There is nowhere else on earth like Venice, or if there is, please let me know where. Since there are no cars – literally no cars – the vibe of the city is different. It is a place where you can just get lost, without worrying about going too far astray.
If you want to know my advice on what to do in Venice, my number one answer will be, get lost. Just wander. I am someone who doesn’t do well with crowds, so when I was in the heart of the tourist part of Venice, I was pretty frustrated – one glass shop after another, people stopping randomly in the too narrow streets, sellers trying to get you to take a rose, bracelet, etc. But, once I wandered away from this small area of the city, I found the heart of Venice. Palazzos, al fresco dining, public water fountains, bridges, sculptural reliefs in the stone walls, small artisan shops, arched entries, inventive door bells/knobs, churches, plant covered window boxes, people standing around drinking wine/coffee/spritzes.
Yes, there were still tourists, but there was also a Venetian vibe. I can’t tell you exactly where I went, but it doesn’t really matter. Every night, I went a different direction, and every time I found myself in awe of the place.
I’m not great at picking out good food for myself. I get too overwhelmed with a menu because I want to try local favorites but also don’t want to commit to something that I’m not sure I will like. When I found my first osteria serving cicchetti, I finally found a way to sample local flavors without reservation. Laid out behind glass (so people can see what things look like), most osterias/bacari serve over ten different types of cicchetti. These tend to be crostinis with toppings, polpettes (fried balls of different ingredients), marinated fish and olives, and meats and cheeses. Local delicacies like anchovies, truffles, eggplant, octopus, and cod are featured along with classic Italian cheeses and meats. One night I moved from one osteria to the next sampling a few cicchetti with a drink until I felt like I didn’t need to eat dinner – locals call this a “giro d’ombra”. This was my favorite night. It not only allowed me to taste the city, but I got to experience the different vibes of neighborhoods – whether it was the cozy wood paneled corner barcaro, palazzo patio, canal-side barcaro with people spreading out on stairs and walls, or the one where protecting your food from the seagulls is part of the experience. And yes, I did see seagulls steal multiple people’s bites.
Almost every time I pass a bookstore, I go in. I like to see what authors or genres bookstores feature, how they lay out their space, and read any employee recommendations that might be on offer. In Europe, I know that most of the books will be in a different language, but that doesn’t stop me from being drawn in. On my first night in Venice, I ate at this small restaurant that had an unusual poster on the ceiling. When I asked the owner about it, he wasn’t able to fully explain it to me, but when I saw this same face plastered across a whole counter of books in one bookstore, I knew there was some cultural significance to this character. I learned from the bookstore owner that it is the cult graphic novel character Corto Maltese, known for his Ulysses style adventures featuring mystical elements in places like the South Pacific and Venice.
Since Venice is a city confined by water, it has also had to deal with the rising water issues. This means that sometimes buildings flood. Local bookstore Acqua Alta Bookstore hasn’t just thrown those book casualties out, but has made them a feature in their store. There’s a staircase made out of waterlogged books leading up to a view of the neighboring canal and a wall of them on the way out. They also use boats as shelf and design features throughout their store.
With rising sea levels, the city needs to do more than just deal with the damage the water does, they need to figure out solutions. This issue was apparent in many of the design projects within the Time Space Existence biennial architecture exhibition. Occupying two historic buildings as well as a few small parks in the city, the show features more than 200 architects, designers, urban planners, and creatives that are working to weave together cultural, place, economic, and need based design into their projects. Not only were the projects interesting – and many times immersive – the buildings they were housed in were beautiful. Both Palazzo Mora and Palazzo Bembo offered views of the city that you wouldn’t get just walking down the street.
I’ve learned that you never know what might be behind the doors of any building in the city. Set in the historic Church of San Lorenzo, Ocean Space seeks to educate people about the environmental advocacy through the arts. On display during my visit was Nadia Huggins’ “A shipwreck is not a wreck”, which creates a conversation about the relationship between humans at the ocean.
One space that was historically significant that I wandered across was the Venice Ghetto. In 1516, the city of Venice confined the Jewish people living in the city to this neighborhood making it the first Jewish ghetto in Europe. The neighborhood was segregated from the city by walls and gates that were shut at night until 1797 when Napoleon Bonaparte seized power from the Republic of Venice and tore down the walls and gates. The neighborhood still maintains its Jewish heritage with five synagogues, a historical center, a Holocaust memorial, and a museum.
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