The only cigarette shop that stayed open till late in the whole of Venice was inside the café next to La Fenice theatre. In June, during the summer exams session Silvia, my inseparable friend and study pal, and I would go on studying and revising till late. We would stop at midnight and go out for a walk.
This was the best time of the day. Venice was empty. The only sounds were those of our steps and of the water lapping against the sides of the canals. Every now and then the sound of a night Vaporetto broke this balance, only to increase the silence when its shape faded in the darkness.
It usually took us half an hour to walk to the Fenice. We lived in the Jewish Ghetto area and usually stayed on the same side of the Canal Grande. It was a longer route but the view of Strada Nuova without the daylight bustle was worth the extra time. Strada Nuova is one of the largest streets in Venice. During the day it is just a large street, lined with shops and crowded with tourists walking towards San Marco Square and Venetians food shopping or busily passing by. At night it becomes a long empty corridor dimly lit by the street lamps and it has always reminded me of an empty stage. The play is over but the place still retains some of the magic of the performance.
Another highlight of the walk to the Fenice was to look up at the large windows of public buildings or the gothic-shaped biphoras of elegant private houses. When the lights were turned on some revealed the most beautiful interiors - frescoed ceilings and twinkling chandeliers or alternatively, contemporary canvasses covering the whole of a wall.
What a relief it was not to find the crowds in Campo San Bartolomeo and Campo San Luca. The former a meeting place for any age group, the latter strong amongst local teenagers. After work or school, what is better than meeting and catching up with some gossip? At one o'clock in the morning the buzzing noise of a few hundred voices talking at the same time was missing, leaving just our steps.
A game we used to play sometimes, even while talking and apparently not paying attention to it, was to choose a row of tiles and try to follow it till the Campiello della Fenice, the small square in front of the theatre.
Finally we'd get to the shop, buy the cigarettes from the grumpy man at the counter (would you blame him?) and head home again, this time going over the wooden Accademia bridge.
The Fenice theatre burnt down on a tragic night in 1996 and when I was in Venice in May this year, I didn't go past its ruins but could see cranes above the roofs of the buildings that surrounded it. It is some sign of the long awaited reconstruction - the Phoenix is going to rise again from its ashes.
Cigarettes and breaks from Dostoevskij and Achmatova are excuses I can't use anymore, but I still enjoy wandering around Venice's empty stage nearly as much as its daily performance.
I would be tempted to suggest not to take a map at all and just lose your way in the labyrinth of Calli and Campielli. There is always something new around every corner. But… it is always wise to carry a map in case time or finding a particular location become an issue! The ideal map is the street plan of Venice by TCI and the guide I find most reliable is the Time Out Guide to Venice. I also like the format of the Companion Guide to Venice which has less practical information, but is a thoroughly researched title organised around specific themes.
Author: Marina De Santis
Date: 1 July 2001