Despite Changes, Venice Still Charms

I've been traveling to Venice for more than 40 years. On a recent trip to update my guidebook, I had to admit: The city felt different. While still one of Europe's most romantic and distinctive destinations, globalization and modern life are changing Venice — for better and for worse.

As I wandered Venice's meandering streets and canalside walkways, it became obvious just how much the city has changed in recent decades. More multilingual menus featured Chinese and Korean, thanks to a huge increase in visitors from east Asia. Litter grew out the tops of garbage cans like bushy heads of hair. The tourist thoroughfares, such as the lanes between St. Mark's Square and the Rialto Bridge, were as crowded as ever, if not moreso, but in the evening, all that bustle was completely gone.

These days, a huge portion of Venetian visitors don't spend the night, but blitz in for the day from cruise ships and cheap mainland hotels. While tourism continues to keep Venice afloat, fewer overnight guests and dinner-time restaurant customers mean that the tourist trade is no longer as lucrative for the people who still call the city home.

The city has attempted to address this by charging day-trippers a €5–10 "access fee" to visit the historic center. The funds are intended to help offset the drawbacks of overtourism — but the jury's out as to how much impact a relatively small fee can have.

While midday crowds fill the streets and blockbuster sights, mornings and evenings in Venice are serene. Travelers willing to hunker down in Venice for a few days have the city to themselves in the early and late hours. Set your alarm and treat yourself to at least one walk at sunrise — it's striking how St. Mark's Square is an entirely different experience without the mobs.

At Caffè Florian, the most venerable café on the square, the manager lamented how, over his tenure, the café's elegance has been trampled with poorly dressed tourists (which describes me fairly well, I must admit). Still, I love this place, with its smoke-stained mirrors, white-tuxedoed waiters, and finicky piano and string quartet, which somehow gets called an "orchestra." While you can enjoy a romantic drink here with live music and all the tourists, a quiet cup of coffee in the morning, surrounded by the patina of faded grandeur, is also a treat. In so many ways, when you get up early and stay out late, you enjoy a different (and seemingly more real) Venice.

Likewise, on the vaporetto water buses, there's a stark contrast between the midday mobs and the easygoing joy of riding at quiet times. Venice is two cities: one garishly touristy and the other so romantic and tranquil that it makes you go fortissimo in describing it.

It's not just cruise ships that are changing Venice — globalization is, too. The city has long been known for its exquisite glass, produced on the isle of Murano since 1292, when the furnaces were moved to prevent fires on the main island (and to protect the secrets of Venetian glassmaking). The island's factories still produce ornate vases, beaded necklaces, and other goods. But these days, many glass trinkets being sold to tourists are made in China or Mexico, and it's undercutting the economy of the local glassmakers. There's a strong push to encourage people to buy genuine Venetian glass with the Murano seal.

In this new, more diverse Venice, sometimes it seems that restaurants and market stalls are run by as many Sri Lankans and Chinese as Italians. Odds are that the strolling accordionist trolling for tips at your dinner table is Romanian.

Venice's resident population continues to drop, thanks in part to the challenges of raising a family here. Imagine living in a small, expensive apartment that occasionally floods, or pushing a stroller over arched bridges while hauling groceries. One pharmacy here hosts an electric reader board in its window that ticks down with each Venetian who moves away or dies. On my first day of my last visit it read 47,759. The next day it was 47,756.

In many ways, Venice seems built for romantics. But romance isn't what it used to be, either. It seems there aren't even lovers on gondolas anymore — everyone seems too consumed with snapping selfies to drink in the enchanting scene.

Despite all the changes, Venice still awes me with its ethereal beauty and lovely views — which can hit you from any direction (literally — always look both ways after crossing over a Venetian bridge). I know of no other place so well suited for taking a mental break from the outside world, and letting yourself be present in its otherworldly elegance. If you pause anywhere in Venice and simply observe, you'll witness the one-of-a-kind wonder of this forever-unique city on the lagoon.