A matter of minutes after arriving in Venice, I was asking myself why it had it taken me this long to visit. I’d spent summers wandering around Tuscany, returned to Rome since my teens and roamed the Dolomites twice this year alone, but until this winter Venice had firmly been on my no-go list.
And for good reason. It’s not been a great few years for Venice tourism: in 2023 we learned that the city is introducing a €5 tourist tax for day-trippers; we read stories of travellers being ripped off when buying coffees on the Grand Canal, or acting like idiots in gondolas. Plus we’re constantly being reminded that Venice is sinking (figuratively and literally) under the strain of tourism.
Early morning on the Grand Canal
(Annabel Grossman)
The sense of a beautiful city being broken by too many visitors had in all honesty put me off. I’d spent a painful 24 hours in Dubrovnik this past summer where I’d jostled through the city streets shoulder to shoulder with tourists who had just poured off a cruise ship, and it left me faintly depressed at the state of overtourism.
But it was not a broken city choked with tourists that I found in early December. Instead, the streets were quiet, the Ponte Rialto softly sparkling, the locals warm and chatty, and the restaurants reasonably priced. Yes, it was cold – although significantly warmer than the UK – but nothing that a decent coat and sturdy footwear couldn’t handle.
Films such as Don’t Look Now and Death in Venice may make you feel that the city has a sinister or decaying feel in the winter, but in reality it’s cosy, welcoming and heartachingly beautiful. The city glistens year-round – in the sun, cold, mist, and even the rain. But in the drizzle, when locals are snuggled up in bacaris and St Mark’s Square is empty, the floating city is nothing short of magical.
Venice has ‘sestieri’ – districts all with their own distict feel
(Annabel Grossman)
In response to concerns about the conservation of Venice, a number of organisations have been set up to preserve the city’s history and protect its future. US nonprofit Save Venice has a particular focus on the artistic heritage of Venice and has restored more than 2,000 artworks since 1971, including those by the likes of Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto.
Although aware of the strain that mass tourism can put on the fragile…
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