More than fifteen years ago I walked out of Venice Santa Lucia railway station straight onto
the Grand Canal. It was hard to believe this dreamy floating city was real! Venice is
incredible but it can also be overwhelming. After three visits and plenty of background
research for my new book One Summer in Italy here’s what I’ve learnt:
1. Stay overnight or for a few days if possible to enjoy the quieter mornings and
evenings. You won’t get bored!
2. Slow down! Like my heroine Natalie, stand and watch the barges, vaporetti and
gondolas sailing down the Grand Canal and admire ‘the soft pink, yellow and white
buildings…the elegant Istrian stone arches…the baroque buildings festooned with
swags and cherubs.’
3. Don’t take a gondola on the Grand Canal, grab an outside seat on the vaporetto no.1
that zig zags its way along the whole route. Do take a gondola from one of the small
stations scattered around the city. It is pricey but you’ll glide down silent narrow
‘back street’ canals and under low bridges and if you’re lucky you’ll be serenaded
with a snatch of O Sole Mio – unforgettable!
4. Save jaw dropping but crowded St Mark’s Square for early morning or evening when
the crowds have gone but the orchestra outside Caffè Florian plays on.
5. Like Natalie walk through quieter districts like Dorsoduro, where watch restorer
Eraldo has his workshop and San Polo ‘past ancient churches and across vast campi
where groups of young boys…played competing games of football’
6. Create your own ad hoc art tour by putting your head into some of Venice’s many
churches, spotting masterpieces by Titian, Bellini and Tintoretto. If you love modern
art don’t miss the Guggenheim Collection (Picasso, Kandinsky, Pollock, Warhol etc.
plus an outdoor sculpture garden and café).
7. Catch vaporetto no.2 to the lesser-known lagoon island of San Giorgio Maggiore and
take the lift at the back of the church for the most stunning views over Santa Maria
della Salute, St Mark’s Square and the lagoon beyond.
8. Stroll up to the Fondamente Nove and catch a waterbus to Burano where Natalie and
Cate discover ‘a network of courtyards, each small house a cube of colour. Terracotta
pots brimmed over with fuchsia flowers, red-and-white striped curtains shaded the
doorway of a turquoise house, buttercup-yellow shutters enlivened another.’ And eat
bigoli con le sarde a ‘mixture of sardines and onions cooked until they were
translucent and meltingly soft’ at a canal side restaurant (I ate mine at Osteria Al
Fureghin).
9. No souvenir says ‘Venice’ like a Venetian mask. Shun the plastic ones on the market
stalls and seek out a proper artisan workshop. I bought my exquisite hand-made
papier mâché mask at Ca’ Macana in the Cannaregio district for under 25 euros.
Whether you do all or none of the above, you will always remember La Serenissima, this
extraordinary city built on water.