Venice, Italy — Bella Via Travels
Italy
Venice
The city that should not exist
Venice is the most improbable city in the world — built on 118 islands in a lagoon, connected by 400 bridges, with no cars, no roads and a beauty so concentrated that it can feel almost overwhelming.
The obvious Venice — the Piazza San Marco, the Rialto, the Grand Canal — is obvious for a reason. But the city rewards those who get lost in the sestieri away from the main routes: the Cannaregio, with its Jewish Ghetto and its quiet canals; the Castello, with the Arsenale and the Biennale gardens; the Dorsoduro, with the Accademia and the Zattere.
The islands of the lagoon are a different Venice entirely: Murano, with its glass furnaces; Burano, with its painted houses and its lace; Torcello, with its Byzantine cathedral and its extraordinary mosaic of the Last Judgement. The lagoon itself — the barene, the valli da pesca, the fishing boats — is a landscape of extraordinary quietness.
Venice is best experienced in November or February, when the acqua alta floods the Piazza and the mist lies on the canals and the city is returned to the Venetians. Bella Via designs Venice itineraries that find the version of the city that the crowds have not yet reached.
“Venice at six in the morning in November, with the mist on the canals and the city entirely silent — that is the Venice that stays with you.”
What to Expect
The Bella Via Experience in Venice
The Accademia
The finest collection of Venetian painting in the world — Bellini, Carpaccio, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, in the order they were painted.
The Arsenale
The medieval shipyard that built the Venetian fleet — a vast complex of brick buildings and canals that is now the venue for the Architecture Biennale.
Torcello
The oldest island in the lagoon — a Byzantine cathedral with a mosaic of the Last Judgement that is one of the masterpieces of medieval art.
The Lagoon by Boat
The barene, the valli da pesca, the fishing villages of Pellestrina and Chioggia — a landscape of extraordinary quietness that most visitors never see.
Venice rewards those who arrive in the right season and stay long enough to find the city beneath the city. We will help you do exactly that.