Venice

The charm of Venice
Visiting Venice in the high season can be frightfully frustrating. The main attractions have long reached their point of saturation with an estimated 20 million visitors per year. Capturing something of the city's unique charm without the hordes of cellphone-armed tourists, or gondola traffic jams, requires some preparation and lots of patience - unless you want to spend hours of cloning. The best times for photography were in the early morning when you still can have the city all to yourself - some seagulls and rats notwithstanding - and in the evening, but that very much depended of the area. And come to think of it, what a joy to have these aggressive bikers banned.
Elegant decay
Venice is of course the prime city of elegant decay, ancient glory fading right in front of our eyes, like a glacier in the 21st century.
Bartolomeo Colleoni (1400-1475)
The Venetian glory was partly based on warfare and imperialism. The bronze statue of the famous condottiero Colleoni on Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, modelled by Andrea del Verrocchio.
Campo San Maurizio
While not as famous as Pisa, the campanile of Santo Stefano in Venice makes quite a spectacle too. The bell tower dates from 1544, stands 66 meters high, and has tilted 2 meters since the earthquake of 1902. On the left stands the 16th-century Palazzo Bellavite, where once the Venetian poet Giorgio Baffo (1694-1768) lived.
Santa Maria della Salute
Baroque church designed by Baldassare Longhena and consecrated in 1681, the Salute was a votive offering from the Venetians following a devastating outbreak of the plague. Located at the entrance of the Canal Grande, its white cupola is one of the emblematic features of the Venetian skyline.
The Four Tetrarchs
One of the spolia from Constantinople decorating St. Mark's Basilica is this famous group portrait of the Four Tetrarchs in Egyptian porphyry. The sculpture dates from around 300 and symbolises the four emperors who divided the rule of the Roman Empire in the 4th century.