A friend recently headed to Venice on holiday and asked for my top tips on the city. I thought I'd share them with a wider audience.Venice deserves all its superlatives. It is an architecturally unique, magical place that seems to define romantic sensibility. Sadly, it's also a place that is completely ruined by tourists.
My top tip: avoid Venice in the summer. What you'll take away is a memory of a polyglot crowd, packed shoulder to shoulder at every major sight. The discomfort of the humid heat and the undertone of boiled sewage wafting up from the canals. The deeply average food surved with little care and a desire to turn tables as quickly as possible. Venice over the summer holidays can epitomise the worst of Italy. You'll still wonder at the sights, but you'll have to work very hard to do so and the whole experience will leave a bitter aftertaste.
But Venice off season is bliss. I'm particularly fond of January, just before Carnivale starts. The weather can be beastly ... cold, damp, foggy, grey. Which can also be atmospheric. Losing yourself in a warren of backstreets and bridges over foggy canals, with any sound beyond your own footsteps muffled, is captivating. And you can get lucky and get a day of vivid winter sunshine, where the festive colours of the buildings and the blues of the Grand Canal are more vivid without the heat haze. In January, you'll have the city almost to yourself, restaurant owners will actually pay attention to you, you'll hit the post-Christmas sales and all the tourist shops will be fully stocked in anticipation of the pre-Lenten festival.
RESTAURANTS
Avoid any places with tourist menus in multiple languages next to photos of their food, all on a dog-eared, laminated card. Generally this means steering clear of any place right near St. Mark's square. There are some really dreadful restaurants in Venice, probably because there are so many tourists that they can get by without any repeat customers. You want to try to look for places off the beaten track that are patronised by locals - the best places are in the districts of San Polo, Dosuduro & Cannaragio. A menu only in Italian is usually a good sign. Seafood is, of course, what to eat in Venice. A particular specialty is pasta turned black with cuttlefish ink, often served with the cuttlefish (sepie).
Places to try:
Trattoria da Ignazio, San Polo, Calle Saoneri, 2749, Tel: +39 041 5234852 Open: Sunday through Friday. A real local place in a bit of Venice that doesn't get so much tourism. I think they've started to become "discovered" a bit since I'm seeing them popping up in tour books now, but last time I went it was entirely locals. Fantastic food in an upmarket, modern, elegant surrounding. Every friend I've sent there has raved.
Antica Trattoria Poste Vecie, http://www.postevecie.com/ OK, this one isn't off the beaten tourist track. It's right in the middle of it, in fact. They even have a web site; dead giveaway. Despite that, I still recommend it. They say they're the oldest restaurant in Venice. The atmosphere is absolutely lovely, and great in the winter with roaring open fires. It's right near the Rialto bridge and the old fish market, so very much steeped in tradition.
Enoteca Al Volto, Calle Cavalli. This is a little local wine bar that also serves snacks. You wouldn't go here for a full meal but can get some good nibbles. The wine selection here is fantastic, especially of local varieties from around Venice and the northeastern bit of Italy. Try a sciopettino … lovely, peppery and fruity red that rarely makes it out of Italy. Another choice that's been regularly validated by friends on subsequent visits.
The biggest rip-off in Venice, to my mind, is Harry's Bar. OK, they invented the Bellini and Hemingway drank there. But today the drinks are wildly overpriced, the Bellinis are average, the food (as reported by a friend who recently ate there) is bad and only the big spenders get the tables with the view of the grand canal.
SIGHTSEEING
To my mind Venice is the most beautiful city in the world in which to simply walk around and look at architecture. You don't really have to go inside any museums. Just looking at the city itself does the tr
ick. My top specific sightseeing highlights are:
The Doge's Palace - most people also don't give it enough time. It's huge, and you can easily spend a whole afternoon wandering about inside of it. There's a really good audio tour that I'd recommend getting. It puts the whole place in context and gives a good view of the history … which can be confusing. (If you'd like to get familiar with that complex history before you go, try John Julius Norwich's A History of Venice.)
Scuola Grande di San Rocco - it's essentially a big meeting hall, built by a charitable fraternity (a bit like the Masons.) It's remarkable because they brought in Tintoretto to decorate the whole thing. The walls and ceilings are amazing. Similar to the Sistine Chapel in the scope and drama of the art, but darker and more emotionally haunting.
Fish market in Rialto - It's very lively and you'll see beautiful fish and produce. It's one of the best parts of the city to drink in local flavour, as so many locals still come here to do their shopping from all the little stalls.
Murano - go here if you want to buy glass. Plus it's a nice trip out there on the boat and the Island is very pretty. And you can see people blow glass which is rather fun.
Note that gondolas are amazingly expensive. You'll want to negotiate a price before you get in. A friend who recently visited told me the going rate was about €60 for 45mins. For a cheap alternative with similar views, ride the No 1 water bus that runs the length of the grand canal. This must be the best sightseeing from any public transport route in the world.
Shopping
Venice has managed to resist the incursion of any large brands. The city is still filled with tiny, locally owned shops, many selling exquisite works of local craftsmanship. Murano glass is the item most people return with. This comes in a variety of forms, from glassware and carafes to artistic display peices to a dazzling variety of jewelry. Also unique to Venice are the carnival masks. There are makers all over the city and these are still all hand crafted. Less well known is Venice's historic leadership of the Italian printing industry. The first and finest presses were here, and there are still many shops selling hand made leather books for all occasions. These shops are similar to those elsewhere in Italy, but I believe there's a subtle difference in quality. Like the rest of Italy, fine leather goods abound.
Trattoria da Ignazio, San Polo, Calle Saoneri, 2749, Tel: +39 041 5234852 Open: Sunday through Friday. A real local place in a bit of Venice that doesn't get so much tourism. I think they've started to become "discovered" a bit since I'm seeing them popping up in tour books now, but last time I went it was entirely locals. Fantastic food in an upmarket, modern, elegant surrounding. Every friend I've sent there has raved.
Antica Trattoria Poste Vecie, http://www.postevecie.com/ OK, this one isn't off the beaten tourist track. It's right in the middle of it, in fact. They even have a web site; dead giveaway. Despite that, I still recommend it. They say they're the oldest restaurant in Venice. The atmosphere is absolutely lovely, and great in the winter with roaring open fires. It's right near the Rialto bridge and the old fish market, so very much steeped in tradition.
Enoteca Al Volto, Calle Cavalli. This is a little local wine bar that also serves snacks. You wouldn't go here for a full meal but can get some good nibbles. The wine selection here is fantastic, especially of local varieties from around Venice and the northeastern bit of Italy. Try a sciopettino … lovely, peppery and fruity red that rarely makes it out of Italy. Another choice that's been regularly validated by friends on subsequent visits.
The biggest rip-off in Venice, to my mind, is Harry's Bar. OK, they invented the Bellini and Hemingway drank there. But today the drinks are wildly overpriced, the Bellinis are average, the food (as reported by a friend who recently ate there) is bad and only the big spenders get the tables with the view of the grand canal.
SIGHTSEEING
To my mind Venice is the most beautiful city in the world in which to simply walk around and look at architecture. You don't really have to go inside any museums. Just looking at the city itself does the tr
ick. My top specific sightseeing highlights are:The Doge's Palace - most people also don't give it enough time. It's huge, and you can easily spend a whole afternoon wandering about inside of it. There's a really good audio tour that I'd recommend getting. It puts the whole place in context and gives a good view of the history … which can be confusing. (If you'd like to get familiar with that complex history before you go, try John Julius Norwich's A History of Venice.)
Scuola Grande di San Rocco - it's essentially a big meeting hall, built by a charitable fraternity (a bit like the Masons.) It's remarkable because they brought in Tintoretto to decorate the whole thing. The walls and ceilings are amazing. Similar to the Sistine Chapel in the scope and drama of the art, but darker and more emotionally haunting.
Fish market in Rialto - It's very lively and you'll see beautiful fish and produce. It's one of the best parts of the city to drink in local flavour, as so many locals still come here to do their shopping from all the little stalls.
Murano - go here if you want to buy glass. Plus it's a nice trip out there on the boat and the Island is very pretty. And you can see people blow glass which is rather fun.
Note that gondolas are amazingly expensive. You'll want to negotiate a price before you get in. A friend who recently visited told me the going rate was about €60 for 45mins. For a cheap alternative with similar views, ride the No 1 water bus that runs the length of the grand canal. This must be the best sightseeing from any public transport route in the world.
Shopping
Venice has managed to resist the incursion of any large brands. The city is still filled with tiny, locally owned shops, many selling exquisite works of local craftsmanship. Murano glass is the item most people return with. This comes in a variety of forms, from glassware and carafes to artistic display peices to a dazzling variety of jewelry. Also unique to Venice are the carnival masks. There are makers all over the city and these are still all hand crafted. Less well known is Venice's historic leadership of the Italian printing industry. The first and finest presses were here, and there are still many shops selling hand made leather books for all occasions. These shops are similar to those elsewhere in Italy, but I believe there's a subtle difference in quality. Like the rest of Italy, fine leather goods abound.
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