Approaching Venice

In the movie “Summertime” Katherine Hepburn is a single, middle-aged American woman who goes to Venice and finds romance. I first time I went to Venice I was a single, middle-aged American. I fell in love with the city. . . but had no encounters with any handsome Italian male.

I drove towards Venice, guided by highway signs where the kilometers went down and down: “Venezia 60", “Venezia 25", “Venezia 10". I knew no cars were allowed in the city. As the kilometers plummeted, I became anxious, wondering where I would leave the BMW and how I would find a boat to take me over the waters of the lagoon to the city built on islands in the Adriatic Sea.

Suddenly I driving 60 miles an hour on a causeway, like the one which connects Galveston Island to the Texas mainland. Then I was in Venice! I had driven right onto an island and into one big parking lot.

In “Summertime” Katherine Hepburn arrived in Venice by train and took a “vaporetto” from the train station to her hotel. Since the streets in Venice as too narrow for cars, boats called “vaporettos” follow “bus routes” on the major canals, stopping at designated places to pick up and discharge passengers. I grabbed my canvas bag from the backseat of the BMW, locked the car, and boarded a “vaporetto” to take me Ms. Hepburn's first stop in the city, the train station.

Unlike Ms. Hepburn in the film, I did not have hotel reservations. I’ve found inexpensive hotel rooms throughout Europe by going to the tourist bureau in the main railroad station. In Venice I took a vaporetto around the island to the “Hotel del Orto” where I climbed the grand staircase to my tiny, third-floor room.

For me the “Hotel del Orto” became a symbol of Venice, beautiful, romantic, and dilapidated. Once a splendid palace, its magnificent lower floor rooms were faded by centuries of wear.

My room’s view of the canal below was obscured by a magnolia tree in the palace’s small, canal-side garden. There are few gardens in Venice and fewer trees. All flowers and vegetables must be brought in by boat from the mainland. Walking up the steps on a bridge, I looked over the marble railing and saw passing beneath me a barge full of lettuce.

Venice was once the richest city in the World, whose wealthy merchants controlled trade in the Mediterranean for centuries. A thousand magnificent palaces faced the canals. But 300 years ago began its decline. Even in the time of Lord Byron, people went there primarily to enjoy its beauty. But trade had gone elsewhere.

Today the business of Venice is tourists. It is still beautiful, but like an old woman, it needs constant renovation to keep up its appearance. Major tourist attractions are stunning, but, just like old people who do not inject botox or dye their hair, many buildings show their age. Some are sinking into the sea.


I loved staying at the Hotel del Orto with its faded elegance. When I returned to Venice 15 years later, I almost missed lunch to take a vaporetto around the island to see it again. A sign on the huge oak doors said, “Closed for Renovation.” I hope the owners gave the place a face-lift and it is again welcoming tourists. Who wants to stay in a Hilton when they could sleep in a palace?