Public transportation isn't cheap in Venice. A single vaporetto ticket--good for 75 minutes (including transfers)--costs more than $10. I bought a 24-hour pass for a little under $30 to tour several Venetian islands, starting with San Michele.
San Michele
The island, combined with another in the 19th century by filling in a canal, is home to the city's principal cemetery, complete with two churches. A sole man attended 10 a.m. mass on Sunday in this one.
Many of the bodies are buried in above-ground crypts.
You've got to wonder how climate change will affect regular graves. Space is tight, too. Plots are leased for twelve-year periods, after which remains are relocated to an ossuary.
Igor Stravinsky, perhaps the most famous non-Venetian resident, was buried in 1971. So far, so good. He's interred next to his wife and near his buddy, Serge Diaghilev.
Of course I took many more photos. Look at them here.
Murano
The Murano lighthouse, built in the early 20th century, continues to operate.
I got off the vaporetto at the Museo stop. Google Maps indicated a long walk to my destination with complicated directions; all I had to do was follow the harbor promenade, barely populated in comparison to the Piazza San Marco. With a lot less to see, of course.
Typical of the Italian fetish for high style, photos of glass objets d'art decorate lockers at the Museo del Vetro. It's located in a former bishop's residence. My museum pass included admission.
A ground floor gallery mostly displays vases crafted during the twentieth century, decade by decade.
Some big
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| 1910 |
 |
| "Millerighe" by Ermanno Toso (1954) |
. . . and some tiny.
Up the glass-embedded staircase you'll find more complex works
. . . including chandeliers
. . . and pieces created purely for aesthetic reasons.
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| "Connections" by Marco Toso Borella (2022) |
"Hero Casanova," a temporary exhibit, encouraged local artisans and companies to produce works that celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Venetian libertine's birth by not emphasizing his most notable characteristic.
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| "Game" by Vetrate Artistiche Murano (2025) |
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| "Theatre" by Nicola Moretti (2025) |
A pomegranate, the first I'd ever seen on a tree, grew in the garden.
I got my first look at the Basilica di Santa Maria e San Donato inside the museum in a 19th century painting by an unknown artist. The buildings haven't changed at all, although there's now a war memorial in front of the campanile.
Several brass musicians played on the balcony of the church while onlookers listened and the red-robed priest beamed.
If I hadn't been wearing shorts, I could have gone inside to see the Byzantine-era mosaic pavement for which it is known.
The Lido
I chose the Lido for my next stop instead of the Lace Museum on Burano, another island not as well served by vaporettos. The Votive Temple, visible from the lagoon, was commissioned by the Patriarch of Venice as an offering to the Madonna if the city "remained unscathed in World War I." It did not and upon completion the temple became an ossuary for fallen Venetian soldiers including the first to die in what was then called the "Great War." The Lido is also home to Venice's only Jewish cemetery which was heavily vandalized in World War II but now has been somewhat restored.
Upon landing, I noticed bicycles everywhere and decided to rent one to explore the seven-mile-long island. An employee of the bike shop told me to check out the airport at the north end which has a storied history dating back to the 1920s, opening for civilian passengers just in time for fans of Italian Futurism.
Passengers can observe planes taking off and landing from a stylish outdoor cafe.
Even Italian garages look stylish. It looked as if time had stopped at this one with the old Mercedes parked outside.
I crossed the narrow barrier island to check out one of two public beaches on the Adriatic. Multiple container ships on the horizon marred the views of the sea, which looked much prettier from the Gulf of Trieste, although the beaches there were much rockier.
Some of the properties on the island's west side, which faces the Adriatic, look as if they have seen better days. Or maybe they were just closed for the season.
I searched for the Grand Hotel des Bains where von Aschenbach and Tadzio's family stayed in Death in Venice. It closed in 2010 for conversion to a luxury apartment complex but no renovations have been completed and the site remains off limits. I had to settle for riding past the Excelsior Hotel instead.
Modern hotel cabanas lack the striped flair that I saw in Luchino Visconti's lush film adaptation of Thomas Mann's novel.
This marks the spot of the glamorous Venice Film Festival which had taken place about a month earlier with flags from various countries flying from the poles. It reminded me that I've never made it to an international film festival or attended a major designer fashion show, two things I've always wanted to do. This selfie may be as close as I ever get to the former.
Here's the dock where Lady Gaga disembarked for the world premiere of A Star Is Born in 2018 where it was shown out of competition.
The private homes on the east side of the Lido can see Venice shimmering in the distance.
After nearly two hours of biking, I had worked up an appetite. Flies, hornets and steady wafts of cigarette smoke spoiled a very tasty al fresco dinner.
I timed my 24-hour vaporetto pass perfectly and was able to use it to return to the Santa Lucia train station early on Monday morning. Most of the gondolas on the Grand Canal remained moored after a beautiful fall weekend.
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