Great news for Venice Connected, the system that, since February 2009, has been giving you the opportunity to buy on line, before coming to Venice, the tickets for public transportation and museums: from now on those who book and buy on line the tickets to Civic Museums, not only can benefit from the discounts offered by the system for boosting Venice Connected, but can also print them directly

14th – 24th February 2009
Campo St. Stefano

Also this year on the occasion of Carnival Sensation 2009, in Campo St. Stefano there will be the ‘Market of masks and Venetian fancy dresses’ , which has now achieved its 25th edition. The masks on display will be all handmade without the aid of machines. Anybody will have the opportunity to buy a beautiful handmade mask, in order to wear it at once for Carnival or at some parties in some Palaces or to take it home and use it as ornaments to be admired by their own friends. The ancient craft of the Venetian mask makers was rediscovered at the end of the Seventies by some people fond of such form of art, who have resumed and proposed again the ancient techniques for producing papier-mâché masks.

As far the origin of masks is concerned you have to know that Venetian

Look at all Town House Suites

In order to spend an enchanting holiday in Venice you can also  decide to turn your attention to the ancient Venetian houses (house renters, residences and B&B) which have kept their charm intact, or the ones which have undergone a modern restoration nonetheless the traditional atmosphere has remained integral. In our section dedicated to B&B Locations you will have a wide range of them at your disposal. Many are the Venetians who have opened the doors of their houses to all those who love things with a story: to the lovers of walls which have seen and heard so much, and to people who love finding a mark of authenticity even in a modest room. You  can happen to have a stay in a house embellished with the traditional floors ‘alla veneziana’  and the typical sealed glass windows, created by the glass- blowers from Murano, and at the same time you can have all the

From February 2009 the tourists who want to visit Venice will have the opportunity to use the new virtual multilingual assistant (at the  moment in five languages such as Italian, English, French, German and Spanish) of the web site www.veniceconnected.it   or  www.veniceconnected.com, which will guide them in the booking and purchasing of services. For the moment it regards exclusively public services such as parking, transports, civic museums, etc.
The site will be used, thus, as an ‘on line joiner’, by replacing the old system of purchasing separated from the single services with just one operation. Once made the payment, tourists will be provided with a voucher number, which will give them a direct access to prepaid services, without further queuing, as well as a bi-dimensional bar code, letting them to check the situation of their ticketing

A mixture between local and global will be represented by the new Hard Rock Cafè, which will open on 21st December 2008, three days later than expectations because of the incredible high tide of the latest weeks that have slowed down its setting up in basin Orseolo, behind St. Mark’s Square. It is the second location of the well-known multinational dealing with refreshment, belonging to the Indian tribe Serminole, opening in Italy after the one of Rome.

As far as the internal furniture is concerned, as we were saying previously, there will be both elements reminding us of the lagoon tradition – such as a red chandelier “Tiziano di Venini”, or the Venetian floor, and the unfailing aperitif spritz included in the menu – and  the classic relics of the history of music, from the drums with the Beatles’ autographs, to the original version of “Is that a fact?” pen written by  Noel Gallagher, beside the leather jacket of John Rotten of the Sex Pistols and Richie Sambora’s guitar, namely

Last Friday 31st October the President of the Biennale of Venice, Paolo Baratta, accompanied by the Director of the 53rd International Art Exhibition, Daniel Birnbaum, met, in Venice, at Palazzo Querini Dubois, the people representing the Countries joining the 53rd International Contemporary Art Exhibition, which will take place from 7th June to 22nd November 2009 at the Giardini dell’Arsenale (4th, 5th and 6th June) as well as in other places in Venice. Besides Paolo Baratta stated that the Biennale has approved the project establishing that the paper contents of the Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts (ASAC), such as the historical papers, documents, books, catalogues and periodicals, will be moved to the Ala Pastor of the Pavilion Italy at the Giardini. Thus just starting from the 53rd Art Exhibition of 2009 the Pavilion Italy will be partially reorganized and beside the historical archives a didactic area will be set up in the Ala Pastor, as well

For those who incurably love Venice and thus come back here very often, or the occasional visitors who justly get frightened because of the cost of transports and intelligently want to make use of public services and civic museums, since not a long time have had the opportunity to buy the Venice Card.
Venice Card is one of the proposals permitting the transformation of the medium tourist into a privileged visitor: it guarantees an immediate quantifiable saving and an advantage as far as time and opportunities are concerned. You can find it in the versions Transport which guarantees the unlimited use of public means of transport (navigation and by car including the one from and to the airport) and the ‘Transport and Culture’ one which guarantees also the admission to the main museums and churches of Venice, as well as discounts and reductions on the tickets for the main temporary exhibitions, the visits to the Teatro La Fenice, the Biennale and the Car Park. Its cost is variable: from 54 to 137 Euros, but, anyway, it guarantees a 25% saving than doing the same things without the Venice Card. You can buy it directly on line, before leaving, on www.hellovenezia.com or at all the Hellovenezia retail outlets and APT offices.
For further information about transports in Venice, click here.