Ugo's apartment is very conveniently situated for the interesting sights of Venice. For those arriving at Piazzale Roma by bus from the airport it is less than a 15 minute walk after you have identified the correct exit from the bus station. Add 5 minutes to the journey from the train station. By water the apartment can be reached from the stop at Ca' Rezzonico on the Grand Canal and walk towards Campo San Barnaba. From the south, it is easily reached from Zaterre or San Basilio though not many water busses stop at these two locations.
We like to explore and wander through cities we visit on foot as much as is possible, especially outside the tourist "hot spots", without a lot of duplication since it enables us to gain a good feel for the place. We had no difficulty walking from Ugo's apartment to the NW of Cannaregio, Santa Croce, San Polo, San Marco, Dossoduro and Castello as far as Arsenale. Tickets for 24, 48 and 72 hours on the ACTV (water bus) can ease some journeys and provide an economic way to visit the islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello. The attractive and interesting Campo Santa Margherita is just around the corner from the apartment and a small supermarket is almost on the doorstep.
Our priorities for a holiday rent are good location, clean rooms, comfortable bed and no noise during sleeping time. Ugo's apartment met all those requirements completely. We were there during cold, but sunny weather, in early February, and the central heating was perfectly adequate to make the place cosy at all times. From Ugo's instructions we found it easy to control. Everything else we needed was provided and the apartment is good and functional. The price asked was very fair.
Things can go wrong anywhere and at any time and the quality of a host can be measured by his response to such events. When there was a problem Ugo demonstrated his 5* rating because he attended to it immediately and offered to go well beyond what any reasonable person could expect from him. The bonus of that incident was that we had the opportunity to meet him (prior to that all communication was by text messages) and his concern at that time was obvious and his willingness to put matters right showed no bounds. We could not fault him and found him to be a very pleasant person who spoke excellent English.