This is the third time we've been to Venice, and it was by far the best for one reason: the Pasti's beautiful home. The photographs on AirBnB are very nice, but I still wasn't prepared for just how exceptional our experience was.

We were greeted by Francesca's infinitely charming mother, who in a mixture of French and Italian communicated every detail of the home to us with little trouble despite the fact that we speak neither language. We were given an accurate map of Venice, a travel guide that was hand marked with notable restaurants and other spots, and a set of walking directions to various spots around the city.

Everything in the apartment has been recently redone, including two beautiful, luxurious showers, a wonderfully well appointed kitchen and the rest of the interior.

As a base of operations, the apartment was perfect for our working trip (covering the Venice Biennale). We made ourselves great lunches every day with food from the Coop supermarket and a vegetable stand, each 3 minutes walk from the property. We were able to do laundry in the nice washer/drier combo in the apartment. And we ate takeout and worked on the fast wifi in the charming private courtyard.

The location is very central in Venice, an easy walk to Ferrovia, the Rialto and San Marco. We didn't take the Vaporetto once during our stay, and walked everywhere.

The home is beautifully appointed, the location is central but free of tourist trap shops and too many tourists, and the Pasti's couldn't be more helpful. I highly recommend "Venice Home to Relax"!