We were warmly greeted by Ugo in San Margherita piazza. He guided us through the short walk to the apartment that he had tastefully renovated with an architect's eye for detail and style. This apartment was my particular favourite of all the places we had stayed in through Europe. Situated on the ground floor we had the wonderful and interesting experience of being at one with the local area. Open the front door and we were directly in a small square, open a window and the local life of Venice passed by. Just around the corner was one of the most relaxed piazzas, San Margherita piazza, we had encountered on our travels. Diners and drinkers lounged about with a local speciality - the spritzer, a drink which emits a tantalising tangerine glow. The spritzers in this piazza were very reasonably priced at 2.50 Euro - in Florence they charged as much as 7 Euro for them, so enjoy while you can. Pizzas were also in abundance for reasonable prices too.

Ugo's apartment had all the mod cons - washing machine, fast wifi, coffee maker. The rooms were comfortable and clean.

This was an apartment that in times past writers would have retreated to to write novels - private enough to have one's own space, but within the life of the community. I loved it.