It is as easy to lose yourself in the alleys as it is to find yourself again. A little piazza may suddenly appear through a Byzantine archway, with a fountain splashing under the washed-out blue of a hot Venetian noon.

Time for lunch before the hours of rest when all Italy slides into a soporific afternoon to arise refreshed for the evening. To walk through the echoing alleyways at this time is to have Venice for yourself. Small arched bridges with parapets of crumbling stone and steps worn hollow in the middle reach over ancient canals. Green water barely moves on the step of an old doorway, whose timbers have baked and slumbered through countless Venetian summers. A nearby church offers sanctuary from the heat and a moment to sit in the cool darkness and wonder how much longer before Venice succumbs to the inevitable.

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