue.

"a very pure lady"

I started examining the bottom of it the minute I got there. I circled the statue a couple times. There were some people sitting on it, so they made it harder. After I checked every possible whole, I realized the treasure wasn’t there.

I was very disappointed, of course. After all the researches and excitement, I was really hoping, I’d find it. But I guess my treasure was found by someone else.

In the end – It’s not the result that matters but the journey.

The end.*

*some small details were changed for privacy purposes