In the intense heat of a mediterranean summer, the city can just get too much and the tourist congregations too large. Many visitors are now choosing to turn up out of season, when swirls of mist and frosty winds descend upon the canals.
Perhaps the last word on Venice should be left to one of her most illustrious patrons, Henry James: ‘Dear old Venice has lost her complexion, her figure, her reputation, her self-respect; and yet, with it all, has so puzzlingly not lost a shred of her distinction’.
