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Agencies are the most common route for finding an apartment in Venice, but not necessarily the best. With waves of tourists willing to pay more for short term rentals, prices sky-rocket.  For better deals avoid the tourist-ridden agencies and follow the students.  Also remember that living in Venice brings unique problems such as high water which you’ll want to be aware of before you start your search. Agencies Real-estate agencies are pretty straight-forward and, according to my experience, no fees are charged unless a deal is made.  Apartments for sale and rent are advertised in free papers and agency windows.   If something interests you, ask the agents any questions you might have and schedule an appointment to see your prospective apartment(s).  Make sure the agency’s finding fee is acceptable before putting in the time to go see the place.  If a lot of people are interested in the same apartment, you’ll be put on a list and only contacted if those prior to you didn’t sign a contract.  This is less of a problem if you use one of the smaller agencies which only advertise in their street-side windows.  Once you’ve decided on an apartment, both parties sign a contract provided by the agency.  Even though this may seem legally binding to many foreigners, an Italian contract is not complete without buying a special tax stamp from the government and registering your lease at the police department.  A deposit, often amounting to two month’s rent, will be kept at the agency until the end of the lease.  It is not unheard of, however, for this to be cashed by the owner and then repaid to the renter after they’ve left the apartment.  The real kicker comes with the agency’s fee which is calculated in accordance with the length of your lease.  For a six month contract, I paid one month’s rent to the agency.  Whatever you pay is generally matched by the landlord.

Canal view from the living room window

Going it Alone

Bypassing the agency middleman and dealing directly with the owner is often preferable because it avoids real-estate fees and is the main place to find studios (monolocale) or small, one-bedroom apartments.  Some ads, particularly for apartments for sale, can be found in the newspaper, but the majority of rentals are home-made ads posted around town or tacked to university bulletin boards.  The most effective method, however, is to create your own looking-for-an-apartment advertisement.  If you are looking for something very specific or want a larger apartment, put a small ad in one of the local newspapers.  For a smaller place, visit the many branches of the local university, Ca Foscarí, adding your sign to the sprawling bulletin board mess.  Or just stroll around town taping, pinning or gluing them up anywhere you see similar ads.

‘Student looking for one bedroom apartment in Venice.  No Mestre.  No islands,’ is a common sign.  By specifying ‘student’ they seek a low price and ‘Venice’ is often used loosely to cover the other islands and the mainland.  Many signs will name a profession or that those seeking apartments are ‘young’ or a ‘worker’ to find a place in the right price bracket. Others will simply name their maximum price, but this is less common.  Property owners hunt down these signs, call possible tenants, show their apartment and make a deal. 
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A colorful row of Venetian Pallazzi

Aqua Alta In your search for an apartment in this watery city you’ll want to keep a few things in mind which are unique to Venice.  Aqua alta, or high water, is a real problem, appearing more and more as years progress, particularly in the fall and winter.  Certain parts of Venice are lower than others, but the safest rule is to entirely avoid apartments on the ground floor.  Walking around the city you’ll find many ground floor apartments abandoned entirely, but there are also many that have been elevated, taking advantage of the high ceilings, or have had a step or two added at the door, not to mention the fact that a large number of the city’s streets have been raised.  Brackets in which a knee-high metal panel slides into have been added to many street level doorways, but leaks are not uncommon. Flooding your apartment is not the only problem aqua alta brings, it also causes plumbing disruptions.  One friend found that when he flushed his toilet during aqua alta, water rushed up through the drain into his shower.  Much of the residential plumbing in Venice is still designed to drain out into the canals, and therefore is directly effected by the city’s water level.  This is also part of the reason why you don’t want canal water in your house. If you do choose a ground floor apartment, don’t take the landlord or real-estate agent’s word that water never gets into the apartment, but ask instead at nearby shops or available looking neighbors about their personal experiences with aqua alta.  If you show interest most will go into great detail telling you of their high water trials.

The ground floor of a pallazzo will usually have a large, empty opening room called an androne, and possibly a door out onto a canal.  The androne is handy for storage, especially for lighter boats, but canal doors can serve as entrances for rats, so be sure to keep your apartment doors closed at all times.

The second floor of a pallazzo (in Italian referred to as the first) is called the nobles’ floor, and often will have higher ceilings and more decorative windows.  In general, this is considered the most desirable floor, avoiding both problems with aqua alta and excessive stair climbing.

Higher floors often afford gorgeous views of the tiled roofs and bell towers of the Venetian skyline, but elevators are almost unheard of, especially in residential buildings, and marble stairways are often narrow and inconsistently change directions as you ascend. 

Heat

Heating a floor of a Venetian pallazzo is no mean task, but the Venetians don’t seem to mind.  Instead you’ll find close to the entire city grinning and bearing it.  Upon asking one friend why he didn’t have his small store heated he seemed surprised and replied that it had never been heated.  If you’re looking to rent over the winter, it gets very cold in Venice with the high humidity, and you’ll want to check not only the heating units (turn them on), but also the draft level of the doors and windows. 

Whether finding a home via agency or bulletin board, remember to watch the water line, keep warm and enjoy every moment of living in la Serenissima.
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