The Garden of Venice

Think you know Venice? Mark Nicholls discovers a different aspect of Italy's amazing island city.

We are in the unassuming district of Cannaregio. Less visited, and a walk away from Venice’s premier attractions that lie around Piazza San Marco, it offers a serene new perspective to Italy’s island city.

The canals are not so busy, the fondamenta (paths) that run alongside them are uncrowded, and the buildings – including lovely, peaceful, churches – offer a beautiful dimension to this aspect of the city.

Of course, we all want to visit the big attractions that make this city so famous, and the Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal, the Bridge of Sighs and the waterfront, St Mark’s Cathedral, the Doges Palace and the ambience of Piazza San Marco are never too far away.

But if you spend a few days in the city, the lure of exploring another aspect of Venice – its quieter side – is difficult to resist.

Cannaregio offers that. Once the garden of Venice, supplying citizens with fresh produce – before demand for land saw these green spaces increasingly taken over for development – the area is also famed for its craftsmanship where you will find gold and iron foundries smelting bronze and brass figurines and a mosaic workshop.

In this district, the occasional service boat, water taxi, or straying gondolier will pass you by but you can walk at your leisure along the fondamenta, which are lined with cafes, bars and restaurants frequented by locals.

However, as you wander you can enjoy another Venetian tradition and pause for lunch with cicchetti and a glass of wine.

Cicchetti are small snacks or side dishes like tapas, typically served in bàcari (cicchetti bars or osterie) in Venice and can include tiny sandwiches, plates of olives or other vegetables, hard boiled eggs, and seafood or meat on a slice of bread or polenta.

Eaten late morning, for lunch, or as afternoon snacks, they are taken with a small glass of wine known as an ‘ombra’, or shadow, as it was originally served within the shadow of Venice’s campanile.

Cannaregio, perhaps a 20-minute walk from the Doges Palace, also has a number of discreet boutique-style hotels.

We stayed at one of the newer ones, Hotel Heureka; a beautifully-furnished 10-room residence which blends the historic character of the building with modern furnishings. And one of the aspects that makes this hotel so special is that it retains its magical garden.

With waterfront access onto the Madonna Del Orto canal, guests enter a stylish reception and lobby bar to step out into a peaceful haven of shady trees, hydrangeas and colourful shrubs and bushes.

A late 16th Century Venetian palazzo, Hotel Heureka’s sympathetic restoration saw the frescoes, columns and vaulted ceilings retained and the two Piani Nobili - long light-filled spaces off which the rooms are set – brought to life with fabulous furnishings and décor. There is also a music room with a grand piano for recitals, and a library and chess room.

Each bedroom has impressive individuality with the Venetian architectural legacy combining with contemporary furnishings and fabrics.

The mix of deluxe doubles and suites have four-poster beds, lamps, designer bathrooms with freestanding baths, and paintings by Julian Khol, specially-commissioned for the hotel, to interpret the spirit of each room.

Don’t be put off by the location of Hotel Heureka if you wish to explore the city and head for the main sites – distances in Venice are small and you are soon on the main artery of the Grand Canal and wandering towards the city’s main square.

Hotel Heureka’s general manager, Andrea Penzo, explained: ‘We see the Heureka as a quiet place where people can have time to relax and enjoy the house, and the garden is very unusual - a real secret in the Cannaregio area.

‘We know it will take a little longer to visit the centre of Venice but people really do want to be away from the crowds and that is what they find with this place.’

The hotel does not have its own restaurant but serves a wonderful breakfast and has the lobby bar where you can enjoy an aperitivo or a digestive or order a cocktail to drink in the garden setting.

And there are numerous places nearby to seek out dinner, such as the excellent canal-side Rioba, a couple of bridges over from Hotel Heureka.

If you head into the centre of Venice at the height of the day it can be busy, but we made an early start to walk towards Piazza San Marco when it was cooler and less crowded.

That left the afternoon free to enjoy the ambience of Cannaregio, such as visiting the nearby church of the Madonna del Orto – the Madonna of the garden - where Tintoretto painted and now lies at rest. This year the church celebrates 500 years since his birth in 1519.

And then we had the remainder of the day to relax with a book and a glass of wine amid the greenery of Hotel Heureka’s pleasant garden.