Venice and recommendations for Tuscany
 

Hi all,

Two part question—thanks for your patience!

My husband is teaching a painting workshop at Spannocchia from July 25 to August 3. We have a week before the workshop to explore the area, and we arrive in Milan on July 16. We'll have our two kids with us, boys age 7 and 12. They are dying to go to Venice. We haven't been to Italy for 15 years, but even then Venice was pretty darned crowded. Everyone I know who has been there recently said it's bonkers. So question number one, is there a way to visit Venice and not feel completely overwhelmed by tourists?

Question two: Any recs for an itinerary for that week would be much appreciated. The kids are amazing eaters and do not require "kid" stuff. I'm a writer/editor and hubby is an artist so our family is big into culture and nature. I know Italy in the summer is loaded with tourists, which we are, but I'm hopeful that we can get off of the well-trodden path and find something that feels more authentic. Possible?

Thanks for your time!
Anna

You could cheat and go to Chioggia, not as big as Venice and stuffed with fish restaurants (the best in the lagoon) with no crowds that I've ever seen from the fat-boats. But it is smaller and less well known.

If you have to go to the real thing, go in the evening when the tourists head back for their supper and leave in the morning. Impossible I hear you cry, well with the vaporetti it is possible to stay on an island and or places like Chioggia and tour first thing in the morning/last at night. This adds the merit of adventure and moonlight on the water. Romantic hey.

WATERBORNE SERVICE TIMETABLE | ACTV

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If you look at this second map and look at the ends of the line that are on the edge of the map, you will soon realise that the lagoon is big and away from the central islands are a lot of interesting opportunities that include the beach area and others.

More authentic, less touristy. For sure, all the little walled cities that no one goes to. Like Monselice, Ferrara, Montagnana, the Po valley was a battleground for many years and the old walls with historical centres are still there with train stations nearby. I suggest buy the Rough Guide to Italy and have a look at the real Italy.

>>> Everyone I know who has been there recently said it's bonkers. So question number one, is there a way to visit Venice and not feel completely overwhelmed by tourists?
I think it is too simplistic to characterize Venice in one dimensional word – bonkers. It would be more helpful to understand what drives the crowd and understand the dynamics.

The source of visitors are cruisers, ground based tour groups who lodge people in cheap mainland accommodations and shuttle them into Venice during the day, and those who stay in Venice. When you take a Vaporetto from San Marco to the Santa Lucia station in the morning, you see that the Voporetto going in that direction is not crowded while the Vaporetti coming from the Santa Lucia direction heading to San Marco are overflowing with day trippers.

Both the cruisers and the ground-based tour groups pour into San Marco/Rialto area starting around 9am and stay until perhaps around 4-5pm. Along them are those staying in Venice itself who can stay in Venice later into the evening which I did not feel much different from evening scenes in other popular Italian cities.

Because of this timing, if you want the serenity in the popular area: San Marco, Rialto, etc, you need to visit them before the crush of day trippers of all kinds pour into the city. This is when you can capture pictures of canals without selfie people getting in the way. I wake up early and walk around popular areas BEFORE sunrise and return back to my hotel for breakfast just in time for the hoards to inundate the city. There are a few people walking around Venice before sunrise trying to capture pictures of those magic moments when the light condition is just right.

Same for the islands like Burano. If you catch the very first Vaporetto from Fondamente Nove to Burano, you can capture the colorful houses in Burano without selfie tourists. Later than that, you end up contending with tourists taking later Vaporetto as well as large number of chartered boats that dock on the other side of the island.

So how do you visit popular venues only open during the busy time? You either visit when they open or near the end of the day after most of the day trippers are gone. During the time you need to contend with the mass tourists, stay away from San Marco-Rialto area. If you visit just a few streets off the mass tourist thoroughfares in Castello, San Polo, Dorsoduro, Cannaregio, etc. you would only see vastly fewer people yet the passages offer just as enchanting sceneries.

Ditto greg--except I usually don't even get up very early! I just spent eight days in Venice for the Biennale. I wasn't particularly bothered by the crowds, but then my focus was not seeing San Marco and Rialto (though I certainly passed through those areas many times, and did in fact go to the Doge's Palace to see the Canaletto exhibition, which was not at all crowded). I stayed near Arsenale in Castello. It was lovely. Cannaregio near Misericordia can also be peaceful. Venice will always, always have tourists, though, so keep that in mind.

The cruise ships are a real blight. Let's hope Venice can effectively limit them.

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In Cannaregio, where Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Grenada were exhibiting.

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In Castello
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San Marco on a rainy morning.

Thank you all so much! Fodors Forum never fails. I appreciate your suggestions and am going to hit the guidebooks this morning to work on the trip. The Biennale info was especially interesting. Gives me hope!

If you were to seek a deserted area of Venice, the environs around Madonna Dell'Orto would be ideal.

The Jewish Ghetto is also pretty quiet.

Thin🌳

The key is getting up really early - you need to be out and about by 7 at the latest to have even a couple hours before the crowds. If you feel your family can do this then you can have an enjoyable time. Since you say your sons want to go to Venice, play it up as an adventure. I would book two nights. Plan to get there mid to late afternoon the first day, by the time you are checked in and ready to head out the crowds will be a little better than mid day. The full day, get up early as I said, when the crowds start to get bad head to the less popular areas, mid afternoon go back to the hotel for a nap/siesta. Then out again in the evening. Repeat the following morning and by the time the crowds get bad go back to the hotel to collect your stuff and leave town.

An example of a less crowded area is to go to San Gorgio (church across the grand canal from the Doges Palace) and go up that bell tower. Almost no wait or crowds and the views are better than the Campanille in Piazza San Marco.

To the above I would just add, there is a big festival in Venice the weekend of July 20/21. It is a lot of fun for adults and children alike but if you plan to go that weekend, the night of the 20th will be pretty intense, crowd wise. If you and your family like fireworks, this is pretty spectacular. But takes some planning to navigate.

https://www.venetoinside.com/events-...tore-festival/

Love all of these suggestions! Thank you! The kids get up before the rooster, so I think having an early start is a solid possibility. We're looking in Cannaregio right now, and we're thrilled to know the Biennale is happening while we're there. Thank you everybody for your insights.

Glad you're excited about Biennale. There's definitely something for everyone. But not everything is for someone. :)

FYI, a number of collateral exhibitions and padiglioni outside Giardini and Arsenale are free. You can just pop in to, say, the Cote d'Ivoire padiglione if you're walking by. Doesn't have to be a big time or money commitment if your kids are resistant. (Though I stood in line for Lithuania and it was absolutely worth the wait.)

Have fun!