THE VENICE SUMMIT : First Lady Rides Gondola, Makes Secret Wish

First Lady Nancy Reagan saw the sights of Venice on Thursday, riding a gondola on her way to have lunch at Harry’s Bar, the world famous hangout of novelist Ernest Hemingway.

Mrs. Reagan began her last day here by touring St. Mark’s Basilica, where she saw the Golden Altar Screen, which depicts heroic military and economic ventures by Venetian navigators and pioneers. It is set with 80 enameled tablets, most of them masterpieces of Byzantine art dating to the 10th Century.

As she passed a statue of the Madonna, Mrs. Reagan asked Sister Carmen Azopardi, “Is it true that if you make a wish at the Madonna, it comes true?”

The nun smiled and indicated that it is true and that Venetians often stop to pray on their way to work.

Had Wish Ready

“I have my wish all prepared,” said Mrs. Reagan, who darted back to make the secret wish after her tour of the cathedral was over.

Accompanied by Maria Pia Fanfani, wife of Italian caretaker Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani, and Venice Mayor Nereo Laroni, Mrs. Reagan next toured the Ducal Palace, which was the residence of ancient Venice’s rulers--the doges, or dukes. It is built like a fortress, in the Byzantine style of the 9th Century, and is now a museum.

The palace’s sun-splashed inner courtyard had been turned into a mini-marketplace for Mrs. Reagan, with tables full of hand-made lace and brocades, glass and chandeliers, silver picture frames, jewelry and carnival masks--all made and displayed by local artisans, who wore colorful Venetian costumes.

Mrs. Reagan paused and donned a black lace carnival mask on a stick and then bought a smaller white mask with lace fringe on the bottom.

A craftsman, to show her how a gold leaf is put on the masks, dabbed a little of the gold on her hand, telling her that it is so thin that she could rub it off with her fingers.

“It’s a shame to rub gold off,” she said, doing so anyway.

Surrounded by mounds of flower arrangements and the statuary and arches of the palace, Mrs. Reagan sat in the courtyard and listened as a five-piece band played traditional music on a harpsichord, mandolin and other instruments similar to those used in ancient times.

Seventy members of a Venetian children’s choir serenaded Mrs. Reagan, first with an Italian song and then with “God Bless America.”

A troupe of ballerinas from the local Sauri-Carbone school flitted back and forth to the music of Vivaldi. The girls wore empire-waisted, calf-length gowns typical of the Renaissance.

After a few dances, two of the smallest ballerinas led Mrs. Reagan into their midst and attempted to show her a few moves. Mrs. Reagan did her best to imitate them, dragging a hand through the air and laughing.

The little girls gave the First Lady a bouquet and a white lace fan. When Mrs. Reagan unfolded the fan, it was seen to have her anti-drug slogan “Just Say No” written across the ivory lace in bold, black letters.

Next, Mrs. Reagan sat in a gondola across from a U.S. Secret Service agent and rode about half a block along a canal while gondoliers in another boat nearby sang to her.

The gondola passed under the Bridge of Sighs, so named because in ancient times criminals who had just been convicted in the palace got into boats and passed under the bridge on their way to prison, or execution.

If Mrs. Reagan sighed under the bridge, it was probably because she was anticipating boarding another boat and going to Harry’s Bar, where Hemingway and other celebrities, among them Orson Welles and Truman Capote, used to gather.

It is now perhaps the most famous and one of the most expensive restaurants in Venice. Mrs. Reagan lunched there with Mrs. Fanfani, Ruth Rabb (wife of Maxwell M. Rabb, U.S. ambassador to Italy), and an old friend, Marella Agnelli, whose husband, Gianni Agnelli, heads the Fiat business empire.

They began their lunch with champagne peach cocktails as reporters were ushered out of the room, leaving them to the peace of their corner table.