This was the perfect base for our week long stay in Venice! The major plus point is that it is a comfortable home-from-home, not just a place to sleep. We absolutely loved coming back to the apartment at the end of each day and waking up to the glorious view. LOCATION The apartment is close to the Fondamente Nove vaporetto stop. It is the first stop on the main island for the Ali Laguna ferry from the airport and the apartment is just a couple of minutes walk from there. It is in a traditional residential area, approximately 10 to 15 minutes very pleasant walk from St Marks Square. This was perfect for us as we didn't want to be in the busy tourist areas all the time and it was convenient for visiting the other islands, but you may want to take this into consideration if you want to be nearer the Grand Canal. There is a reasonable sized Coop supermarket a few minutes away and a larger one 10 minutes away. It is a nice area to walk around both day and night. THE APARTMENT The apartment is more spacious, brighter and more modern than it looks in the photos. The styling of some of the units is a bit old fashioned, but it's all actually new. The apartment gets plenty of light too, especially in the bedroom with that spectactular view that I was always so excited to wake up too. All the windows are double glazed - it was quiet in the area, but the rubbish boat does clank a bit in the morning and the windows are very sound proofed so you could close them if that was an issue. The neighbours were also very quiet. The living area has a dining table and an armchair, but no sofa. There is a chaise longue in the bedroom and the bed was super comfy. Unusually for Venice, this apartment gets so much light - it is not built up around it as there is the canal to one side and a school yard to the other, so there are trees, sky and rooftops :) CHECKIN We didn't meet Cristina as she was away. Her family friend, Francesca, came to meet us at the vaporetto stop. We just whatsapped her when we got there and she came out to meet us. CLEANLINESS The apartment was really, really sparkling clean. The cleanest apartment we have stayed in :) We did have some ants turned up, but sprayed once and they didn't return. You will need to follow Venice's system for putting out the rubbish each day. The days/times for the pickups are in the red information folder. To get to the rubbish boat, you go left out of the main door, over the bridge, left and left again. FACILITIES The apartment is so well equipped, it feelsl like a real home immediately and we loved it! Cristina and Riccardo have been so thoughtful and provided so many useful...