"Every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice."
(Italo Calvino)
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Veneto
The Elegant Empire
There is more to the Veneto than Venice, but surely Venice is a tough act to follow.
What started as a refuge on stilts from the pillaging hordes of Attila the Hun went on to
become the most beautiful city in the world. But not before it traded with, conquered or
absorbed most of the Mediterranean cultures it encountered.
For centuries people have been
saying it's crowded, overpriced and dirty and still the whole world keeps coming. Yes it's
true, Venice is dying. Sinking, crumbling here and there; the young vanish into the mainland
for education, work and life. The old remain clinging to their gondole and shops and, with
much less success, their youth.
But nothing compares to the whisper glide of a gondola as,
hand in hand, you watch the moonlight dance its way across a ripple on the Grand Canal.
Verona, which in any other world would be the prize, with a Roman amphitheater in its medieval
heart thrilling the night with the music of masters and voices of angels is the city of
unrequited love.
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