BENVENUTI! *“Streets full of water, please advise.”
I love Venice. In fact, I love getting lost in Venice.
I enjoy walking along the narrow streets in areas like Cannaregio, where a lot of the locals live and where you won’t come across many tourists.
It’s fun to stop and have a gelato at a local gelateria, or a Bellini, prosecco or glass of wine at a neighbor- hood bar. Tey’re much cheaper than a hotel bar on the Grand Canal or the touristy Harry’s Bar. And if you’re drinking wine, order local wine from the Veneto. It’s excellent.
No trip to Venice is complete without a visit to Piazza San Marco, the religious and political center of the city. Te best time to go is in the early morning before the tourists descend on it. If you’ve been there, you know the Piazza is also filled with pigeons (not my favorite bird), but there’s been a changing of the birds lately. While the city has managed to get rid of a lot of the pigeons, there’s a new bird in town: the seagull. Tese aggressive birds will swoop down and take food from your plate or a waiter’s tray at an outdoor café. Te herring gull seagulls are a protected species in Italy, so right now, they seem to be winning the bird war.
Obviously, Venice is a walking city, so window-shopping is a must. You’ll notice many papier-mâché carnival masks in shops, some of which are true works of art and command prices in the hundreds of dollars for the most intricate. And speaking of masks, if you’re thinking about going to Venice in the winter, the Carnival in Venice is an extravaganza held from January 23 to February 9, 2016. You can purchase your own mask during the many celebrations, or design and wear your own at classes held at workshops throughout the city.
Any time is a good time to go to Venice. If you haven’t been, go. If you’ve been, go again!
* Te famous telegram sent by the American humorist and writer, Robert Benchley, to his editors at Te New Yorker, upon his arrival in Venice. He was, of course, referring to the city’s canals.
4 | | Fall 2015 |
www.perillotraveler.com
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