I have walked in a great many mountains, and I still cannot think of a range that gives so much for so little effort as the Dolomites. You step off a chairlift into a meadow, turn a corner on a…
Supporting Guide
Victoria’s Guide to Val Gardena and Ortisei
There is a particular kind of arrival that tells you a valley is going to be kind to you. You come up out of the Isarco gorge, the road tips over a lip near Ponte Gardena, and suddenly the world…
A Venice Itinerary: One to Four Days
Venice looks small on a map and is anything but, because you move at the pace of your own feet and the boats. That is the first thing to make peace with, and once you do, the city opens. You…
Where to Stay in Venice
There is a moment, usually on the vaporetto in from the airport or stepping off the train at Santa Lucia, when Venice stops being an idea and becomes a set of very specific decisions. The first of them is where…
The Best Day Trips from Venice
The lagoon does not end at San Marco. I learned this slowly, on the mornings when the city felt too full and I wanted the horizon to open a little, and every time I came back I understood Venice better…
The Best Things to Do in Venice
There are cities you visit and cities you surrender to, and Venice has only ever belonged to the second kind. You cannot stride here. There are no cars to catch, no straight lines to follow, no way to be anywhere…
Where to Eat in Venice
The first time I ate in Venice I did it wrong. I sat down at a table with a view of a canal, ordered something that arrived lukewarm, and paid too much for the privilege. The second time, an old…
How to Get to Venice
Venice is easier to reach than its dreamlike remove suggests. The city sits out in its lagoon with no roads inside it, which sounds like a puzzle until you understand the simple rule that governs every arrival: at some point,…
The Best Time to Visit Venice
Venice has a real season, and choosing the right slice of it makes an enormous difference. The city is small, low-lying and hemmed in by water, which means the weather and the crowds are not abstractions you read about in…
The Best Photo Spots in Venice
Venice may be the most photographed city on earth, and it still never quite disappoints, though the images everyone loves are rarely from the obvious spot, and almost never from the middle of the day. I have carried a camera…
The Best Day Trips from Verona
One of the quiet joys of Verona is how much lies within easy reach of it. The city sits at a crossroads of the north, on the high-speed line between Milan and Venice, a half-hour from Lake Garda, with vineyards…
The Best Photo Spots in Verona
Verona is one of those cities that photographs almost by accident, all warm marble and red brick and a green river looping through the middle of it, but the truly memorable images take a little knowing, the right corner at…
