On Pilgrimage with Colm Tóibín

Where would you go? 

Venice. You can buy a ticket which will get you into 14 churches and it includes a map. Some of the 14 churches are well-known but others are slightly off the beaten track, so if you try and visit the 14 churches in three days you’ll get to go to places you wouldn’t normally go to. It’s a really good way to have a task ahead of you every day rather than just sitting around drinking coffee.

Would you make any special stops?

The big thing to see is Titian’s Assumption in the Frari. You can see God waiting for Mary in Heaven and the endless sky and the shocked crowd and the angels. Her robes are painted with such glory and gorgeousness. I think the thing to do is get a theme going on the pilgrimage. So I’d visit Tintoretto’s Crucifixion in San Rocco. It comes as an enormous shock because of its scale. And then I’d find myself wondering what other Crucifixion images by Tinteretto can be found in Venice. This is a pilgrimage in the sense that I would be constantly involved in religious paintings. 

Who would be your travelling companions (excluding partner/ children)?

I think I’d take Sheila Hale, who is one of Titian’s biographers. I don’t know her but she knows a lot about Titian, so I’d take her.

You can transplant your favourite pub, bar or restaurant onto the route. What is it?

You don’t go to Venice for the food! On the other hand, there’s a café in Piazza San Marco called Florian’s. Henry James went there. It’s very old and very expensive but it serves a good hot chocolate. It’s one of the few cafés in Venice that welcomes you and wants you to come in and sit down, it doesn’t just want you to move on.

Camp under the stars, or find a church hall to sleep in?

Emphatically do not camp under the stars. Venice wants you to stay in a hotel.

Which books would you take with you?

I think the best book is Jan Morris’s book called Venice. It’s not a guide book but it’s one of those books that’s filled with knowledge of the history, sites and topography of the city; Jan Morris lived in Venice. What’s interesting about the city is the Rough Guide is written by a novelist called Jonathan Buckley and the other great guide book is written by Sheila Hale – American Express Travel Guide Venice – so you’re in good company with the guide books. My fiction choice would be Henry James’s The Wings of the Dove because the last part is very beautifully set in Venice.

What Bible verse would you ponder as you walked?

St John’s story of Lazarus – I’m a New Testament kind of guy and I love St John’s Gospel. I’d also take the opening passage in St John’s Gospel: the poetry of the light is exquisite: “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world”. St John was a born writer.

You stop in a church. What’s your go-to prayer?

I don’t really have one. I’m sort of agnostic but my favourite prayer from childhood is Hail, Holy Queen. It’s beautiful.

It’s your turn to cook. What’s your speciality?

I’m no good at all. Banana sandwiches! 

What’s the singalong to keep everyone’s spirits up?

I listen to Bach’s St John Passion more than the others; and there’s a beautiful aria, “All is Fulfilled”. It starts very slow and melancholy and then in the middle it completely changes, it speeds up and the voice changes.

You’re allowed one luxury in your bag. What is it?

I think I would need a lot of changes of socks because I’ll be walking a lot on stones. Fresh socks would be a good luxury, but a lot of fresh socks. Mine are striped and good.

What would you most miss about ordinary life?

Nothing. Perhaps having all of my CDs.

What would you miss the least? 

Work, having to write. I love writing but it’s lovely not doing it, too. 

Colm Tóibín is a novelist, short-story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and poet. His most recent book, Vinegar Hill, is published by Carcanet Press and is out now.

This article first appeared in the Easter 2022 issue of the Catholic Herald. Subscribe today.