| I can imagine nothing more beguiling
than wending your watery way home on a vaporetto, a local waterbus,
knowing that you have your own key to a Venetian apartment. Built entirely
on islands, looking just like a Canaletto painting, La Serennisima remains
as dream-like and mysterious as when the Doges ruled the Adriatic waves.
And although it was baking hot during my recent June visit, the place seems
to have cleaned up its act. We couldn’t smell drains, sewers, or any other
noxious niffs rising from the canals.
Despite the city’s expensive reputation,
properties are selling for much less than I expected. Naturally, it costs
zillions to buy an entire palace—especially if it overlooks the Grand Canal—but
in Venice’s less touristy areas you’ll find attractive apartments, in restored
buildings, starting at around $93,000. And Venice is an all-year-round
destination—many people actually prefer the misty days of winter, so it’s
easy to let an apartment year-round. As long as it doesn’t disappear into
the sea, this city will never go out of fashion.
The Un-tourist’s Venice
Before getting on to property buys, I want
to show you the less-touristy side of Venice. Although the dollar’s strength
means it’s far less pricey than a couple of years ago, if you’re not wary,
Venice can still make gaping holes in your budget, especially if you copy
the majority of tourists who throng the hotels and pavement cafés
around the Piazza San Marco. You won’t hear many Italian voices in Florian’s,
where a 7,000 lire charge is added to every person’s bill, simply for the
privilege of hearing the in-house orchestra.
Sitting on the marble steps of St. Mark’s
Square’s shady arcade, swigging a bottle of water, I was told to move by
one of Florian’s waiters. I got my revenge by nicking one of the menus—they’re
not on the tables, so you don’t know what the bill will be if you order
without asking for the price-list first. They charge 11,500 lire ($5.30)
for a cappuccino and 7,000 lire ($3.20) for seven fluid ounces of bottled
water. English Afternoon Tea of scones, jam, whipped cream, a finger sandwich,
and tea will set you back 35,000 lire ($16). What a rip-off!
But you don’t have to be fleeced. This
is a city where ordinary people live and work, and they don’t get around
in gondolas. Nor is the San Marco district the only part of Venice worth
seeing. Along with the Lido and other islands of the Lagoon, Venice is
divided into six sestieres, or neighborhoods. Our hotel was in the Dorsoduro
area. Run by Luciano and Stefano, practically beside the Accademia Bridge,
the Galleria is good value at 150,000 lire ($70) for doubles. (Hotel Galleria,
Dorsoduro 878A, Venezia; tel. (390-41)523-2489). Breakfast was brought
to our room, so we started each day by opening the shutters to a private
view of the Grand Canal from our window. One evening we took a quick stroll
to a church on the Zattere waterfront where a string quintet was playing
Bach and Vivaldi. |
| This article first appeared
in the September 2000 issue of International Living Magazine - To read
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Europe’s first Ghetto
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We also wandered through the northerly
Cannaregio district, my favorite Venetian neighborhood. Here children play
in sun-dappled squares, old ladies gossip in armchairs in the street, and
stores sell things like sewing machines and cotton bobbins rather than
exorbitantly priced carnival masks and Murano glass. In backstreet bars
and eateries called osterias, you can have a cappuccino for 2,500 lire
($1.15), a glass of wine for 2,000 lire (90 cents), and delicious pizzas
the size of a garbage-can lid for less than $5. (You can always tell a
place offers good value if you see workmen using it.)
Europe’s first designated Jewish quarter,
the Ghetto, is the heart of Cannaregio. The word ghetto derives from the
Italian word for foundry. Most of the district’s original inhabitants worked
in the metal-smelting industry. Few tourists stumble into this quarter
of lightless alleyways and ribbon-thin canals, where laundry flaps from
green-shuttered, 16th-century buildings towering 6- and 7-stories high.
About 500 Jews still live in this tiny core of Cannaregio, and you’ll find
five synagogues, Jewish shops, a museum, and even a kosher restaurant called
Gam-Gam. I bought a book on Venice’s Jewish history from a little gift
shop on Campo Del Nuovo Ghetto. It’s owned by the wonderfully informative
David Curiel. |
To reach Cannaregio, take the No. 1 or 82
waterbus and get off at either Ferrovia or San Marcuola. Single tickets
cost 6,000 lire ($2.75), but locals in possession of a resident’s card
pay only 1,500 lire (70 cents). Although Venice is a small, walkable city,
riding the vaporetti gives the best views of the Grand Canal’s palaces.
It’s cheapest to buy a day ticket for 18,000 lire ($8.28) or a three-day
ticket for 36,000 lire ($16.56).
Tickets are valid for the Lido and farther-out
Lagoon stops, such as the glass-blowing island of Murano, so don’t be fooled
by the San Marco touts flogging over-priced boat trips.
Why ground-floor apartments are cheapest
The majority of Venetians live in apartments,
with palazzos and “houses of architectural value” often being divided into
several households. The most sought-after addresses are those with a dreamy
view of the Grand Canal. Expensive areas are in the San Marco sestiere,
streets around the Rialto, and the area between the church of Santa Maria
del Salute and the Accademia Bridge. Less expensive neighborhoods include
Cannaregio, Castello, Santa Croce, and Giudecca. You’ll also find villa
apartments on the Lido, its northerly edge fringed by beaches and the Adriatic
Sea. (The vaporetto journey from the Lido to Venice’s Santa Lucia railway
station takes 50 minutes.)
Ground-floor property may be offered at
a low price because it’s prone to flooding—Venice is subject to high tides
twice a year. You’ll also pay more for an apartment in a refurbished building
where an elevator has been installed. Property agents charge commissions
of 3%. On signing a contract, the law requires a notary to be present.
Legal fees average 10% to 11% of the contract price.
On offer now
We passed scores of small realty offices.
Few have websites or speak English. If your Italian is limited, Immobiliare
Cera and Venice Real Estate speak English and are used to dealing with
international buyers.
Italian speakers can check out www.casavenezia.it,
listing 16 agencies. The following properties were on the market last month: |
The rental market - Venetian
properties available for long-term rental include a luxury furnished apartment
in the San Marco quarter, near Sant Angelo vaporetto stop. For 6 million
lire ($2,750) per month, the first-story apartment has its own entrance
courtyard, an atrium, and a private boat garage. It also has two bedrooms,
two bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, and a sitting room overlooking
the Grand Canal. Cheaper rentals include a sunny loft-apartment on Giudecca
Island for 2.5 million lire ($1,150) per month.
Immobiliare Cera rents properties
by the month, week, or weekend. Listings include a 2-bedroom apartment
on the fourth floor of a Venetian palazzo, five minutes from St. Mark’s
Square. Depending on season, weekly rent is from 900,000 ($420) to 1.35
million lire ($620). In Cannaregio, an apartment for two on the first floor
of an old palace rents for 800,000 ($370) to 1.1 million lire ($500) per
week. These holiday rental prices give you an indication of income Venice
rental properties can generate. |
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.
A 2-bedroom apartment in the Castello sestiere’s
Giardini neighborhood costs 190 million lire.
($87,360).
A 2-bedroom, second-floor apartment on Giudecca
island, which has an area of 770 square feet, plus 166.5 square feet of
garden, costs 250 million lire ($115,000).
A studio (pied-á-terre) in a restored
building, near the church of Santa Maria Del Giglio in the San Marco sestiere,
costs 260 million lire ($119,500).
An 888-square-foot, 2-bedroom, first-floor
apartment in the Lido area costs 320 million
lire ($147,000).
A 644-square-foot, third-floor apartment,
overlooking the Rio del Batello canal near Guglie Bridge (Cannaregio) costs
380 million lire ($175,000).
A 2-room, 766-square-foot apartment in Cannaregio,
near the Ghetto, costs 430 million lire ($198,000).
A 1,998 square-foot, 5-room apartment on the
third-floor of a restored villa in the Lido area costs 520 million lire
($239,000).
A 3-bedroom apartment with a bathroom, a kitchen,
and a 555-square-foot salon and terrace,
overlooking Canale della Giudecca, in a 15th-century
palace in Dorsoduro sestiere’s Santa
Margerita area costs 650 million lire ($300,000).
A 1,665-square-foot apartment, on three floors
of a restored palace near San Samuele and the
art exhibition center of Palazzo Grassi costs
1,000 million lire ($460,000).
A 1,100-square-foot shop in San Marco sestiere
costs 1,400 million lire ($644,000).
For more information on properties
currently on offer, contact:
Gruppo Sei, Cannaregio 2684 (Fondamenta
degli Ormesini), Venezia 30124; tel. (390-41)713-808; e-mail: vesei@tin.it
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Immobiliare Cera, Campo S. Stefano
2956, Venezia 30124; tel. (390-41)522-0601; e-mail: a.cera@venice-cera.it
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Venice Real Estate, San Marco 1130,
Venezia 30124; tel. (390-41)521-0634, fax. 520-7407, website: www.venicerealestate.it
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Twenty miles along the Adriatic coast,
pricesare lower. For example, a 2-bedroom apartment in a palazzina, 800
meters from the sea, in the resort town of Lido di Jesolo, is for sale
for 200 million lire ($92,000).
A 1-bedroom Jesolo apartment is selling for
160 million lire ($73,500), and a newly constructed bilocale (2-room apartment)
in Torre di Fini costs 110 million lire ($51,000). For more on these and
other Adriatic coast properties contact: Asso Immobiliare, Via Aquileia
33, Lido di Jesolo (VE), Italy; tel. (390-42)191-866 e-mail: assoimm@assoimm.com
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Gruppo Sei, Via Aquileia 2/1, Lido
di Jesolo (VE), Italy. tel. (390-42)138-0196 e-mail: aquileia@venezia.net
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Steenie Harvey lives in County Roscommon
in the west of Ireland. Born in the United Kingdom, of Latvian and English
parents, she moved to Ireland in 1988. Steenie writes about travel, folklore,
and real estate for publications at home and abroad. She recently wrote
a book, Live Well in Ireland, and is working on another about the best
way to rent houses and apartments
around Europe.:
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