Venice: Introduction: Why Go Now

The summer of 2008 in Venice may be the one with the least American travelers since the 1970s, which is not to say that the main streets are empty. By 9:15 each morning Piazza San Marco and the Rialto bridge begin to fill with streams of tourists. You just won’t hear them speaking English. Instead, languages such as French, German, Chinese and Russian can be heard. So their absence won’t make the obvious tourist sights easier to visit, but other favorite haunts such as the Guggenheim Collection and the Ca’ Rezzonico won’t be jammed and getting late reservations at hotels like the Palazzo Bauer and Cipriani may be possible. In fact, some of the restaurants that are so popular with Americans that last year at Biennale time you couldn’t beg your way to a table were virtually empty last week. It’s the weak dollar, of course, that has kept Americans away, but if you can bear the sticker shock of a $180 water taxi from the airport or $15 cappuccino at Quadri, you may have many of the city’s treasures to yourself.