I get a such kick out of folks who come looking for “secret Venice” in the day-and-a-half they have planned for their visit here. Almost every tour company in town offers something along that line, as it is in such demand; unfortunately, few participants realize that the millions of travelers passing through each year all request to see Secret Venice, and as a result, there is little of it left — there is instead only what one has allotted time to see. That doesn’t preclude, of course, each of those millions being astounded one-by-one at the legendary late-night view from atop the Ponte Accademia, for example. A place doesn’t have to be a secret to far piassèr.

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