Be a Better Traveler In Venice
This Venice guide is so good!! By guest author Gillian McGuire
Hello!
Today started out with a flash flood warning and our neighbors ringing the doorbell and telling us to get our car to higher ground. Going to have to get used to this, as apparently rainy season doesn’t even start until summer.
For now, let’s talk about another place that’s familiar with water. Venice! I’m turning the newsletter over to my friend
for how to be a better traveler in Venice, a city that’s as famous for its beauty as its overtourism. One of my favorite memories of the past five years is walking far away from Piazza San Marco, crossing waterways until I had no idea which way I had come, finding a corner bar and sitting in the street drinking wine and watching boats navigate their way around the outskirts of the city. Magic. (A more touristy but equally fun memory is when a couple of friends visited me in Rome and we went to Venice and drank a spritz at a different adorable bar every time the church bells tolled. They toll on the hour. We were in our early 20s and it was glorious!)Gillian is a travel writer based in Italy, where she writes Gillian Knows Best, a newsletter you should definitely subscribe to if you have any Italy trips coming up, or just like to live vicariously. This is the type of guide that’s typically only available for paid subscribers, but every once in awhile I like to give the rest of you a sneak peek.
How to be a Better Traveler In Venice
Venice is a completely improbable place. The entire city is actually 124 islands that have been built upon on top of wooden stilts sunk into the silt. There are no roads, no traffic lights, and no cars, only narrow calle and bridges and canals and boats. La Serenissima has been bewitching travelers for centuries. Maybe a little too much. Sometimes the crush of daily visitors can triple the number of people in a city that is only five kilometers long. This guide will help you gently navigate her confounding spell.
History
Venice was first inhabited in 421 by the Veneti who were seeking refuge from barbarian armies. Armies that didn’t cross water. The lagoon marshlands and islands offered protection and a place to settle. The official founding date of the city is 697 when the first doge of Venice, Paolo Lucio Anafesto (Anafestus Paulicius), was elected and the struggle for independence from the Roman/ Byzantine empire began. From the 9 to 14th centuries, Venice’s influence expanded into a powerful maritime empire that ruled most of the Mediterranean for 1,000 years funded by trade in silk and spices and enslaved people with the east. The Plague of 1629-31 wiped out a third of the population and in 1797 Napoleon Bonaparte stole a huge part of the Doge’s treasure and that in part funded his rise to power and Venice came under the rule of the Austrian Empire. Venice became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1866.
Government
Italian Politics is a complicated and elusive concept. The current government is the 69th since World War II. The Italian Republic is led by a multi-party parliamentary republic. The president of the Republic, Sergio Matterella, has held the position since 2015, despite trying to retire in late 2021. In October 2022 Giorgia Meloni became the first female prime minister. She is the leader of the right-wing populist party Brothers of Italy. Venice is located in the region of Veneto and is administered by the province of Venice. Luigi Brugnaro is the current mayor. He has been in office since 2015 and is also the president of the center-right party Coraggio Italia.
Social Issues
Overtourism and resident housing: While you are walking around look for banners with the number 49,999. This is a statement about the resident population of Venice. There are less than 50,000 people who make Venice their permanent home. That number is in stark contrast to the 20 million annual visitors. On a single busy day, the numbers can reach up to 120,000 visitors. That means an economy that can be more geared towards tourists than residents. Residents have to compete with luxury hotel groups and illegal short-term rentals for spaces that could be affordable housing.
Cruise ships. A major victory was won with the 2021 ban on cruise ships in the Guidecca canal, but the problem has not been resolved. These massive floating cities harm Venice in a constellation of ways by endangering the delicate ecosystem of the lagoon.
Climate change and Mose. On the night of November 12, 2019, a terrible storm coupled with a high tide swept through the lagoon. Venice and the islands suffered devastating high water and flooding. In October 2020 the decades-long project called Mose which was built to protect the city was finally launched. In November 2022 a similar storm came again but this time the gates were raised they worked to keep the city dry.
Groups like We Are Here Venice, Venice Calls and the Committee No Grand Navi are all advocating for change. Would you like to move to Venice and be part of the change? Vennywhere can help.
Safety
Venice is an extremely safe city with low crime rates. Solo and female travelers should feel reasonably comfortable even at night. Be alert to petty crime like pickpockets around Piazza San Marco, the Rialto bridge, and the train station.
Tourism
Venice is faced with a paradox of difficulties. The city is trying to balance the return of over-tourism after the void of the pandemic years. Restaurants are short staffed and hotels have closed. The controversial entry tax for day trippers that has been discussed for years but never implemented is scheduled to begin this summer. Maybe.
Local Tips
Venice is divided into six neighborhoods that are called sestieri. Guidecca island is included in the sestieri of Dorsoduro and the Island of Saint Giorgio Maggiore is in San Marco.
Most of the calle are quite narrow and function as two-way streets. Walk single file to the right so you don’t cause a traffic jam.
Don’t sit on bridges. Like the calle they are functionally streets. Find a campo with red benches to take a break or better yet find a bacaro and sit down with a spritz.
Pack light. Even if your hotel has a water taxi entrance. Venice has more than 400 bridges. If your luggage is big and heavy it will feel like you have to cross every single one of them.
Download the hi!tide Venezia app to keep informed about when and where there will be high water.
Do
Live like a Venetian
First of all, stay in Venice. Don’t come on a day trip. Don’t come on a monstrous cruise ship. Don’t stay on terra firma. Spend the night, spend the week, spend a month! Where you stay matters. Do your homework and stay somewhere owned by Venetians. If you have a kitchen, shop in local markets and bakeries and butchers during your stay.
Plan ahead
Buy your museum and Vaporetto tickets ahead of time from the Venezia Unica website.
See Some Art
Take in as many Titians, Tintorettos, and Canalettos as your eyes can handle at the Galleria Academia and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. The Peggy Guggenheim collection is a wonder of contemporary art housed in the American socialite's former villa on the Grand Canal. If you are visiting Venice during a Biennale the city’s artistic riches are exponentially increased with the pavilions in the Giardini and the massive Arsenale space and the many collateral events scattered all over town to see.
Eat in places owned by Venetians
There is a lot of expensive and mediocre food in Venice. Do your research and make sure you have a few addresses for different parts of town so you don’t get caught out starving and lost and having to eat frozen pizza or pasta out of a cardboard box in desperation. Try the Venetian tradition of cichetti, small bites of fish, or cured meat on bread with a spritz or glass of wine.
Visit workshops and buy things made by Venetians
Venice is world-famous for glass, carnival masks, and handwoven fabrics but did you know they have some of the best eyeglass shops, printmakers, and dressmakers?
Take a Gondola Ride
A gondola is truly a work of art. Each gondola has 280 pieces, each piece is made by hand, each by a different skilled craftsman. There are just over 400 gondoliers who row on the waters of the lagoon. A forty-minute gondola ride for up to five people costs 80 euros. After 7 pm it is 100 euros. There is no need to book ahead, find a quieter canal for a more peaceful ride. If you want the iconic Saint Mark's Square in the background know that there will be traffic.
Take a tour
Even if you think you are not a tour person take a tour in Venice. Navigating this labyrinth of a city is exhausting. In the summer heat, it can be excruciating. It is so relaxing to follow someone else around for a few hours.
Luisella Romeo and Elisa Amadi are licensed private guides who can take you through the Doges palace or on a shopping expedition for Venetian treasures like handwoven velvet, masks, and painter’s pigments.
Monica Cesarato will keep the kids entertained with Venetian ghost stories while you make stops for cichetti and local wine.
Discover the lagoon with Pesca Burano. Spend 2 hours aboard the Nettuno led by Domenico Rossi and Enrico Trevisan.
Row Venice is a women-led group that puts the oars in your hands. Learn to row the voga alla veneta, the Venetian style of rowing.
Eat
The cicchetti at Osteria Salvmeria, Naranzari and Cantine del Vino già Schiavi are wonderful. Book a romantic dinner at Ristorante al Covo. Trust the staff’s wine recommendations. It is imperative that you save room for one of Diane's legendary desserts. Osteria Paradiso Perduto is fun, loud, and sometimes has live music. Look for the pasta machine in the window cranking our fresh bigoli. Get a mozzarella in carrozza, a deep-fried mozzarella, an anchovy sandwich with a tiny ice-cold birretta, draft beer at Rosticceria Gilson. At Gelateria Nico the thing to try is the Gianduiotto, a rectangle of chocolate hazelnut gelato plunged into a cup filled with whipped cream. The sunset viewing here is ace. It is even better with a spritz.
Drink
My biggest piece of Venice advice is to have a drink in Piazza San Marco. Yes, it’s extravagant but trust me on this. Sit down, pay the money & stay a while. I love a tramazzino and a spritz at Caffe Florian. Harry’s Bar is not technically in the piazza but it is worth a mention. The martini is life changing. Vino Vero has a large selection of natural wine and some of the most creative cichetti in town.
Stay
The Romanelli family that owns and runs the Hotel Flora are Venetian. They live in Venice and are fiercely committed to a sustainable Venice. Hotel Flora is a welcoming refuge close to Piazza San Marco and roughly equidistant from both the Accademia and Rialto bridge. The 40 guest rooms have an old-fashioned charm with floral wallpaper, wood floors, and beamed ceilings. The garden where a breakfast of warm croissants, fruit, and cappuccino is served is enchanting. Every guest gets the Inside Venice guide so that your visit to Venice is low impact and authentic. If you need more space book the apartment Casa Flora. They also run the nearby Novecento Boutique Hotel.
Hotel Albergo Marin is a friendly family-owned hotel located across the grand canal from the train station. The 19 simple rooms have air-conditioning and recently renovated bathrooms. Breakfast lovers should make sure to include that option when booking. In addition to the traditional Italian pastry and cappuccino, you can have bacon and eggs made to order. If you need more space the family also manages the Good Wine Apartments in Canareggio.
My favorite Venetian jeweler Marco and his wife Roberta have two large apartments on the island of San Pietro that are perfect for longer off-season stays.
Language
English is spoken in Venice, but a few words of Italian will always be appreciated.
Buongiorno - Good Morning
Buonasera - Good afternoon/Good evening
Grazie - Thank you
Aiuto! - Help!
Vaporetto - Public water bus
Acqua Alta - high water caused by a combination of the moon, tides and wind
caìgo - fog (Venetian dialect)
sottoportego – a passage under a building.
Bricole - Bound wooden posts that mark the navigable parts of the canals
Zanzara - mosquito
Autan - Best brand of Mosquito repellent
Fun Facts
Almost everything written about Venice declares that there are more than 150 canals. In reality, there are only five. All of the other waterways are in fact called rii. The famous canals are the S-shaped Canal Grande that winds through the city, the Canale della Giudecca that divides Venice from the island of Giudecca, and the Canale di Cannaregio that connects the train station to the Canal Grande.
Venice is a city that knows how to live through a plague. Did you know that the word quarantine has Venetian origins? During outbreaks of plague, ships & people who wanted to enter Venice were kept away and isolated on a nearby island, in Quarantena, a word in Venetian dialect meaning 40 days.
The metal piece at the front of a gondola is called the Ferro de prua. It is more than decoration It acts as a counterweight to the asymmetrical boat and is filled with meaning. The shape of the Grand Canal, the six sestiere (quarters) of Venice and the island of Guidecca, the Rialto bridge, and a Doge’s hat are all integrated into the design.
Thank you, Gillian! Reading this makes me want to go back immediately and for as long as possible.
If you liked the newsletter today, please pass it to someone you know who’d enjoy it, and tap the heart icon above, which helps me reach more readers.
–Rebecca 💛
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Thanks for this guide! I’ll be spending a few days in Venice at the end of April as part of a larger driving trip that includes Trieste and Vienna and a few days in Slovenia (Hisa Franko, here we come!) And while I’ve been fortunate to visit Venice many times, there were some great eating and drinking recommendations that I will def include in our plans. Grazi ancora!