Annalisa and Marco Mengoni's "Piazza San Marco" serves as a timeless gateway to beauty, nostalgia, and yearning - Atwood Magazine.

      Annalisa and Marco Mengoni have crafted a timeless passage through their song “Piazza San Marco,” resonating with all of us amid the fleeting nature of our existence and encapsulating a palimpsest filled with endless traces of beauty, memory, and yearning in the boundless expanse of Venice – La Serenissima.

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      Stream: “Piazza San Marco” – Annalisa ft. Marco Mengoni

      Annalisa’s remarkable new single “Piazza San Marco” (feat. Marco Mengoni) leaves listeners awestruck –

      – reflecting on how one song can encapsulate moments of deep transformation in the world’s most exquisite city, unlike any other on this planet. Standing in the vastness of the breathtaking beauty of Piazza San Marco on a winter evening, especially when fortunate enough to witness the enveloping fog – the nebbia – evokes the powerful sensation of losing oneself amidst the memories of doges and the overlooked yet creative citizens who shaped the most extraordinary city in this unique floating haven between East and West.

      Piazza San Marco – Annalisa ft. Marco Mengoni

      For me, Venice often embodies two simultaneous feelings, as I find myself caught between the exhilarating ecstasy of being surrounded by captivating beauty and deep mystery, while also grappling with intense reflections on my own mortality, much like those doges and marginalized creatives faced centuries prior. Venice consistently has the ability to profoundly affect one’s self-awareness and views on human experience. The talented writer Jhumpa Lahiri deeply contemplates this idea in her enchanting memoir, In Other Words:

      “Over the years, Venice has had an increasingly unsettling impact on me. Its haunting beauty pierces through me, leaving me overwhelmed by life’s fragility. I’m enveloped in a passionate dream that seems on the verge of fading away. A dream that feels truer than existence itself. Each time I cross the bridges, I’m reminded of our earthly passage between birth and death. On certain bridges, I fear I’ve already crossed into the beyond.”

      If one immerses oneself in the heart of Venice for weeks, time generates a profound sensation that one has truly “reached the beyond,” experiencing existence in a way that allows one to sense the world’s textures differently. It feels as if one has slipped into a portal of the past, where life could be felt more passionately than it is now, unencumbered by modern life’s constraints. The usual flow of time seems suspended as one learns to embrace the marvels of Venetian life, which offers freedom free from vehicle traffic, and if one knows how to explore beyond the typical tourist trails, an entirely new way of living can be intimately discovered within its hidden pathways, alive with unconventional and beautiful lifestyles.

      The Venetian author Carlos Gondoni expressed this sentiment in his memoirs:

      “Maps, plans, models, and descriptions fall short; Venice must be experienced. While all other cities bear some resemblance to each other, Venice is unlike any.”

      Indeed, Venice is singular. In their song, Annalisa and Marco Mengoni depict Piazza San Marco as a site of immense beauty, challenging the human mind to grasp its overwhelming presence, which can evoke a sense of dread, or as Jhumpa Lahiri described, its beauty is devastating due to its sheer sublimity. Standing in Piazza San Marco is an experience of the sublime as one feels connected to infinity while gazing across the lagoon, extending time beyond its limits, evoking fear in the realization of self-awareness. In Venice, particularly on a lonely winter night within the fog-enveloped fondamenta, one may encounter the ethereal sensation of rising beyond consciousness.

      In this vein of thought, Javier Marias insightfully articulates a profound perspective on Venice in his memoir Venice: An Interior:

      “It suggests that it is self-sufficient, requiring nothing from the outside, and this self-sufficiency creates an ‘endless imaginary fragmentation’: the narrow becomes vast, the near becomes distant, the limited becomes infinite, the identical becomes unique, and the timeless becomes transient.”

      Through Marias's viewpoint, one can consider how this reversal of self-awareness occurs in the lagoon, where the typical frameworks of thought and experience are put on hold. During an extended winter stay in La Serenissima, individuals reflect on their existence through the captivating and overwhelming sense of infinity, leaving them acutely aware of life’s fleeting essence amidst the history of centuries gone by. In Venice, walking through Piazza San Marco offers an encounter with a design of overwhelming wonder before the sea, the world, and time itself, continuously resonating with its echoes.

      Annalisa and Marco Mengoni have indeed established a timeless portal with their song “Piazza San Marco,” capturing the fleeting nature of our existence within the layers of beauty, memory, and longing in Venice – La Serenissima.

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