Venice Weekends
 Venezia, La Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, city of canals and palaces... or tawdry sewer alive with crowds and charlatans? Venice's nature is dual: water and land, long history and doubtful future, airy delicacy and dim melancholy. When this precious place sinks, the world will be the poorer. For a thousand years the city was one of the most enduring mercantile sea powers on the face of the earth. Today the brilliance and influence have long since faded, leaving a town of tarnished glories, out of time and out of place, so achingly beautiful it's hard not to look for the back of the set.
Venice is a beautiful city made up of 119 islands in the waters of the Ventian lagoon. A visit to Venice is like taking a step back several centuries, to a place of unique and timeless beauty. As Venice lives on Water, the whole city is an expierience. Taxis, the police, go about their daily business on the broad canals and narrow waterways. It's almost always high season in Venice, although the city is busiest in spring (Easter-June) and Sept-Oct. Accommodation can be hard to find then, as well as around Christmas, New Year and Carnevale (February).
 Like Italy's other great tourist hubs, Venice is at its worst in high summer (June-August): it's crowded, oppressively hot and sticky. The most pleasant time of year to visit is late March into May, with clear spring days and comparatively fewer crowds. September is the next best in terms of weather, but October is quieter. Flooding occurs in November and December, and winter can be unpleasantly cold - although seeing Venice under snow can be the stuff of fairy tales.
Once you get used to this way of life, you will want to visit St Mark's Square with its beautiful Basilica and Campanile and the neighbouring Doge's Palace; the Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal; the Accademia Gallery with its masterpieces by Titian and Tintoretto.
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