Skip to main content
Travel

Return to Answer

added 4 characters in body
Source Link
VMAtm
VMAtm
  • 22.4k
  • 15
  • 87
  • 130

I'm Italian, born near Venice and I even lived in the city for one year recently. My experience is that Venice used to smell bad when the weather was really hot, and kind of still does sometimes, but not as bad as in the past. Of course it's relative, some people just hate the smell of the sea, I'm just refering to that kind of sewage/dumpster smell. 
I also remember that in my childhod (twenty years ago) I was astonished by how much rubbish was left in the street, while nowadays they're doing a pretty good job keeping it clean (I mean, as clean as a city with that much turist flow can be with daily sweepings). Even in the past the smell was not that bad, annoying but bearable - IMHO some of Shanghai streets smell a lot worse, for example -, but local people were often complaining or joking about it. So, I think there's a partial truth in this word of mouth, but it's far from the hell they're describing, and it's probably referring to the past. 
Anyway, my advice would still be to avoid the warmest days if you want to visit; and not because of the smell, but because all the walking and bridge crossing you have to do to get anywhere becomes really exhausting. And it's overcrowded, yes. But still, it's Venice, you'll really miss something unique if you decide to skip it.

I'm Italian, born near Venice and I even lived in the city for one year recently. My experience is that Venice used to smell bad when the weather was really hot, and kind of still does sometimes, but not as bad as in the past. Of course it's relative, some people just hate the smell of the sea, I'm just refering to that kind of sewage/dumpster smell. I also remember that in my childhod (twenty years ago) I was astonished by how much rubbish was left in the street, while nowadays they're doing a pretty good job keeping it clean (I mean, as clean as a city with that much turist flow can be with daily sweepings). Even in the past the smell was not that bad, annoying but bearable - IMHO some of Shanghai streets smell a lot worse, for example -, but local people were often complaining or joking about it. So, I think there's a partial truth in this word of mouth, but it's far from the hell they're describing, and it's probably referring to the past. Anyway, my advice would still be to avoid the warmest days if you want to visit; and not because of the smell, but because all the walking and bridge crossing you have to do to get anywhere becomes really exhausting. And it's overcrowded, yes. But still, it's Venice, you'll really miss something unique if you decide to skip it.

I'm Italian, born near Venice and I even lived in the city for one year recently. My experience is that Venice used to smell bad when the weather was really hot, and kind of still does sometimes, but not as bad as in the past. Of course it's relative, some people just hate the smell of the sea, I'm just refering to that kind of sewage/dumpster smell. 
I also remember that in my childhod (twenty years ago) I was astonished by how much rubbish was left in the street, while nowadays they're doing a pretty good job keeping it clean (I mean, as clean as a city with that much turist flow can be with daily sweepings). Even in the past the smell was not that bad, annoying but bearable - IMHO some of Shanghai streets smell a lot worse, for example -, but local people were often complaining or joking about it. So, I think there's a partial truth in this word of mouth, but it's far from the hell they're describing, and it's probably referring to the past. 
Anyway, my advice would still be to avoid the warmest days if you want to visit; and not because of the smell, but because all the walking and bridge crossing you have to do to get anywhere becomes really exhausting. And it's overcrowded, yes. But still, it's Venice, you'll really miss something unique if you decide to skip it.

Source Link
user19892
user19892
  • 21
  • 1

I'm Italian, born near Venice and I even lived in the city for one year recently. My experience is that Venice used to smell bad when the weather was really hot, and kind of still does sometimes, but not as bad as in the past. Of course it's relative, some people just hate the smell of the sea, I'm just refering to that kind of sewage/dumpster smell. I also remember that in my childhod (twenty years ago) I was astonished by how much rubbish was left in the street, while nowadays they're doing a pretty good job keeping it clean (I mean, as clean as a city with that much turist flow can be with daily sweepings). Even in the past the smell was not that bad, annoying but bearable - IMHO some of Shanghai streets smell a lot worse, for example -, but local people were often complaining or joking about it. So, I think there's a partial truth in this word of mouth, but it's far from the hell they're describing, and it's probably referring to the past. Anyway, my advice would still be to avoid the warmest days if you want to visit; and not because of the smell, but because all the walking and bridge crossing you have to do to get anywhere becomes really exhausting. And it's overcrowded, yes. But still, it's Venice, you'll really miss something unique if you decide to skip it.