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The best thing about Venice is getting lost!
Try reading a map of Venice…there are so many little alleyways and narrow streets, it is almost impossible to make heads or tails of it. Carry a map with you, but use it in a general manner.
I love to enter the city and take any path, alley or bridge that comes my way. You never know what you’ll stumble across…piazzas, churches, museums, restaurants, hotels, gelaterias…they are everywhere!
One of the greatest things you will find in Venice is the shopping. Boutiques and markets offers a vast selection of items.
If you need a mask…certainly they have what you are looking for. Going to a masquerade ball, you will be the hit of the party!
Glassware…with Murano and its glass-blowing artisans nearby, many beautiful pieces are available for purchase if you don’t make your way to the island.
Pasta! You can get it at any restaurant and you can take it home to impress your friends at your own Venetian-inspired dinner party!
Artwork…many artists display their works throughout the city on the streets and within legions of galleries located throughout the city.
As a lover of jewelry, this is one of my favorite things to buy and bring home for friends and family as souvenirs. Again, Murano glass is a big inspiration in many pieces.
Hungry? Many markets pop up throughout the city for the residents to purchase fruits and vegetables. If you are out for a stroll, however, and looking for a healthier option as an afternoon snack, there are many choices.
Some gelato to cool you off on a hot day? There seems to be a gelateria on every corner!
Sun too bright? You can find something along the way to help.
Looking for something special for mom, dad, grandma and your girlfriend? Many stands, throughout the city, offer unique gifts and souvenirs.
Whatever it is that you are looking for, Venice is sure to have it. So go ahead, throw out that map and take that bridge…take that right turn…go against what your internal compass is telling you…you never know what you might find!
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Arriving in the front of the building, an extensive queue snaked from the front to side where tickets were required to enter the queue. After a quick walk to the ticket office at the Sala Delle Colonne, we soon had tickets in hand and were back to the line. Moving rather quickly, our bags were inspected at the door and we were then admitted into the cathedral.
Riding the metro late in the afternoon, I eyed the many young people, dressed up for the Saturday night. Disembarking at the Porto Genova stop, we all made our way down to the main canal. Being a beautiful sunny day, there were masses of people spilling out from the scores of bars, restaurants and cafes that line the canal. Happy hour was underway and specials were advertised throughout the area, most offering drinks and accompanying appetizer buffets.
Tourists crowded on the the many bridges that span the canals, all clamoring to get that perfect selfie and other artwork was abound with countless galleries and signs pointing to courtyards showcasing local artists work. Design showrooms and temporary outdoor photography and art exhibits can be found throughout the area.
Palazzo Borromeo and Santa Maria Padone. Palazzo Borromeo was built in the late 14th century when the Florentine Borromeo family moved to Milan. Remodeled over the centuries and badly damaged during the air raids of 1943, it’s appearance today is not of its original construction. The square was created in 1440 following the demolition of a number of houses purchased by the Borromeo family to create a space linking the family palace with the 9th century parish church of Santa Maria Padone. The Romanesque church was transformed into a small basilica and a small family chapel was added in the 15th century.
Imperial Palace. Close to the circus, you can find the remains of the Roman Imperial Palace complex. Many different buildings were used privately and publicly by the Emperor as well as his court officials and the imperial bureaucracy. As in other Italian cities, the Emperor had direct access from his palace to the circus.
Entering through the main Famedio, a Neo Medieval style memorial chapel made of marble and stone, I first stopped to gaze upon the beautiful blue ceiling and the tomb of novelist, Alessandro Manzoni before making my way through each of the hallways. I particularly loved walking along the outer edges of the open-aired corridors so that I could admire the building’s architecture, the courtyard and the ornate tombs that line the area.
Before making my way into the cemetery’s immaculately groomed grounds, I then walked the full length of the building’s lower level, exiting at the center, where I could examine the map and the locations of the cemetery’s famous occupants. In this area is also a structure comprised of metal tubes and black and white stones centered with a small clay bowl placed inside the main formation. Surrounded by memorial plaques, I was informed by a fellow bystander that it is a monument to the 800 Italians who perished in Nazi concentration camps and the bowl was filled with soil from the Mauthausen concentration camp.
Wandering the grounds, through the avenues of trees, should be reserved for an unhurried pace as to absorb entire beauty of the surroundings and that’s just what I did. It was impossible not to want to stop and inspect each monument, so detailed and individualized were they. Many of the tombs and funerary monuments are of such an extravagant size, it is almost as through you are walking through a neighborhood of homes.
