Editor’s Note: The following essay was supplied by She’s The Day contributor Sandy Gregory and paints a delightful picture of that city of romance, Venice. However, as of February 2020, there are travel restrictions to Italy, so before making plans to travel to Italy, read what Sandy writes about whether or not to postpone or cancel a trip due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, now known as COVID-19.
Venice oozes history. The city has a unique mystique that one encounters nowhere else in the world. The buildings are an eclectic mix of Renaissance arches, Gothic points and Byzantine filigree hanging on to each other for dear life, their skin peeling and foundations swaying with the tides. Venice makes you feel as though you have stepped onto a movie set, looking almost exactly as it has for a thousand years.
It is the city of mirrors, the city of mirages, at once solid and liquid, at once air and stone.
Erica Jong
It is the home of Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto, but to me, tenacity is the art of Venice. The city itself is a masterpiece, comprised of 117 tiny islands connected by 400 bridges over 150 canals. Since the fifth century, Venice has depended on the water for survival. Building a city on pylons in a marshy lagoon was by design: using water as a barrier against invaders.
The city is separated from the Adriatic Sea by the lagoon and a thin stretch of land. When the tide rises, the seawater enters the lagoon; when the
tide falls, it exits. That happens twice a day, every day.
Sometimes strong winds and bad weather contribute to unusually high tides, which typically last between two and four hours. This is called the Aqua Alta. The water comes up and a few hours later the water goes down. This is life in Venice. Every Venetian has a pair of boots. All the stores, restaurants and hotels have waterproofing barricades on their doorsteps. And every tourist works around the rise and fall of the water.
In November, 2019, however, the Aqua Alta plunged more than 80 percent of the city under water. The islands are sinking and the sea is rising. Climatic conditions in the world certainly are not helping. And neither are the steady digging and wakes created by the large cruise ships allowed to come into the canals.
A controversial project that has been in the works for over 30 years, The Mose Project, is supposed to deploy 78 gates designed to deflect the high tides. However, corruption scandals and engineering challenges keep delaying its progress.
Venice has welcomed me and helped made my guests’ Italian Dreams come true every year since 2008 – and I don’t plan on changing anything. The damage has been devastating, but again, tenacity is the art of the Venetians.
Venice is already up and running and welcoming guests back since that November Aqua Alta. Let’s go!
Live Like a Local
On days when the aqua alta comes up, use the walking platforms set out to get around. Buy a pair of disposable plastic booties at a newsstand and splash around. In a very short time, the water will disappear, and like many of my guests, you will have enjoyed one of the most interesting phenomenons in a city unlike any in the world.
Get Lost
I always begin my tour of Venice by taking away my guests’ maps and telling them to “Get lost.” Venice is a busy maze of twisting streets and narrow alleyways where maps are useless and just no fun.
When I get myself lost (which probably happens more often than it really should since I am a tour director), I’ve stopped to sneak a peek inside a keyhole to see a hidden garden. I’ve wandered in to a mask maker’s shop and come out with my own creation. I’ve joined a small crowd standing below the window of an opera singer and listened in awe as she warmed up for her performance at La Finece. I’ve found trinkets, treasures and off-the-beaten-path trattorias that would not have been discovered and enjoyed if I just didn’t get lost.
Venice in the Morning
Before the daytrippers show up, I always take the long way for the last water taxi at the end of the island chain to pick up my guests at the airport. I stop at the Rialto Market to watch the chefs and nonnas getting their daily produce and fish. I dodge the delivery men squeezing their large, overstuffed handcarts through narrow alleyways. I sip my coffee at an outdoor café and watch the maze of boats maneuver around each other in choreographed chaos. There is nothing in the world like Venice waking up.
Venice at Night
Venice at night is very romantic. The lights twinkle and cut through the fog creating the ambiance of a spooky mystery novel. I feel very safe, however, strolling alone in the late evening, because the locals come out to mingle and dark alleys open up onto to lively piazzas. Early in my travels, the sound of music lured me into a small church where a group of tuxedoed musicians were playing Vivaldi. It was magical and now a place I take my guests.
I also enjoy the dueling café orchestras in the Piazza San Marco. Piano, violins and accordions play waltzes and classical music, each orchestra deferring to the next, while people sit and drink, dance in the square or enjoy a gelato.
But what I most love about Venice at night is the silence. The cruise ships have left and the crowds aren’t drowning out the natural buzz of the city. After a long day of attending to people, Venice at night allows me to relax, be in my own thoughts, and get ready for another busy day.
Venice in Change?
Venice just might be the canary in the coal mine and a glimpse in to what the future might bring to many coastal cities. Perhaps it should be a place where people come to study climate change.
Starting in 2020, in addition to our city tour, Che Bella will be offering an optional tour focused on the ecology of Venice. Led by a local ecologist, you’ll learn how Venice was built, the engineering that sustains it, and the critical threats facing it. This is an excellent tour for those interested in learning about the engineering, ecology, and architecture of the city. You’ll see where urban maintenance (canal dredging, relaying cables, raising walkways) is being carried out, and gain a better understanding of the fabric of Venice and the techniques involved in safeguarding its future.
Venice is a city that should not exist, yet still does. Who knows whether technology and/or human behavior will save it? But, until it finally sinks into the Adriatic, it will be much more to me than just a postcard snapshot.
Learn more about Sandy’s business Che Bella Tours and join her next Venice tour, or perhaps another place you’ve set your global sites on!
