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 enjoy [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 pick [...]