Who knows what tumult of memories to people in the memory of Ms

OUR SPECIAL ENVOY TO VENICE.

Of her slender foot, Catherine Deneuve takes his grey sand Wednesday, August 30. For its sixty-third edition, the Venice Mostra (1) decided to hit a great shot by entrusting the Presidency of the jury. History not to be intimidated by the first edition of the International Festival of film, as the Mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni, planned to celebrate, in the presence of Sean Connery, from 13 to 21 October. Who knows what tumult of memories to people in the memory of Ms. Deneuve when it will ask the foot on the Lido The golden lion from Venice for "Beautiful day" in 1967 Or images of "tristana", Buñuel, who had seen her triumph on the lagoon three years later Or like so many others, she remembered the silhouette of Tadzio, the young boy in swimsuit, whose serious face of hermaphroditic had both troubled composer Gustav von Aschenbach.

Rarely Beach and resort will also closely associated with a masterpiece in the history of cinema. Unable to set foot on the Lido without reviewing the columnar approach of Silvana Mangano in "Death in Venice", without meeting the ghost of a Dirk Bogarde aging hair dyed sneaking behind bath cabins, on bottom of Fifth Symphony of Mahler. The Hotel des Bains, with its immense Ballroom deserted, its discovery pool and its Art Deco style, became a classic. Others prefer the néomauresque setting of the Excelsior, which has the advantage of giving directly on the beach. Should there have addressed, at least once, in "motoscafo", in the company of young starlets intimidated by the softness of the sunset, to understand the antiquated charm of the Venice Mostra, the precise opposite of the foil of the Cannes Festival. It must have crossed in the dusk, the ghosts of Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini and Federico Fellini to understand that the Lido is a travesty of beach as Venice is a representation of city.

Lovers of turquoise waters, go your way! On this long sand tongue of 12 kilometres, the ultimate bulwark of Venice before offshore, the sea is always a little disorder, a grey blue better adapted to the CinemaScope to underwater diving. Summer seats are relatively expensive, and it must rent the transat for the right to trample his sand returned each winter. Bike or by foot, it is the ideal valve to escape this new outbreak of cholera that is mass tourism. If it simply to swim, connoisseurs will as the Venetians and prefer the more transparent waters of the beach of the island Saint-Erasme, facing the coast.

The Lido is no pedal boat lovers. More than a beach, it is an absolute romantic setting, a place of sweet decadence appreciating more winter, or in the fall, during the so-called "summer season". When packed shells under his feet, it is for the hero of novel by Thomas Mann. Apart from the spectrum of large tankers in the distance, nothing, or almost, has changed since 1912. Apart from stalking the shadows Tadzio and Silvana Mangano, sipping a Campari on the terrace of the Excelsior, there is virtually nothing to do on this strip of sand. Except breathe air from the sea.

Few people know that the cemetery Jewish of the Lido, founded in 1386, is as old as Prague. After three and a half centuries of abandonment and dispersion of its stones engraved in Hebrew, this high place of romanticism visited by lord Byron and George Sand, and curiously nicknamed the "casa dei viventi" (the House of the living), has been restored and is now, visit Sunday (2). Chateaubriand had drawn his inspiration for the "memoirs of afterlife": "happy unknown Jewish whose tomb is passing marine bird, if she had no sons...".

(1) The 63rd Mostra of Venice cinema will take place from August 30 to September 9. September 7, magic "The flute" projection of Kenneth Branagh at la Fenice.

(2) Contact the Hebrew Museum of Venice. Tel: 041.71.53.59.