Just two photos to show that the ravages wreaked by Spiderman (or his enemies – or just the bored film-crew) on Campo Santa Maria Formosa last week have all been miraculously repaired. The square looks cleaner than ever.

The rather more serious (because real) damage to the little marble lion in the Piazzetta next to St Mark’s has also been wonderfully repaired. The proof is that I am showing photos of both lions because there is no telling which was the one attacked. Here thanks must go to the Venetian firm Lithos, which carried out the restoration for free. Apparently not an easy job, as the paint was thick and sticky, even three days after the act of vandalism. It took another three days’ full work to remove all traces.

The vandals themselves are all to be expelled from their places of study. As the chairman of Lithos put it, mildly enough, “if I were their father, I’d feel embarrassed.”

The lions, as these photos show, have not been fenced off and will no doubt continue to offer their patient backs to the well-clad bottoms of the children of Venice, even if officially this is now not permitted.

Venice’s second newspaper, La Nuova Venezia, asked its readers to send in photos of happy memories of such occasions and was immediately inundated with photos going back to the 1960s at least. A selection can be seen on this video.

Makes a change to offer some positive news for once. Back to doom and gloom tomorrow, no doubt…