Two-Day Trek: Venice, Italy
Get lost — repeatedly — amid the picturesque cafes, churches and canals.
A growing influx of tourists has forced this famous city on the lagoon to take measures to preserve its future, but a visit during the offseason shows how enchanting it can be.
SATURDAY
A late evening flight didn’t let us see very much, so after taking the ATVO Venezia Express bus from the airport into the city, we checked into the Hotel Bellini Venezia (Rio Terà Lista di Spagna 116), just a 10-minute walk from the plaza, and immediately scoured the area for dinner.
Visitors are spoiled for choice here — as is the case throughout Italy — but because of the late hours, a few of the options we had sized up were already unavailable. Instead, we found an enjoyable meal at Trattoria da GiGio (Rio Tera San Leonardo 1594), a family-run restaurant with a variety of pasta and seafood dishes that left us ready to take on the city the next day.
SUNDAY
A perfect day to head out early, if only a little rainy, we decided to organize our a trip a bit in reverse and skip the main sights in order to hit the islands. From our hotel, we walked first through the Campo della Pescaria in San Polo, the site of a lively fish market that, of course, operates every morning but Sunday, and then across the famed Rialto, which we would return later in the day.
Arriving at the Fondamente Nove stop, we hopped aboard the No. 12 line on the Vaporetto, the city’s water bus service, and embarked on a 35-minute voyage to Burano, a lovely, quiet island historically famous for its production of lace and its brightly colored homes. After slowly meandering through the neighborhoods, we tucked into the Museo del Merletto [Lace Museum], housed in a 19th-century schoolhouse that explains why lacemaking took hold on the island and the prevalence the industry had from the 1500s onward.
What To Know
Date of visit: March 4 to March 6, 2017.
Airport location: It’s eight miles to Piazzale Roma, where the Venezia Express bus stops.
Walkability: 9/10. It’s the best way to see Venice, with the Vaporettos available to travel to the nearby islands.
English: Very well spoken with hoteliers and restaurateurs catering to so many visitors.
Must-See Attraction: Carve out some time to take the Vaporetto out to the islands of Murano and Burano.
Traveler’s tip: Know the address of a restaurant or shop in advance. Because of the size of the alleys and the density of the city, Google Maps’ navigation is unreliable.
Of course, we couldn’t resist a peek inside the Museo del Vetro [Glass Museum], which traces how the industry was forced out of the city proper and came to thrive on the island as well as displays some of the most ornate, mind-boggling glassware one has ever seen.
Many of the shops started to close by mid-afternoon, so that was our cue to return to the main islands, which we did by again boarding the No. 12 boat. Back at Fondamente Nova, we ambled aimlessly south, crossing the Grand Canal via the Rialto Bridge, the oldest of the four bridges that straddle the waterway. A city icon completed in 1591, the bridge is lined by shops on both sides, though nowadays many peddle the same tourist tack available elsewhere around the city.
Finally, we emerged at Piazza San Marco [St. Mark’s Square], which we had planned to explore more in depth the following day. That being the case, we instead spent some time meandering through shops and watching people dip in and out of the numerous plaza cafes.
Our dinner that night was back across the bridge at Osteria Antico Dolo (Ruga Rialto 778), a site that has purportedly been home to a restaurant since 1434. It was another seafood restaurant — what else would one eat in the city on the lagoon? — and this one came recommended for its seppie in nero, or squid in ink, a Venetian specialty.
The day ended with a peaceful ride back to the hotel on the No. 2 line of the Vaporetto, allowing us a magnificent night-time view of the Rialto as we motored underneath.
MONDAY
Expecting crowds to fill the popular sites quickly, we scurried back to the Piazza San Marco to make sure we were at the Palazzo Ducale [Doge’s Palace] when it was scheduled to open at 8:30 a.m. The residence of the Doge of Venice, the longtime ruler of the city when it was a standalone republic, we opted to take the recommended “Secret Itineraries” tour, which allowed us into the palace, across the Bridge of Sighs — so named because it offered convicts one last look at freedom before their sentence began — and into the old prison, from which Giacomo Casanova escaped in 1755.
The tour lasted about two hours, and afterward, we went across the plaza and scaled the Campanile, or bell tower, which offered exquisite views not only of the city but also of the lagoon and the surrounding islands. Upon descent, we stopped into the Basilica di San Marco [St. Mark’s Basilica], which took more than 100 years to finish after construction began in the 10th century. It houses not only nearly 300 pieces of gold, silver and glassware in its treasury but also the relics of St. Mark himself in a sarcophagus.
After grabbing lunch at a forgettable cafe near the plaza, we headed out toward the city’s second most-popular bridge, the Ponte dell’Accademia, which offers a view of the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute [St Mary’s Basilica] across the Grand Canal to the left. From here, many visitors may consider viewing the modern art collection at the nearby Peggy Guggenheim museum, but with our time limited, we instead set off in search of the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo (Corte dei Risi 4299), a hidden gem of a townhouse with an impressive exterior spiral staircase constructed in the 1490s.
After a fruitless search for a since-closed shop that made traditional Venetian carnival masks, we figured no trip to Venice would be complete without crossing the Grand Canal in a gondola. Thus, we eagerly indulged in our return trek to the hotel, offering our own special goodbye to the city.
Verdict: Visiting in the low season and hitting the sights early is the best way to ensure an enjoyable experience in a city continually besieged by tourists. Although we put up with gentle rains each night, the timing of the trip prevented being caught among the oppressive crowds the city is desperately in vein to control.
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Disclaimers: All products, services and experiences were paid for and arranged by the author and the vendors named herein had no editorial oversight of this piece. All photographs were taken by and remain the property of the author; contact for republication rights.
