Walking along the Rio de Santa Caterina towards the Racheta Bridge, as it is commonly known, a splash of purple and green adorning the top of a high wall hinted at one the small, hidden treasures that subliminally dot the Venetian landscape - a walled garden. Apart from the Giardini and two or three other public gardens, there are no parcels of open greenery visible in Venice; it's all built-up and crammed together tightly, and the only breathing space is the occasional paved campo. Yet there are many plots in the backyards of palaces enclosed by three-metre-high walls where trees and shrubbery thrive. This is what the bright purple wisteria we're seeing now is about; it gives a hint of the patch of serenity that exists inside.
'Racheta' is a racket-and-ball game that used to be played in this area, perhaps in the small campo adjacent to the bridge. Right now we could hear and see a few youngsters kicking a football around in the campo, while two or three young mothers with their prams were watching from the benches on the perimeter. The game being played may have changed, but the rest of the scene was probably much the same as five hundred years ago.
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