Roberto is the consummate Superhost and met us from our Allilaguna vaporetto (Line B from the airport) at Guglie and walked us the 3 minutes to his first floor (US 2nd floor) 16th century Venetian apartment. No lockbox and poor instructions to find a hole in the wall address, Roberto mastered the personal welcome to make sure we had what we needed for the best possible stay.
This property overlooks both the Ponte Delle Guglie and the main drag from the station to San Marco square. This is a family property handed down from Roberto’s grandparents that once lived there and ran the bakery below. There is even the remnants of an old staircase from the apartment down to the kitchen area. Its surprisingly large considering its age with a single large bedroom and lounge dining area with pullout sofa bed and an adequate kitchen and bathroom. As with any retrofitted building there are only a limited number of power outlets so if you are a heavy user of plugs for charging all kinds of appliances, bring an extension socket or purchase one from the electrical store below. Bear in mind that the power goes out when you are not there so remember to charge overnight - difficult if you have many appliances and only one electrical adapter I suspect. The apartment also contained a decent washing machine and drying rack so you don’t need to bring the entire wardrobe with you, or drag a pointlessly large suitcase around Venice or up a flight of stairs.
Its a great location for exploring Venice and is far enough away from the main tourist sites to avoid the crowds, yet close enough to walk to or take a boat down the Grand Canal if you don’t. There are several restaurants below that can be noisy into the wee hours of the night and the constant drone of tourists dragging wheeled suitcases across the cobbles from the train station or boats delivering goods and passengers. Wooden shutters help to keep the noise down but we got used to it after a night or two - or maybe it was the wine - needless to say we slept well during our week long stay.
With a thousand great bars and restaurants within easy crawling distance we didn’t cook in the apartment but it was great to purchase a pastry from one of the local bakeries and eat breakfast together planning out our day over coffee and tea.
We’ll be back!