Venice: The Rough Guide, Third Edition - Softcover

Buckley, Jonathan; Robinson, Hilary

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1858281709 ISBN 13: 9781858281704

Publisher: Rough Guides, 1996

Synopsis

This guide provides an insider's view of Venice, locating the quiet corners, giving background information to all the sights, and showing how to enjoy Venice without breaking the bank. Features include: hotel and resturant listings, from basic hostels and cafes to million-lire-a-night luxury; entries on all the Venetian festivals - from the all-night party of the Festa del Redentore to the glitz of the Biennale, Europe's most glamorous showcase for modern art; coverage of the Veneto region, with entries on Padua, Treviso, Vicenza and Verona, plus accounts of the Palladian villas, the vineyards of the Dolomite foothills, and lesser-known attractions; and feature articles on conservation and economy.

About this title

About the Author

Written and researched by Jonathan Buckley with additional research by Charles Hebbert and Kate Hughes. Jonathan Buckley is the co-author of the Rough Guides to Tuscany and Umbria and Florence, and has published three novels: The Biography of Thomas Lang, Xerxes and Ghost MacIndoe.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

When to go

Venice's tourist season is very nearly an all-year affair. Peak season is from April to October, when hotel rooms are virtually impossible to come by at short notice; if possible give the central part of this period a miss, and at all costs don't try to stay in July and August, when the crowds are at their fullest, the climate becomes oppressively hot and clammy, and many of the restaurants close down anyway. The other two popular spells are the Carnevale (leading up to Lent) and the weeks on each side of Christmas; again, hotels tend to be heavily booked, but at least the authentic life of the city isn't submerged during these festive periods, as it is by the summer inundation.

For the ideal combination of comparative peace and pleasant climate, the two or three weeks immediately preceding Easter is perhaps the best time of year. The days should be mostly mild - though the weather can be capricious - and finding accommodation won't present insuperable problems. Climatically the months at the end of the high season are somewhat less reliable: some November days are so clear that the Dolomites seem to start on the edge of the mainland, while others bring fogs that make it difficult to see from one bank of the Canal Grande to the other. However, the desertion of the streets in winter is magical, and the sight of the Piazza under floodwater is unforgettable. This aqua alta, as Venice's seasonal flooding is called, is an increasingly common occurrence between November and March, and you should be prepared for at least a couple of inconvenient days in the course of a two-week visit in winter. Duck-boards enable people to move dry-footed around the busiest parts of the city, but some low-lying areas - such as around Campo San Polo - become impassable to anyone without gumboots, and on certain freakish days the water rises so high that boats can be rowed along some of the streets.

If you want to see the city at its quietest, January is the month to go - take plenty of warm clothes, though, as the winds of the Adriatic can be savage, and you should be prepared to spend a while looking for a room, as many of the cheaper hotels close down for the really slack period.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rough Guides
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 1858281709
• ISBN 13: 9781858281704
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 432