I highly recommend that you make this your choice of a place to stay in Venice. The location is excellent - away from the tourist throng and yet only a 10 minute walk from the major tourist area. The best part of this location, however, it it's host, Andrea.

Andrea was very responsive to emails, calls and sms's even before we arrived - a welcome characteristic as it was our first visit to Venice. When we arrived at the waterbus station (Fondamente Nove) he was already waiting. He greeted us with a welcoming smile - the friendliest face we saw in our 2 weeks in Italy by the way! While he escorted us to the apartment (about 5 minutes away), he seemed genuinely interested in how our trip to Italy had been thus far. And while we walked he would point out restaurants, shops and other useful places - this was a great way to orientate ourselves and feel at home even before we arrived at the apartment.

When we did arrive at the apartment we loved the ground floor (we don't travel lightly!) garden setting. The apartment is warmly decorated with items that makes it feel like the home of a well-traveled Venetian. Plus points include a comfortable bed, a washing machine and a shower with excellent water pressure (water pressure matter to me!). The best touch of all, however, was a cupboard stocked with coffee, milk, biscuits, sugar, pasta, salt, spices, etc. You feel at home even before you've unpacked your bags.

Our time with Andrea at that first meeting didn't feel rushed at all - he spent all the time needed to give us a briefing on the apartment, our neighbourhood, the best times to visit the tourist sites and answer all of our questions. His most impressive touch was, after hearing us consider dinner plans, to call and book a table on our behalf at a restaurant around the corner. He insisted that it was a spot where locals ate, the food would be great and that we'd get a great table (based on his friendship with the head waiter). All of those things were very true. A great first night in Venice.

Over the course of our 3 day stay we bumped into Andrea a few times while he was walking his dog. Again, each time he seemed genuinely keen to understand if we were having a good stay, what our plans were for the day (or what we had done that day) and if there was anything he could do to make our stay more comfortable. Each of those brief interactions made us feel we were in good hands.

Venice is, without a doubt, one of the world's most beautiful cities. Andrea will make it feel like home.