The first-time visitor to Venice arrives with a heavy
freight of expectations, most of which turn out to be well founded.
All the photographs you've seen of the Palazzo Ducale, of the
Basilica di San Marco, of the palaces along the Canal Grande -
they've simply been recording the extraordinary truth. All the bad
things you've heard about the city turn out to be right as well.
Economically and socially ossified, it is losing people by the year
and plays virtually no part in the life of modern Italy. It is
deluged with tourists - the annual influx exceeding Venice's
population two-hundredfold. Occasionally things get so bad that
entry into the city is barred to those who haven't already booked a
room. And it is expensive - the price of a good meal almost
anywhere else in Italy will get you a lousy one in Venice, and its
hoteliers make the most of a situation where demand will always far
outstrip supply.
As soon as you begin to explore Venice, though, every day will
bring its surprises, for this is an urban landscape so rich that
you can't walk for a minute without coming across something that's
worth a stop. And although it's true that Venice can be unbearably
crowded, things aren't so bad beyond the magnetic field of San
Marco and the kitsch-sellers of the vicinity, and in the off-season
(October to Christmas and January to Easter) it's even possible to
have parts of the centre virtually to yourself. As for keeping your
costs down, Venice has plenty of markets in addition to the
celebrated Rialto, there are some good-value eating places, and you
can, with planning, find a bed without spending a fortune.
Tourism is far from being the only strand to the economy of the
Veneto , however. The rich, flat land around the Po supports
some of Italy's most productive farms and vineyards, and industrial
development around the main towns rivals even the better-known
areas around Milan, making the region one of the richest in Europe.
At Marghera, just over the lagoon from Venice, the Veneto has the
largest industrial complex in the country, albeit one that is now
in decline. But tourism is important, and the region has more
tourist accommodation than any other in Italy. After Venice, it's
Padua and Verona that are the main attractions, with
their masterpieces by Giotto, Donatello and Mantegna and a
profusion of great buildings from Roman times to the Renaissance.
None of the other towns of the Veneto can match the cultural wealth
of these two former rivals to Venice, but there are nonetheless
plenty of places between the plains of Polésine in the south and
the mountains in the north that justify a detour - the Palladian
city of Vicenza , for instance, the fortified settlements of
Montagnana , Cittadella and Castelfranco , or
the idyllic upland town of Ásolo .
For outdoor types, much of the Veneto is dull, consisting of
flatlands interrupted by gentle outcrops around Padua and Vicenza.
The interesting terrain lies in its northern part, especially in
the area above Belluno and Vittorio Veneto , where
the wooded slopes of the foothills - excellent for walking - soon
give way to the savage precipices of the eastern Dolomites. Because
most of the high peaks of the Dolomites lie within Trentino-Alto
Adige, and the mountains of the eastern Dolomites are most easily
explored as part of a tour of the range as a whole, the area of the
Veneto to the north of Belluno is covered in the "Trentino-Alto
Adige" section. Similarly, the eastern shore of Lago di Garda is
covered as part of the lakes region in the "Lombardy and the Lakes"
section.