Hardy Paula - Venice & the Veneto City Guide

Welcome to Venice

Imagine the audacity of building a city of marble palaces on a lagoon and that was only the start.

Never was a thoroughfare so aptly named as the Grand Canal, reflecting the glories of Venetian architecture lining its banks. At the end of Venices signature waterway, Palazzo Ducale and Basilica di San Marco add double exclamation points. But wait until you see whats hiding in narrow backstreets: neighbourhood churches lined with Veroneses and priceless marbles, Tiepolos glimpses of heaven on homeless-shelter ceilings, and a tiny Titian that mysteriously lights up an entire cathedral.

Garden islands and lagoon aquaculture yield speciality produce and seafood you wont find elsewhere all highlighted in inventive Venetian cuisine, with tantalising traces of ancient spice routes. The city knows how to put on a royal spread, as Frances King Henry III once found out when faced with 1200 dishes and 200 bonbons. Today such feasts are available in miniature at happy hour, when bars mount lavish spreads of cicheti (Venetian tapas). Save room and time for a proper sit-down Venetian meal, with lagoon seafood to match views at canalside bistros, and toasts with Venetos signature bubbly, prosecco .

The city built on water was never afraid to attempt the impossible. When plague struck, Venice consulted its brain trust of Mediterranean doctors, who recommended a precaution that has saved untold lives since: quarantine. Under attack by Genovese rivals, Venices Arsenale shipyards innovated the assembly line, producing a new warship every day to defeat Genoa. After Genoa backed Christopher Columbus venture to the New World, Venices shipping fortunes began to fade but Venice wasnt about to relinquish the world stage, going on to become the launching pad for baroque music and modern opera.

Eyeglasses, platform shoes and uncorseted dresses are outlandish Venetian fashions that continental critics sniffed would never be worn by respectable Europeans. When prolific Ghetto publishing houses circulated Renaissance ideas, Rome banned Venice from publishing books. The city was excommunicated for ignoring such bans but when savvy Venice withheld tithes, Rome recanted. Venices artistic triumphs over censorship are now displayed in the Gallerie dellAccademia.

Grand Canal ()
PETER ADAMS / GETTY IMAGES

Why I Love Venice

By Alison Bing, Author

In Italo Calvinos Invisible Cities , Venetian explorer Marco Polo describes the cities hes seen to Kublai Khan only everywhere he describes is actually Venice. From the moment you arrive, youll understand why. Venice floods the imagination with possibility, launching dreams like ships from its Istrian stone shores. Gothic palaces, art biennials, masquerade parties: every seemingly permanent fixture of this floating landscape is the culmination of a thousand creative efforts, anchored by a thousand years of travellers tales. Yet the citys glories cannot be exaggerated or repeated enough; Venice makes Marco Polos of us all.

See for much more.

Venices Top 10

DAVID C TOMLINSON / GETTY IMAGES

Other cities have government buildings; Venice has the Palazzo Ducale, a monumental propaganda campaign. To reach the halls of power, you must pass the Scala dei Censori (Stairs of the Censors) and Sansovinos staircase lined with 24-carat gold, then wait in a Palladio-designed hall facing Tiepolos Venice Receiving Gifts of the Sea from Neptune . Veroneses Juno Bestowing her Gifts on Venice graces the trial chambers of the Consiglio dei Dieci (Council of Ten), Venices CIA. Upstairs is attic-prison the Piombi, where Casanova was confined in 1756 until his escape.

Sestiere di San Marco

Venices Top 10

LONELY PLANET / GETTY IMAGES

Early risers urge you to arrive when morning sunlight bathes millions of tesserae with an otherworldly glow, and jaws drop to semiprecious-stone floors. Sunset romantics lobby you to linger in Piazza San Marco until fading sunlight shatters portal mosaics into golden shards, and the Caff Florian house band strikes up the tango. Yet no matter how you look at it, the basilica is a marvel. Two eyes may seem insufficient to absorb 800 years of architecture and 8500 sq metres of mosaics Basilica di San Marco will stretch your sense of wonder.

Sestiere di San Marco

Venices Top 10

ATLANTIDE PHOTOTRAVEL / CORBIS

Theyve been censored and stolen, raised eyebrows and inspired generosity: all the fuss over Venetian paintings becomes clear at the Accademia. The Inquisition did not appreciate Venetian versions of biblical stories especially Veroneses