48 Hours In: Venice
With the summer crowds gone and the temperature balmy, now is the perfect time to sail through the streets of this stunning Italian city, says Lucy Gillmore
Published: 15 October 2005 by Independent.co.uk
WHY GO NOW?
Now that the crowds are thinning out, Venice is less likely to give you a tourist-fuelled head rush. Expect balmy autumn days, sun seeping through the mist on the lagoon - and shorter queues.
TOUCH DOWN
Venice's Marco Polo airport is on the northern edge of the lagoon, 12km from the city. You can fly there on British Airways (0870 850 9850; www.ba.com) from Gatwick; BMI (0870 60 70 555; www.flybmi.com) from Heathrow; easyJet (0871 750 0100; www.easyjet.com) from Nottingham, Gatwick and Bristol; and Thomsonfly (0870 1900 737; www.thomsonfly.com) from Coventry. A vaporetto or water bus across the lagoon to Piazza San Marco (1) takes around 45 minutes and costs €10 (£7); alternatively take the ATVO bus to Piazzale Roma (2), the bus and train station hub, and from there transfer to a vaporetto down the Grand Canal. Ryanair (0906 2705656; www.ryanair.com) flies from Stansted, Luton and Liverpool to Treviso, 35km away. The ATVO bus to Piazzale Roma connects with the flight and costs €9 (£6.30).
GET YOUR BEARINGS
Venice is linked to the mainland by a rail and road bridge, which ends at Piazzale Roma (2). From here you continue by water or on foot. The city sprawls across 100 or so islands and is divided into six sestieri or districts. Tourists swarm around San Marco coursing down the main thoroughfare between the Rialto Bridge (3) and Piazza San Marco (1), but even here you can lose the hordes in the multitude of tiny alleys.
To the east is Castello, which encompasses the old shipbuilding area Arsenale, to the north-west is Cannaregio, many visitors' first sight of the city and where you'll find the old Jewish ghetto. On the other side of the Grand Canal are the tightly packed historic quarters of Santa Croce and San Polo, and Dorsoduro, stretching from the elegant church of Santa Maria della Salute (4) on the easternmost tip to the edgy docklands in the west. There are a number of tourist offices around the city; one of the most central is Giardini Reali (5) (00 39 041 522 5150; www.turismovenezia.it; daily 10am-6pm).
CHECK IN
The Luna Baglioni (6), calle Larga dell'Ascensione (00 39 041 528 9840; www.baglionihotels.com; or through Leading Hotels of the World 00800 2888 8882; www.lhw.com), is the oldest hotel in Venice. It dates back to the 15th century, but is now a shiny vision of marble, gilt and Venetian glass chandeliers. Doubles from €312 (£223); breakfast in the frescoed ballroom costs €25 (£18). Locanda Novecento (7), calle del Dose, Campo San Maurizio (00 39 041 241 3765; www.novecento.biz), is an eclectic little boutique hotel with just nine Oriental styled, antique-filled rooms. Doubles from €170 (£121), including breakfast. Its sister hotel, the Flora (8), just off calle XXII Marzo (00 39 041 520 5844; www.hotelflora.it), occupies a 17th-century palazzo that was once the Venetian School of Painting. Doubles from €140 (£100) with breakfast served, weather permitting, in the lovely courtyard garden.
TAKE A VIEW
The tallest building in Venice, the Campanile (9), soars above Piazza San Marco; 8.45am-4pm daily, €6/£4.40. The queue snakes around the square but once inside, a lift whisks you to the top from where the island city and lagoon spreads out before you. A less tourist-clogged option is the belltower of the church of San Giorgio Maggiore (10); open 9.30am-5.30pm, €3/£2.20.
TAKE A RIDE
Zigzag down the Grand Canal, Venice's 3.5km-long high street, admiring the architectural slide show - and the stripy shirted gondoliers punting past - along the way from the slightly ramshackle vaporettos 1 or 82. A €5 (£3.50) ticket lasts for 90 minutes, the trip from Piazzale Roma to San Marco takes around half an hour - and is much cheaper than a gondola ride. Most of the palazzi that line Venice's main thoroughfare date from the 12th to the 18th centuries.
LUNCH ON THE RUN
Grab a toasted pannini and glass of wine at Osteria da Bacco (11), Di Angiolin Franco, Castello (00 39 041 522 2887), an atmospheric little bacaro (rustic wine bar) with beamed ceilings and old wooden bar, crammed with ebullient locals chatting between tables and dancing around the cramped room. Vino Vino (12), ponte delle Veste, San Marco (00 39 041 241 7688; www.vinovino.co.it), is one of the city's first wine bars and another buzzing little place with a bulging wine list. You choose your food from the dishes on the bar and are then seated.
CULTURAL AFTERNOON
The walls of the Gallerie dell'Accademia (13) campo Carita (00 39 041 522 2247; www.artive.arti.beniculturali.it; Mon 8.15am-2pm, Tues-Sun 8.15am-7.15pm; €6.50/£4.50) are dripping with Titians, Tintorettos and Veroneses. For a more contemporary experience, the Museo Correr (14) (00 39 041 522 5625; www.museiciviciveneziani.it), housed in the western wing of Piazza San Marco, is hosting a Lucien Freud show until 30 October; daily 9am-7pm; €9 (£6).
WINDOW SHOPPING
Get up early to head to the bustling Rialto market (15) and wander around the fruit and veg stalls beside the Grand Canal. The alleys around Pizza San Marco are packed with designer stores and little artisan shops selling Murano glass, lace and linen. For designer glass jewellery head to Giorgio Nason (16), Campo San Gregorio (00 39 041 523 9426), near the church of Salute.
AN APERITIF
In the Thirties the patronage of Ernest Hemingway and the like catapulted Harry's Bar (17), calle Vallaresso (00 39 041 528 5777; www.cipriani.com), to worldwide fame. Today, it's a must-see even if the Bellinis are tiny and overpriced and the bar itself underwhelming. There are plenty of quirkier wine bars around the city in which to sip a glass of bubbly prosecco. Alternatively, an aperitif in the floodlit Piazza San Marco listening to the tinkling piano music might be touristy, but it's still magical.
DINNER WITH THE LOCALS
Book ahead if you want a table at Da Remigio (18), salizada dei Greci in Castello (00 39 041 523 0089), a favourite of local pescivores. Bright, light and noisy, you can tuck into specials such as cuttlefish or spicy fish soup. Alle Testiere (19), also in Castello on calle del Mondo Novo (00 39 041 522 7220), is another gastronomic discovery although no longer a well-kept secret. To squeeze more gourmands in, there are two sittings. Fed up with fish? Locals after a carnivorous fix wind their way to Da Arturo (20), calle degli Assassini, San Marco (00 39 041 528 6974). This tiny trattoria, which has earned itself the nickname "the railway carriage" because of its long wood-panelled interior and diner-like tables, dishes up the most delicious fillet steak doused in cream, cognac and port sauce. And the tiramisu, molten rather than spongy, is legendary.
SUNDAY MORNING: GO TO CHURCH
There are more than 100 churches in Venice, many bursting with artistic treasures - not least the Basilica in Piazza San Marco (1), which is home to the remains of St Mark, filched from Alexandria in 828. Many churches, however, are closed to tourists on a Sunday. The Renaissance church of San Zulian (21), Campo San Zulian (00 39 041 523 5383), has mass in English at 9.30am daily.
TAKE A HIKE
As stallholders crank open their awnings and bells peal out across the city, lose the crowds by weaving through the tiny backstreets. Head over the old wooden Accademia bridge (22) and bear left passing the Peggy Guggenheim museum (23) of modern art before emerging by the magnificent baroque church of Santa Maria della Salute (4). Look back over the water towards San Marco before retracing your steps slightly and then heading towards the southern stretch of Dorsudoru and walking along the waterfront beside the Canale de Giudecca.
OUT TO BRUNCH
Venetians aren't big on brunch. Instead, sip a cappuccino and munch on a pastry on the waterside beside the Rialto bridge and watch the traffic weave past on the canal.
A WALK IN THE PARK
Green space is at a premium in this watery - and often water-logged - city. You can grab a moment's peace and quiet on a bench in the leafy little Giardini Reali (5). Or head to the Giardini Pubblici (24), once home to four convents and now next door to the site of the Biennale.
ICING ON THE CAKE
The 90-minute Secret Itinerary at the Doge's Palace (25) piazzetta San Marco (00 39 041 520 9070 book ahead; daily in English at 11.35am; €12.50/£9) gives you a spellbinding insight into the workings of the Venetian Republic. You climb up into the cramped wooden administrative offices - and the torture chambers and Casanova's dark prison cell in the roof from where he staged his escape.
