RIALTO - BRIGHT AND PANORAMIC PENTHOUSE IN THE HEART OF VENICE

Giorgia was awesome. She kept the flat in a great shape, arranged the private water taxi for us and waited at the San Stae station to take us to the apartment, which was only a 5 min walk once we got off the taxi. Very comfortable, great kitchen w/ all mod cons plus skylight. Nice bathrooms and w/ washer. I especially enjoyed planning our activities in the corner den in the morning or at night where the wifi is located. SKY tv available on nice LG flat screen. Quiet area of Vencie but only a 12 min walk to the very cool Fish Market and Rialto bridge, but you would want to ride the Vaporetto (water bus) from San Stae anyway to see the canal and all the grand palazzos. Several cool little restaurants within 5 mins away from the St Marks' square crowed. Nice supermarket 5 mins by foot and very nice pastry place nearby.

My wife and I spent a very happy week here in early autumn, and found the apartment to be attractive, very quiet at night, and extremely well situated. As others have pointed out, it's only a short walk from the San Stae vapoetto stop, just around the corner from a great bakery, away from the worst of the tourist hoards, and not far from either the railway station (Ferrovia) or the Rialto Market. Surprisingly, I didn't have a problem walking up and down the 60+ steps to the apartment, even though I had undergone hip replacement 10 months earlier.

There is one downside I would like to point out, to those who are over five feet tall and intend to prepare most of their meals in the apartment. The ceiling, and most especially the beams above the sink and the fridge, are very low. My wife and I (she is 5'7", I am 6') were constantly having to duck under the beams, and on more than one occasion each of us ended up bumping our heads. It definitely took some getting used to.

Also, be sure to ask Giorgia to point out where on the stairway the circuit breaker boxes are, and which one is hers. (One day, when using the air conditioner and the oven, the power went off in the entire apartment. Fortunately the lights on the stairs were still working, so after a little bit of sleuthing I was able to figure out how to turn the power back on in the flat. But given that this occurred at night, it did cause us no small amount of concern.) In addition, make sure you ask her to show you how to watch films in their original language, with or without subtitles., as that, too, took some figuring out. And finally, if you are there at a warm time of year, get her to demonstrate how to use the air conditioning (not obvious from the instructions).

Great view, nice location near several good restaurants. Giorgia was very helpful in arranging a private water taxi from the train station and gave us several pointers for our stay in Venice. Overall a fantastic place to stay!