Has anyone been to Venice, if so did you enjoy it?

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conley39

I go to Venice fairly often - it's only about two hours on the train from where I've been living the last ten years. I like it very much - especially during festivals like Carnevale, Il Redentore, or the historical regatta. This year is one of the good times to visit because the Biennale will be running; it's a huge art exhibition that is every other year. The main areas are in the Giardino and Arsenale, but there will be installations all over the city.

A lot of the fun of Venice is just wandering the calle and exploring the wonderful art and architecture. Beyond that, the Doge's Palace tour is worth doing and there are several interesting galleries and museums. Palazzo Grassi often has interesting exhibitions.

No people aren't particularly rude in Venice. I think some Americans misinterpret cultural differences as rudeness sometimes when its nothing of the sort. The people here are one of the highlights of Italy in my opinion.

There are pickpockets in any tourist destination and you should be aware of your surroundings. However, Venice isn't particularly plagued with them and I've never had a problem there.

alberto lupi

Venice has the problem that tourists are the bigger part of the people you see, when you walk in the main path. For this reason I usually stay away from the main places, but this I can do because I had been there a lot of times, having been born 80 miles away.
The First Time Tourist has to do the TOUR: Canal Grande, S. Marco, Accademia, S.M dei Frari, Salute, the Ghetto, and lido. Donâ€™t' forget the Cemetery! This you can find in any guide (get the Touring Club Italiano one - I think you can find an English edition, but I'm not sure). Also Murano Burano and Torcello MUST be seen.
My hint is to do the trip from Chioggia to Venice S. Marco and then from S. Marco to Cavallino. See il fhe link below is useful.

I never had problem with people but I think you can undestand that they can be a little tired of the tourist. Don't think that their English is good, for phonetical reasons we Italian speak English very badly.
MORE: to a native English speaker an Italian speaker seems ALWAYS ANGRY. But he is not: it's only that Italian way to manage the loudness of the voice (the stress, technically) is different from the English one, especially American English.
Another point that can cause trouble is smiling. In the culture of Italians (especially males) is very close to a hinting for flirtations. If you are a woman donâ€™t smile too much.

There are a lot of other cultural differences that can be baffling, one person wrote on this page asking â€œWhy in god's name does no one give me my change in my hand? Everyone just slams my coins and bills on the counter top like I'm a jerk or something. Are they big fans of exact change?â€
No they donâ€™t think you are a jerk: it' s the use. Historically it depends from the fear of contagion. If you look in many places there is a little plate where they put the money.
In ancient time it was a cup with vinegar to disinfect the coins, then paper money went around an the vinegar fade out of fashion.

Of course as I speak native Italian I am not perceived as a foreigner and in the north of Italy I have no recollection of having been stolen of anything in Venice. BUT as soon you go to Rome or more south things change and itâ€™s better you trust nobody (someone in Rome is askin what to do with my GPS!), an pickpoketing on public transportation is a free for all.

Stan

I didn't notice any rude locals (as in more than average). I did notice that on the Vaporetti there were a lot of non-tourists moving about - so there are plenty of people who aren't catering to the tourist industry and might be annoyed by their presence.

As far as pick-pockets are concerned they are all over Europe. If I were to guess they'd be *less* prevalent in Venice because there aren't a lot of ways to get out the city. Still, be careful and don't carry more money and stuff than you are willing to lose.

Places to go:
. St. Marks Basilica / Square
. Doge's Palace
. Rialto Bridge
. Murano glass manufacturing
. Burano
. Lido
. Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
. Ca' Pesaro
. Santa Maria dei Miracoli
. Santa Maria Formosa
. Fondazione Querini Stampalia
. San Giorgio dei Greci
. Santa Maria della Salute
. Accademia
. San Rocco
. Tolentini
. Ponte degli Scalzi

marianne

Hi, i was in venice last year in september and was the gratest time ever i spent.The locals were wery helpful for any tourist questions, ,the only rude person was a tourist who didn't thank for the help of a local.You can visit the san marco basilica, the islands of burano and murano , the manga store from sestiere of cannaregio an much more other nice places.have a nice trip

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