For most of my life, Venice held a sort of magical mysticism in my mind—based, of course, primarily on what I had seen on film and read about in books. The first time I remember really encountering the city was in the 2003 movie The Italian Job. I won’t spoil it for you, but the movie opens with a really epic underwater heist in and around the canals. A few years later, my awe was renewed with the 2010 film, The Tourist, in which Angelina Jolie is the definition of European elegance & sophistication in the chicest ensembles as she walks (and boats) throughout the city. Reading The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare), Inferno (Dan Brown), and Seven Days in the Art World (Sarah Thornton) over the years all kept my interest piqued by the water-locked city. Suffice it to say, Venice has been a top destination on my list for a while and when my family first discussed going to Italy, I was positive we needed to spend at least a little time there.

My mom is also a reader/consumer of information and other than the two aforementioned films (which she loves), the knowledge she had gathered about Venice was that it smelled awful and the crowds were crushing and therefore was not interested in seeing (smelling) the city for herself. Fortunately, we succeeded in convincing her to give Venice a try.

After a few lovely days in Rome, we took the high-speed train from Roma Termini to Venezia Santa Lucia, which was smooth, fast (just over 4 hours) and rather comfortable. We paid for a mid-level carriage with assigned seats and amenities of wifi and snacks. The perfect way to travel, in my opinion! I think the train made six stops total and it was fascinating to watch the countryside zip by as we traveled north. From the last main land stop (also a Venezia stop), we traveled about 10 minutes over the water to the group of islands that makes up “Venice.”

Most of Venice looks uniformly old and full of character with the slight exceptions of the train station and the few modern hotels nearby (like the A/C Marriott we stayed at). We had a short walk (that involved a rather tall bridge) from the station to our hotel and we were able to check in early before heading out on the town. Before arriving, we had looked up a few places to eat and visit, so we bought vaporetto passes and navigated straight to a cicchetti bar/restaurant that my sister had researched. Ostaria dei Zemei was an amazing find! Cicchetti are essentially small snacks or appetizers, most of which involve topping a slice of toasted bread with some sort of primarily savory topping. We hadn’t yet had lunch, so the four of us ordered an initial six cicchetti to try, followed by a second round. Some of the best food on the trip!

Feeling refreshed, we set out to wander a bit and after pausing on the Rialto Bridge for some golden hour photos, we stumbled on a gondola ride stop. Since the weather was supposed to be better that day than the next, we decided to just go for it. Everyone I knew who had visited Venice said to take a ride, even though it’s pretty much just for tourists. They were not wrong! After our ride, we walked to an old bookstore, Alta Acqua Liberia, that sells a mix of used and new books. It was clearly a popular destination. That evening we ended our walking tour on St. Mark’s Square before a dinner of risotto and cuttlefish ink pasta followed by ciccolata calda and Americanos.

Our one full day in Venice was rainy and cold, but the precipitation could not dampen our spirits. We spent most of the morning at a fabulous art museum, Ca’Rezzonico. I loved the permanent collection of period furniture and lovely paintings, but I particularly enjoyed a temporary display of a collection of artworks from Count Leopoldo Cicognara. He was friends with many artists including Antonia Canova (a favorite sculpture of mine).

Our day included more cicchetti, views from the bell tower, self-guided tours of St. Mark’s Basilica & the Doge’s Palace (such a fascinating museum of Venice’s socio-political history). We finished with grilled sea bass, two kinds of pasta & a trio of desserts at the unassuming, but rather delicious Ristorante Ca’Dolfin (a recommendation from my dad’s cousin).

Our one-day vaporetto passes expired fairly early during our one full day in the city, so we mostly walked, which was just fine with modern GPS. The alleyways were confusing and sometimes bridges led to dead ends—and I thought on more than one occasion that pre-satellite technology, Venice would have been a spooky labyrinth to navigate—but even that added to its charm.

For having legitimately fought my dad, sister and me about Venice, my mom totally ended up changing her tune. While we sipped our coffees with a view of St. Mark’s Square, she admitted that it was a dream come true. Love that for her; for us! In our short 1.5 days in Venezia, we covered a lot of ground and saw so many beautiful things—enough to really feel like we “did Venice.” That being said, I would absolutely make time to go back. It was a magical as I had dreamed (and for the record, it did not have any notably-bad smell).

The Highlights
Ca’Rezzonico (amazing art museum). Doge’s Palace. A variety of cicchetti (specifically ones from Ostaria dei Zemei). Gondola ride (had to!). Using the vaparetto (water busses) to get around the city. But also, wandering through the narrow alleys and over too many bridges to count. St. Mark’s Basilica. Alta Acqua. Rialto Bridge. Coffee & pastries at Caffè Quadri. Views of the city from the top of the bell tower in St. Mark’s Square. Christmas décor. Glass blown sculptures and other beautiful art everywhere. Buying clementines from a floating market.

The Remarkable
Although it was rather touristy (and not exactly cheap… around 100 euros total for the four of us), one of my favorite experiences was taking a gondola ride. Our ride was so relaxing and peaceful—for most of the 30 minutes, we hardly saw any other gondolas or water taxis. We just glided softly through the canals with an occasional notation by our gondolier when we passed a historically-significant building or monument.

SDG