The Autumn in Venice will never be so beautiful, but on the other side it will never be so sad.
Yesterday, first day of the new closure in Italy, we ( @AntonellaGr and I) wanted to visit Venice once more, to appreciate the city in all his beauty.
The autumn sun paints the city in all the warm shades of yellow, red and brown, and the city itself seems to be a watercolor painting.
There is only a few people around, mostly locals or, like us, coming from the nearest cities to see a Venice that we never saw, a Venice without people.
The experience is priceless, on one side, and extremely painful on the other. Myself, I wrote a lot of post about the city built on the water, highlighting frequently alternative itinerary to avoid the crowd, or to discover some part of Venice that is unknown to tourists, and not advertised by travel agencies.
Like Venezia hidden places , or Venezia as a snow globe by Antonella, or Su e zo pai ponti - Up and down on the Venetian Bridges
A crowd that was unwelcome to most of the inhabitants of Venice, but which at the same time brought vital resources to the city. A city that, we must remember, lives almost exclusively on tourism.
Here below St. Mark’s Square as it appeared yesterday, between the Saint Mark’s Basilica and the St Mark’s Campanile
A few meters ahead, on February of this year during the Venice Carnival, my friend @manulele81 took this 360°. You can clearly see the difference.
We walked alone most of the time, able for the first time to appreciate the details of paints and palaces, like in the photo here below, where Antonella is walking almost alone in front of St. Mark Basilica
We crossed an empty Rialto Bridge , normally one of the most overcrowded place of a crowded Venice. It was a strange feeling, crossing a bridge alone where you usually only pass by pushing against the crowd, looking at the closed and silent shops. the only surprise, right on the top of the bridge, was a painter who painted a picture with the buildings overlooking the Grand Canal.
However, the pleasure of beauty is contrasted by a veiled sadness, at the sight of closed or open but empty shops.
Few gondolas take tourists to the canals, and only on the most iconic places
The other gondoliers wait, hoping for some rare customer. The same is done by the waiters of the empty restaurants, and the clerks of the luxury shops of “Salita San Moise”. We weren’t able to help them, but on the other hand we had lunch in Venice, thus helping at least a bar and a pastry shop.
And you? How has your city changed during the pandemic? Have you been able to discover places you didn’t know before? How have the places you usually frequent changed?
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