Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A Day in the Life
At some point in your trip to Venice, you might notice a rental sign on a palace door that
starts you daydreaming. If you were to wake up tomorrow as a Venetian, how might your
day be different? By cross-referencing demographic statistics with interviews with Vene-
tians, an answer can be approximated. But there's only one scientific way to find out: check
out your rental options and cancel that return flight. You wouldn't be alone - nearly 10% of
Venice's current residents were born outside Italy.
Morning
You might wake up feeling wiser, or at least older: the average age is four years older than
in most Italian cities, at 47. Don't count on the usual urban street noise to wake you from
your slumber, because there aren't technically any streets here. Instead of honks and
squealing brakes, you may hear gondoliers warming up their vocal chords before work and
Venetian dogs padding across marble footbridges. If you're in a rush to get to work, you
may have to take the long way around - on your usual route, you're duty-bound to stop and
say hello to so many neighbours and colleagues that you're bound to arrive 15 minutes late
('on Venetian time').
No matter which way you take, you are likely to get stopped by a tourist asking for dir-
ections. You politely oblige, but you privately wish visitors would consult a map or follow
yellow signs posted around town pointing towards San Marco, Accademia and Ferrovia. If
each day tripper asked one local for directions to San Marco, every Venetian would hear
the question repeated some 350 times a year. Besides, you'd appreciate someone showing
some personal interest in your thoughts instead, and asking a more interesting question -
your current favourite Veneto wine, say, or your opinion about who should win the Golden
Lion at this year's Venice Film Festival.
Since this is Venice, statistically you probably work in a service- related field, or you
might be one of Venice's 2000 union-certified master artisans - but since this city is a
costly place to live, you may have a couple of different jobs to pay the rent. On a coffee
break, you once again debate with neighbours about the merits of moving to mainland
Mestre for the lower cost of living and broader choices of amenities, including schools and
hospitals. But you dread the commute, and can't quite convince yourself that the mainland
conveniences of cars and malls compensate for the sense of wonder Venice provides. Like
most Venetians, you hit the mainland for sales around the holidays, and hurry back via train
