Lost in Venice

Venice is many things—carnival theatre, great art city, water wonderland, wannabe independent republic, gastronome haven, romantic getaway. But what distinguishes La Serenissima is something far more magical and strange: it makes people disappear.

So much travel these days is overly scripted, boring, predictable—especially in crowded destinations like Venice. Which is why Venice is my favourite place to get utterly lost in. It’s not hard: follow a small canal away from the San Marco/Rialto main drag, cross a few bridges, take a random turn, wander up a dead end…and soon you’re completely adrift in Venice’s seductive, watery maze. Well done: you have disappeared. Now abandon yourself to your quest: observe, explore, interact, ponder, wander. And eat and drink—virtually every alleyway hides a bar serving up unusual cicchetti snacks and deliciously obscure Veneto wines. Don’t bother with street signs—in Venice these are designed to confuse and intrigue rather than orient you. And remember you’re on a small island; rest assured that sooner or later you’ll end up at a major canal, the lagoon, a familiar landmark—or back where you started.

In my next post I’ll get stuck into the Venetian fine print (i.e. uber-voluptuous hotels, awesome restaurants, chic wine-bars, excellent museums, and how to pimp that gondola and row it down the Grand Canal); for now I simply want to lay down this first, essential, commandment: travellers to Venice, get lost!

Rudston knows Italy from rough (the year when his home there had no running water) to rich (wine, cheese and sprawling villas—enough said) and everything in between.