This splendid 10-room gallery on the Grand Canal - inexplicably absent from many online Venice guides - houses a delightful collection of 19th and 20th century art (as well as a smaller Oriental Art Museum on the top floor). While the great majority of the works are by Italian artists possibly less well-known to a general audience, some big international names are also represented, with fine pieces by Bonnard, Chagall, de Chirico, Kandinsky, Klimt, Mirò, Tanguy.

capesaro.visitmuve.it/en/home/
Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna
Santa Croce 2076, 30135 Venezia
+39 041 721127
Google map: bit.ly/AlJDDG

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This splendid 10-room gallery on the Grand Canal - inexplicably absent from many online Venice guides - houses a delightful collection of 19th and 20th century art (as well as a smaller Oriental Art Museum on the top floor). While the great majority of the works are by Italian artists possibly less well-known to a general audience, some big international names are also represented, with fine pieces by Bonnard, Chagall, de Chirico, Kandinsky, Klimt, Mirò, Tanguy.

capesaro.visitmuve.it/en/home/
Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna
Santa Croce 2076, 30135 Venezia
+39 041 721127
Vaparetto Number 1 to San Stae
Google map: bit.ly/ziJtvK

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Bookbinder Paolo Olbi is one of Venice’s last great artisans. He has two lovely shops on Campo Santa Maria Nova and Calle della Mandola where he sells his beautiful handmade note pads, address books, photo albums, stationery, and business cards. If you don’t find Paolo at work in the backroom, embossing patterns into the leather covers of notebooks, he’s probably at his atmospheric workshop in the Castello, with his typesetter Beppi, where he welcomes interested visitors. We visited one Saturday morning, and he spent a couple of hours taking us through the fascinating process, from how they create the wood plates for the book-covers, inspired by old Venetian designs, to binding the books by hand. I already purchased half a dozen notebooks to give to friends, but he gave us a money-holder as a gift and took us for a glass of wine at the local bar to thank us for our interest. That’s Venetians for you!

Calle della Mandola, San Marco 3653, Venice: +39(0)41 528 5025
olbi.atspace.com/index_eng.htm

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A shot of espresso with a dash of foamed milk.

An excellent way to enjoy a shot of coffee, best taken standing at the bar. It is socially acceptable to drink anytime of the day, not marking you out as the sort of person who would drink a capuccino after lunch.

The splash of milk makes the espresso more palatable. But do not spoil this by adding sugar.

A macchiato is also cheap. Even standing in a cafe right by the Rialto bridge I have still paid only one euro for a macchiato.

Enjoy, but be careful, by the time you leave Italy you will be having one of these an hour.

Any Cafe, Bar

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Witness the opulence of Carnevale, originally a celebration representing the last opportunity to feast before the abstinence of Lent. What makes Venice’s Carnival different is the atmosphere created by the masks and costumes worn during this time. In the eighteenth century the sinister garb of the black cloak, tricorn hat and white mask gave anonymity to those who wished to indulge in misdemeanours and debauchery, irrespective of class or creed. It is impossible not to be aware of the existence of Carnevale at any time of the year with mask decorations, posters and street theatre reminding you of the festival. Although today’s festivals are but a shadow of those of days gone by, it is the one time of the year when this relatively subdued city comes to life.

www.carnivalofvenice.com

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For Venetians, whose ancestors fostered an existence built on cruelty, death is never far away. In fact it is only 400 metres across the lagoon. The island of San Michele is a constant reminder of mortality and to which they will all make a final journey in a sumptuous black vessel.

Of course, death in Venice is a problem when there are no extra square inches of soil available, and their solution of erecting stacked rows of tombs on the island of San Michele provides a dignity for those who make their last journey across the lagoon. However the marble sepulchres do not provide a final resting place as the tenancy is short lived, a mere five years, seven if you’re a child. After this the remains are moved to a more permanent rest on the mainland. Unless you’re famous, like Ezra Pound the poet, who enjoys a long term tenancy.

Wander around this melancholy island with its reverence for death. Venetian funerals have a dignity as the sombre black vessel carries the departed to the island accompanied by the mourners in immaculate black. Somehow the placing of the remains in a marble tomb under warm Adriatic sunshine while birds sing, does not seem as grim as the rattling of earth on a coffin lid in a cold, wet cemetery under Atlantic clouds.

The No 52 Vaporetto will take you there, unless it’s your last journey, and even then after ten years the remains are unceremoniously shipped to the mainland.

www.tours-italy.com/venice/san_michele_island.htm

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Some friends and I spent a fortnight in Venice two years ago and shared a furnished apartment on the island of Giudecca. We borrowed the shopping trolley from the flat and bought fresh produce in the local shops and cooked our own delicious meals. We felt very much at home, sailing across to San Marco every morning on the vaporetta. A not-to-be-missed day out is to the islands of Murano and Burano; it is a chance to escape the bustle of Venice and it is another opportunity to explore the traditional Venetian culture of seagoing exploration.

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A great guided tour (about 90 minutes). It's especially good for any younger people totally fed up with All Those Big Museums. You are taken round parts of the Doge's Palace that are usually off limits (you must book in advance and preferably do so direct with the booking office to avoid possible unhappiness) and get to learn lots of wonderful facts about secret passages, the palace, Casanova and the power that was Venice. A real joy for all ages.

Palazzo Ducale

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Try to visit the basilica when it is fully illuminated - 11.30am to 12.30pm Mon to Fri; 11.30am to 4pm Sat; 2pm to 4pm Sun. You will see the wonderful mosaics glowing in the light.

Piazza San Marco

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Palladio's church on the island of the same name in St Mark's Basin. The church has a fine facade, two terrific Tintorettos, and a monk-operated lift up its campanile where you can get the best views of Venice and beyond.

San Giorgio Maggiore accessible by vaporetto no.82

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