I I’m in Venice. It’s crowded with slow-moving, selfie-stick-toting tourists, more interested in seeing themselves in the sights than sightseeing. Where do ordinary people buy pots and cloth? There is a lot of glass and beautiful handmade paper for sale. But is it a normal everyday thing? There aren’t that many. I have read that the island’s resident population is one-fifth of what it was in the 1950s. The world’s first woman to graduate from university was born here.
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I have a hard time in crowds, so I go looking for peace and quiet. The Peggy Guggenheim has a relatively quiet and airy terrace perfect for looking out over the canal, just a few steps away from Marini’s very happy man on horseback – the angel of the city. The gift shop (I love gift shops) doesn’t have chocolates, but they do have Mondrian Miffy.
No chocolate yet, but early one morning, after crossing the Rialto Bridge (which you must do), we ran into Venki.There is Venki There are gelato shops all over the world, but all the other gelato shops have neon colored ice cream (pistachios shouldn’t be bright green), so even though it’s a little past breakfast… Buy gelato here. I chose Nougatine. 77% dark chocolate topped with caramelized Piedmontese hazelnuts.
We take a short walk along a small street with laundry flowing overhead, to escape the crowds. Chocolate ice cream always disappoints. But this was right in front of my eyes the whole time I was in England, and that’s not the case. It is wonderful. Dark in color and firm, rich and creamy without being powdery, it’s definitely the best chocolate gelato I’ve ever tasted (aside from my dad’s) (starting from £5 in the UK).
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