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. If this precious place does sink, 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.
It's possible to spend a day devoted entirely to the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello. Murano is the centre of Venice's highly skilled glass manufacturing industry and Burano is famous for its lace. Burano also happens to be a pretty fishing village, its streets and canals lined with bright, pastel-coloured houses. Give yourself time to wander into the quietest corners and shady parks. Walk over the wooden bridge to neighbouring Mazzorbo, a larger island with little more than a few houses, a couple of trattorie and open green space. Delightful Torcello, with its overgrown main square and sparse, scruffy-looking buildings and monuments, once rivalled Venice. Now it's home to fewer than 80 people. |
