“My own especial spring-time prayer
Is ‘Oh to be in Italy,’
In Venice, now the spring is here.”

                                                                                                         ~Anon

 ~ James Morris, The World of Venice:

“The gondola may strike you at first may strike you as wasp-like and faintly sinister: but soon, you will be converted to its style, and recognize it as the most beautiful instrument of transport on earth, except perhaps the jet aircraft.”

“Extending from the squares, like tenuous roots. run the alleyways of Venice, of which there are said to more than 3,000. Their total length is more than 90 miles, but some are so small as to be almost impassable. Browning was delighted to find one so narrow that he could not open his umbrella. The narrrowest of all is said to be the Ramo Salizzada Zusto, near San Giacomo dell’ Orio, which is 2 and a half feet wide, and can only be traversed by the portly if they are not ashamed to try sideways. Names: the Alley of the Curly Haired Woman, the Alley of he Love of Friends or of the Gypsies, the Filled-In Canal of Thoughts; the Street of the Monkey or of the Swords. The Alley of the Blind.”