Oct 22, 20237 min read

Avoiding Overtourism? October in Venice, Verona & the Italian Riviera

Buongiorno! It’s been a lovely time visitng Italy. Skip July and August - October is a wonderful time to go to the Med as the crowds are smaller and the weather can be quite pleasant.

We started with a two-fold purpose:

1) some more research for my Venetian Empire presentation and

2) a visit with family as we had missed Ivanna’s 90th birthday celebration in June.

We ended up with a two-fold result book-ending our days:

1) cappuccini e cornetti in the mornings and

2) aperitivi in the evenings.

Venice

Alilaguna water buses were a great way to get into “town.” 15€ pp one way (you can purchase round trip - andata i ritorno - for 27€). There is a ticket kiosk right in the baggage terminal, but you can also purchase at the docks. It is a bit of walk (10 minutes?) to get the piers. And a bonus: Alilaguna’s website is very helpful.

Venice is the first place that Dirk and I traveled to as a couple in 2015; not only was the hotel we stayed in available (Novecento), we were given the same room! It’s a lovely boutique hotel, about equidistant from St Mark’s Square and the Accademia bridge. For the environmentally conscious: Novecento and its sister, Hotel Flora, are committed to reducing plastic use. Both have delightful courtyards.

I had a detailed list of research and photos all things Venetian Empire, and we powered through the day and half with determination and success.

Doge’s Palace Tips

Even if you’ve been before, visit the Doge’s Palace - Palazzo Ducale. The Doge’s apartments just (re?) opened as an exhibit space this July - a great exhibit. Allow plenty of time.
Buy your tickets to the Doge’s Palace online ahead of time.
Consider doing one of the speciality tours offered at the Doge’s Palace. If you do a general visit before your tour, make sure you get your tour sticker when you enter the palace. (BTW, for those that know Holland America Line, you will understand why I kept wanting to call the Secret Itineraries tour the Secret Identities tour…)
Backpacks and large bags must be checked.
Try visiting the Doge’s Palace midday.
Opt for the shorter prison tour path.

We booked the Secret Itineraries tour for 11:30am, which includes admission to the general exhibits.These need to be scheduled, and I am normally a fan of seeing major sights early, so we went with 9:00am. We thought we should have plenty of time to do the general visit before our tour. Well The exhibits are essentially one-way traffic, especially when you get to the Bridge of Sighs and the prison. Despite signs saying not to stop in the Bridge of Sighs, pretty much everyone does. (How often are you going to be there? So you want to make the most of it!) We got caught in a slow prisoner shuffle as there were big crowds. There is a point after the Bridge of Sighs where you can choose a shorter or longer route of the prison, and, unfortunately, we missed the shorter route turn off. We got nervous about missing our tour so we beelined through the exhibits after the prison. After our Secret Itineraries tour, our guide helped get us to the start of the Bridge of Sighs path so we didn’t have to walk the whole museum and voila - no one there at 1:00pm. Beautiful.

Granted, if you are visiting by cruise ship, you will want to plan your time carefully. Currently most cruise ships are banned from Venice, largely due to the environmental impact of the ships in the lagoon, but also due to over tourism concerns of the “hit and run” nature of cruise ship passenger visits - in and out with minimal spending. Chances are your ship will be docked at Marghera, Fusina, Ravenna, Chioggia or Trieste. The only ships that can dock in Venice must be less than 25,000 GRT, are shorter than 180 meters in length, are under 35 meters height, and must not have "a production exceeding 0.1% of sulfur." So be sure to factor transportation time to and from Venice. And spend some euros to help the economy.

Verona

As we were only able to book two nights at Novecento, we decided to do a night in Verona. Neither of us had been, and we had been advised that it is a lovely town. We found Verona to be certainly less busy than the hustle and bustle of Venice, but sort of a one-trick pony - the (supposed) house of Juliet from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet fame. There seems to be a cult-like need to take your photo from Juliet’s balcony and to touch the breast on the statue for good luck. Watching this phenomenon was more interesting than the house museum itself.

Italian Riviera

We then headed over to Chiavari, a beautiful Italian Riviera city where my cousin is lucky to live. While we visited her at her flat in the city center (complete with ceiling frescoes from the 17th century and a HUGE gorgeous terrace, we were able to stay at the family’s seaside flat. It is hard to get tired of seeing sunsets over Portofino. One of the highlights was being invited to my cousin’s best friend’s birthday barbeque. It’s really lovely to experience regular life celebration and to be so warmly welcomed.

We also enjoyed family visits, a walk from Santa Margherita Ligure to Portofino, and a hike through the currently open sections of the Cinque Terre. I first did the hike between all 5 lands back in 2006 - it took all day but was amazing. The second time I did the hike (2015) the two easier sections, Riomaggiore-Manarola and Manarola-Corniglia, were closed due to landslides. They are due to open July 2024. I am looking forward to being able to do the whole hike again.

Cinque Terre Hiking Tips

Drink lots of water and wear sunscreen. There are places to refill bottles in the towns.
Signs say that you need to wear closed -toe shoes. We saw some folks wearing sandals, but I wouldn’t recommend this.
Need a bathroom? There are none along the trail. We kept our eyes peeled for places to find a friendly bush but didn’t see any appropriate spots. Your hiking ticket (Cinque Terre is a national park - this is essentially your park entrance ticket) also gives you free access to the train station bathrooms in the five lands.
Start early in the day. We found fewer hikers and more considerate hikers in the morning than later in the day.
There are many debates on which direction is the best way to hike; I have done both directions. My vote is Monterosso towards Riomaggiore - get the two difficult sections done while you are fresh, enjoy the easier tracks at the end of your day, and end in the delightful Riomaggiore for sunset for aperitivi.

I find Cinque Terre magical. The hike is truly a favorite experience of mine and I was so glad to be able to share it with Dirk. However, to me, visiting Cinque Terre is not a good experience for a port of call visit. If your cruise is visiting one of the several nearby ports of call (e.g. Genoa, Livorno, La Spezia, Portofino, Santa Margherita Ligure), and you are tempted to take a tour to Cinque Terre, please consider visiting one of the other beautiful sights in the area and come back to Cinque Terre another time.

Wellness Round Up

Movement and nutrition were the two big themes in Italy.

Hydration. Tap water was drinkable in every place we stayed. We had brought water bottles and were able to refill as we needed without issue.
Stress was low. The first part of the trip was busy, but minimally stressful.
Sleep was overall good.

Movement: I think it is hard to visit Italy (especially Venice) without walking quite a bit. A light day of walking was 3 miles, the heaviest was over 13 miles, and the average was about 10 miles.

Nutrition: Spoiler alerts: Drinking cappuccini and eating cornetti (croissants) daily is probably not the most nutritious option. Aperitivi - the tradition of a spritz cocktail and little snacks later afternoon/early evening - is also probably not the most nutritious option.

However, I will argue:

An Italian cappuccino is smaller than any American sized cappuccino. (Shown here a caffe latte and a cappuccino.) The croissant was enough to keep us going until lunch
After long hot days of walking, enjoying a refreshing, light cocktail with some snacks was very relaxing. Italians eat a lot later than Americans, so even having a (touristic timed) dinner reservation sometime between 7-8;15pm, the snack held you over. Some snacks were healthier (hello, olives and nuts!) than others (potato chips). Overall, we noticed that the snacks they were salty - no different than bar tricks the world over to make you thirsty for another drink.
And, we predict that the Hugo will overtake the Aperol Sprtiz.

Also, for almost all lunches and dinners, we shared everything. So while we may have enjoyed a starter, pasta, and second (main), we each had a half portion. We did indulge in a dessert each. We challenged ourselves to try dishes new to us, rather than going for the familiar. See my Mediterranean restaurant page for recommendations (hopefully up by the end of the week.)

A day after being home, weight had returned to pre-trip numbers. It’s been nice to be back in the kitchen, and still I have still been off work, to have the time to make some recipes that take a bit more time. The following are both try again's - largely because, although tasty, I am not sure the time and effort expended are worth it.