Not surprisingly, Venetians love water. They grow up surrounded by it, it replaces pavement on their streets, and they are never far from a place to swim, whether on the Lido beach or just in the lagoon. It seems taken for granted that all people of Venetian origin will know how to swim (and [...]

I recently came across a thoroughly misinformed forum posting about Venice, by a guy named “Luke” back in 2005:

This is truly a beautiful city. I was there for a day (You can easily see it in a day) and went to all those places. The rivers are dirty as hell but the gondolas are just [...]

Saturday night was one I’ll remember for a long time. It was the Festa del Redentore, an annual feast and celebration in July of the end of a plague that killed almost 50,000 Venetians in the span of three years back in the 1570s. Suffering tremendous losses from the disease, citizens promised to build a [...]

For several weeks now, I have been reflecting on my year in Toronto.  My experiences on campus have been undeniably wonderful, but I am still unsure on my feelings for Canada’s largest city.  One thing I am sure of, though, is that the cultural opportunities available in such a large city are hard to pass [...]

On my walk to meet Alberto at the Piazzale Roma parking garage on Wednesday morning before our trip to Lake Garda, I had to cross the Ponte della Costituzione, the brand new fourth bridge over the Grand Canal. Designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and finished less than a year ago, the bridge was in [...]

I’ve been lucky enough to witness two recent events in Venice that indicate to me that this ancient city is, in fact, being kept rather up-to-date with modern technological advances.

The first was a sheer coincidence this past weekend, that I happened to be in the same place as a fellow wearing on his shoulders an [...]

I was just out on the Strada Nova, having purchased a cup of limone gelato, when I heard some scuffling and heavy steps nearby. Looking up, I saw two plainclothes policemen running off in two different directions, trying to corner one of the vucumprà, the African street vendors who hawk illegal counterfeit goods to stupider [...]

Thanks to my efforts to learn Italian before heading to Venice back in 2007 (with the help of software, tutors and CDs), I arrived in Venice this summer able to buy my boat tickets into the city without having to resort to using any English. Since those first few days, I have continued to [...]