New ways to explore Venice + Why Oltrarno is the hippest 'hood in Florence

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Holidays, hotels and insider travel news

Context Travel

ITALY

Waterworld

4 alternative ways to explore Venice. By Ric Stockfis SUP in Venice

Aman Canal Grande

Venissa

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inding your way around Venice is an experience in itself: narrow streets that stop short in canals; bridges seemingly forever under repair; tourists flooding the squares in high season, water flooding them the rest of the time; gondolas as outrageously expensive as ever. Even tracking down an address is a work of art. So anything that makes the process of navigating Italy’s most magical city easier or more fun is to be celebrated. Here are four interesting and alternative ways to get around.

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Through your phone or tablet

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With a group of history enthusiasts

With a paddle

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By getting away from it all

Figuring out which stunning old palazzo you’re looking at isn’t easy. Pulling out a guidebook, and keeping it dry, isn’t much fun either. The Venice Canal Grande app (www.itunes.apple.com), launched last year for iPhone and iPad, features a stunning single panorama of the entire 3km length and all 300 buildings along the city’s main waterway, divided into left and right-hand side. Each building is displayed in full color, with historical information, and you can jump to a particular section of the Canal by clicking on the map. It’s available in Italian and English for €2.99 ($4.60).

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Generations of visitors to Venice have worried about falling in the water, but a new tour company gets you closer than ever. SUP in Venice (www.supinvenice. com) offers two hour stand-up paddle-boarding tours of the city, for experienced SUPers. You’ll need to be able to stop the board, turn a sharp 90° angle and cope with waves and currents—entering the water is strictly prohibited, so this isn’t a place to come learn from scratch. If you’re comfortable with the basics though, it’s a fantastic way to get a new, leisurely perspective on the city. Pricing starts from €50 ($80) for a group of 4, up to €70 ($110) for a solo tour, plus 22% tax.

Hiring a guide isn’t exactly a novel idea, but the range of curated experiences on offer is increasingly impressive. Context Travel (www.contexttravel.com), whose small group tours are led by highly-qualified MA or PhD-level docents, offer an array of specialist itineraries, including a four-hour boat tour of the lagoon, where you’ll learn about the science behind its construction, visit seagrass meadows and explore the site of the yet-to-becompleted flood barriers (from $170 for a group tour); a walking tour examining the history of the city during the plague (from $125); and a Shylock-themed tour of the old Jewish ghetto neighborhood of Canareggio (from $125).

There are more than 100 islands in the Venetian lagoon, many of them abandoned and uninhabited, others delightfully rural, where the pace of life is a world apart from La Serenissima. Some of them are already wellestablished on the tourist trail: Murano for glass-blowing, Burano for its brightly-colored houses, and Torcello, once more powerful than Venice itself, now somewhere people come to marvel at its decline over drinks at Hemingway hangout Locanda Cipriani. Mazzorbo, a tiny island near to Burano, also draws serious foodies to Venissa (www.venissa. it), a new-ish gourmet spot inside a 16th century walled

compound. But hopping on a vaporetto (water bus) to some of the other outlying islands is a great way to escape the tourist hordes. Sant’Erasmo, known as the market garden of Venice, is home to the acclaimed winery of Orto di Venezia (www.ortodivenezia.com) as well as Bar Tedeschi, a popular summer party spot overlooking the beach. Vaporetto 1 takes you from central Venice to the Lido in 15 minutes, and while you‘ll certainly want to soak in the ‘60s glam vibe, particularly during the annual Film Festival, it’s also worth taking a bus out to Alberoni at the tip of the island, for great beaches and locally grown food at Le Garzette (www. legarzette.it). A ferry from here goes on to Pellestrina, a narrow island home to three traditional fishing villages and Da Celeste (www.daceleste.it), one of the best seafood restaurants on any of the islands.

ESSENTIALS GETTING THERE Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Alitalia (www.alitalia.com) can get you there, with a layover in Abu Dhabi, for around $1,150 return.

GRAND OPENING Aman Canal Grande Venice

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SG MAGAZINE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016

Overview: Opened in mid-2013, and made famous when George and Amal Clooney chose to spend their wedding night in one of the 24 suites, this luxury spot on the banks of the Grand Canal is surely among the world’s most lavish places to bed down. Housed in one of only eight palazzo monumentali in Venice, and still owned by descendants of the original family, it’s tucked away (no signs) in the city’s smallest district, San Polo, a few minutes from the Rialto Bridge.

Rave: Nothing says high life quite like arriving by boat to your hotel’s private dock and stepping directly into a reception hall of soaring ceilings and sweeping staircases. Most of the staff are Venetian and have lots of helpful tips to share, and the property also organizes expert guided itineraries. But it’s the private riverside garden—a rarity in Venice—that makes this Aman a truly special spot, either for an alfresco breakfast or for dinner (in the summer months) at Japanese restaurant Naoki.

Design: It’s a living embodiment of 450 years of history. Embossed 16th century gold leather lines the walls of the library. Stairways open into enormous salons, hung with huge chandeliers from ceilings adorned with frescoes by 18th-century masters. Neo-Renaissance and rococo styling blend with the understated Aman style of silk curtains, white furnishings and soft lighting, courtesy of hotel design legend Jean-Michel Gathy (who worked on Amanwana in Indonesia and the pool at Marina Bay Sands).

Rant: Because it’s a private house with an emphasis firmly on discretion, chances are you won’t get to meet or talk with other guests. But then, that may be exactly why some people choose to stay.

Price: From €1,045 ($1,605) for a double. Not cheap, but rates stay the same year-round, making it a better deal than the Cipriani in high season. www.amanresorts.com RIC STOCKFIS

escapes

Berberè

ITALY

Southside

3 reasons Oltrarno is currently the hippest hood in Florence. By Ric Stockfis Arno River

View of Oltrarno from Hotel Continentale

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espite its proximity to the tourist trails of central Florence, the neighborhood of Oltrarno, on the southern side of the city’s famous waterway, sees far fewer visitors. For a long time, this residential district of crumbling palazzos and quiet medieval squares had something of a sketchy reputation—aside from its key sites, the Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens and stunning city views from Piazzale Michaelangelo, it simply wasn’t somewhere most visitors would venture. That’s all changed in the last year or two though, with the resurgence of the area’s traditional artisan workshops, the arrival of some exciting new dining concepts, and a seemingly endless procession of street parties, mini-festivals and open-air concerts. It’s all been helped along by a municipal clean-up campaign and restrictions on cars and, while there’s been some push-back against this rapid gentrification, it’s still a primarily local scene, making it a refreshing alternative to the obvious and often overrun city sights.

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Hipster hangouts sit side by side with traditional trattorias

Oltrarno is chock-full of charming, authentic eateries.

Among the best are l’Brindellone (Piazza Piattellina 10-11/ r, +39 0 5521-7879), famous for its Bistecca Fiorentina (you’ll need to book a table in advance), and Trattoria Giovanni (Via Sant’Agostino 38/r, www.trattoriagiovanni.net), whose rustic Tuscan lunch-set (two courses, plus bread, wine and coffee) for just €11 ($17) takes some beating.

But in keeping with the spirit of revival that’s swept through the neighborhood, there’s a bunch of more modern spots worth checking out, too: Berberè (www.berberepizza.it/en/ portfolio/berbere-firenze), a famed Bolognan craft beer and pizza joint, opened in Piazza dei Nerli in late 2014; semi-vegan slow food is on offer at Vivanda (Via Santa Monaca 7, www. vivandafirenze.it); there are some great burgers and pulled pork sandwiches at hip spot Meat Market (Via Sant’Agostino 23, www.facebook.com/santagostino23); while new-arrival Gesto (Borgo S. Frediano 27/r, www.gestofailtuo.it) is all about ecosustainability, with orders written on chalkboards that are then used to serve your food. One of the city’s best gelaterias, La Carraia (Piazza Nazario Sauro 25/r, www.lacarraiagroup.eu) is also on this side of the river.

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Street after street of artisanal awesomeness

Long the haunt of traditional craftsmen, Oltrarno is a fascinating place to explore on foot, and many of the workshops are enjoying a new lease of life as the area has been re-energized.

Via Romana, which runs alongside the Boboli Gardens, is packed with shops selling handmade cards, stationery, jewelry and more: Tabescè (Via Romana 39/r, www.facebook.com/ tabesce) is among the highlights. At the end of the same street, the ancient Roman city gate, Porta Romana, was recently reopened to visitors after a decade out of action.

The “made in Italy” tradition goes a lot further back than these new arrivals, however. A short walk from coffeeshop Caffe degli Artigiani (Via dello Sprone 16/r) in the charming Piazza della Passera you can find amazingly restored artwork,

antiques and sculptures at Bartolozzi e Maioli (Via dei Vellutini 5/r), traditional bookbinding and paper crafting at Enrico Giannini (Via Velluti 10/r), and a wood-sculpting workshop right next door (Via Velluti 8/r).

Wherever you head within the warren of lanes there’s a master craftsperson at work, from bronze-makers (Duccio and Lamberto Banchi, Via dei Serragli 10/r), trompe l’oeil specialists (Stefano Ficalbi, Via Romana 49/r) and intricate jewelry and metalwork (Alessandro Dari, Via San Niccolo 115/r, www. alessandrodari.com) to high-end, handcrafted shoes (Stefano Bemer, Via di S. Niccolò 2) www.stefanobemersrl.com ). Note that many of these workshops follow traditional opening hours: 9am-12.30pm, 3.30-7pm, Mon-Fri.

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The lively, unpretentious after-hours scene can’t be beat

Stefano Bemer and his shoes are further along the river, in the San Niccolo section of Oltrarno—where bars like Zoe’s (Via dei Renai 13/r, www.facebook.com/zoebarfirenze ) and neighboring Negroni gets packed out with the afterwork crowd, perfect for escaping the tourist hordes after your obligatory sunset selfie from Piazzale Michaelangelo just up the hill. Elsewhere there are newcomers like The Speakeasy 23 (Via San Niccolò 23, www.facebook.com/speakeasyfirenze), an easygoing bar serving up craft beer, wine and delicious deli items, to a backdrop of live music.

Piazza Santo Spirito, home to a beautiful pre-Renaissance church, is the heart and soul of Oltrarno—like the ’hood itself, it’s a boho beauty that’s still a little rough around the edges. On the second Sunday of the month it hosts a fun flea market, there’s an organic market every third Sunday, and in the summer months there’s a concert or other event on almost every night.

Volume (Piazza Santo Spirito 5/r, www.volume.fi.it) is a great place for an aperitivo: part-library, part-gallery, this café-bar is one of the hippest spots in town.

Nearby Piazza della Passera also gets lively at night, playing host to an annual series of concerts, outdoor movie screenings and poetry slams in September. Also fun in the summer: Lungarno Cellini, the rather run-down city beach and beach bar along the banks of the Arno.

ESSENTIALS WHERE TO STAY We stayed at Hotel Continentale (www. designhotels.com/hotels/italy/florence/ continentale), a beautiful 43-room spot in a 14th century building right beside the Ponte Vecchio, mere seconds from Oltrarno. For sheer location it’s hard to imagine anywhere better: overlooking the Arno (rooftop bar “La Terrazza” gets deservedly busy around sunset) and five minutes’ walk to the Uffizi and central Florence.

Part of the Ferragamo-owned Lungarno Collection (though considerably more affordable than some of their sister properties), their modern take on luxury is a far cry from the city’s traditional pensione, with sleek rooms and spacious suites, and touches of contemporary design cool wherever you look, from black-clad receptionists (service was a real highlight of our stay) and throwback pictures of Florence in the ’50s and ’60s, to solid wooden desks styled like 19th century steamer trunks. Hardly a traditional Tuscan experience, but pretty great value for somewhere so slick and central.

There’s no in-house dining (as if you need it with Florence on your doorstep), but an impressive breakfast spread is served just across the road at Gallery Hotel Art. There’s also an in-house spa, a fitness center with sauna, as well as running maps available at reception for exploring the hills behind Oltrarno. Rates start from $268/night, excluding tax, as part of Design Hotels’ three nights for the price of two package GETTING THERE KLM (www.klm.com/sg) and Air France (www. airfrance.sg) both offer return flights for around $1,000-$1,200 return, with a short stopover in either Amsterdam or Paris.

NEED TO KNOW Florence’s street numbering system can be confusing. Residential and business addresses are separately numbered, so the same number can appear twice on one street: the trick is to look for the color: red addresses (where the number is marked with an R) are for businesses, residential addresses are black or blue.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2016 SG MAGAZINE

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