This apartment is great. Off the beaten path just enough so that there aren't tons of tourists walking by the front door all the time, but still right on a canal, within easy walking distance of both shops/restaurants and the Academia Bridge, which gets you to the area around St. Mark's. And one of the joys of Venice is to wander around and get lost, anyway, so staying overnight in this apartment was cool.

The apartment itself was very nice. Kitchen and bathroom have everything you'd need, and there's even a separate living room with chairs & books. The bedroom was good too. In fact, I don't think I've ever stayed in a place that was this quiet (and, once the lights were off, dark) at night. Venice obviously has no vehicular traffic, and there's very little in terms of green spaces (like parks), so you don't really see a lot of even small animals (eg, squirrels) that you might find in other cities. And because the apartment is set back from the street a bit, you'll be in for a quiet night.

As for the host, Paolo is the best. He waited for us at the vaporetto stop and guided us to the apartment, showing us restaurants and other sights along the way. And with my (lousy) Italian and his (better) English, we were able to communicate just fine, he told us a little about his teaching, we told him about us, etc. And when we stupidly blew a fuse in the apartment, Paolo was (1) very responsive, fixing the problem immediately, and (2) incredibly gracious and kind about it, which helped alleviate our embarrassment. Oh, and he gave us a bottle of his homemade prosecco, which made our New Year's Eve in Venice all the more special! Thank you Paolo

So I highly recommend Paolo and his apartment.