Five Reasons you must Visit Venice
Venice travel: for a real sense of history, culture and romance all wrapped up on one easily walk-able island, this Italian ‘city of water’ can’t be beat. And if you book in to a Cheap Venice Hotel, you’ll have a bit more cash to spare for poking around. For some ideas on where to start, see our five reasons to visit Venice below…
1. The Venice Carnival
Starting a fortnight before Ash Wednesday and ending on Shrove Tuesday, Venice Carnival is hedonistic, colourful and bizarre in equal measures. Revelry tops the agenda with masked street parties and balls running day to night (the mask tradition started in the 12th century as a way for aristocracy and commoners to mix on equal ground), and the prize for “La Maschera piu bella” is selected by a panel of costume and fashion designers. Wander around St. Mark’s Square armed with a camera to draw flocks of posing, creatively-costumed carnival-goers.
2. Eating Gelato
Forget everything you think you know about ice cream – you haven’t tried real ice cream ‘til you’ve gone for a gelato inVenice! With cafes, corner shops and special parlours selling artisanal ice cream on every street and a scoop costing around a Euro, it’s easy to sample, too. Gelato is made fresh on most sites (as opposed to from a frozen, pre-packaged mix) and flavours range from chocolate and strawberry to weirder concoctions like fig or avocado. Go for a different scoop every time!
Venice has been the setting for many a classic movie. To follow in the stars’ footsteps, start out at Palazzo Pisani, east of campo Santo Stefano, where the final shoot-out at the end of James Bond movie Casino Royale was filmed. You can move on to thechurchofSan Nicolòdei Mendicoli and Palazzo Grimani, where Don’t Look Now was shot, and St. Mark’s Square, where Indiana Jones emerges from a man hole in the Last Crusade.
4. Amazing Art
From Titian to Tiepolo, the history ofVeniceis intertwined with the history of art and artists. The Galleria dell’Accademia is your first stop for discovering the city’s store of great works: it includes Titian’s last painting, Pieta, and also holds da Vinci’s pen-and-ink Vitruvian Man drawing (which is displayed only occasionally). For more Titian, his Assumption is above the high altar at I Frari church, and Tintoretto’s Crucifixion can be seen at Scuola Grande di San Rocco.
5.Grand Canal
You can’t talk aboutVenicewithout mentioning theGrand Canal, the city’s main artery for commercial cargo for over 1000 years. Take a vaporetto (water taxi) from the main railway station to St. Mark’s Square to get a load of the stunning palazzos and churches lining the water-front. If you’re feeling flush or particularly romantic, upgrade your ride to a private gondola. The canal also plays host to Venice Historical Regatta, a boat race between competing Venetian neighbourhoods that takes place on the first Sunday of September every year.
