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If You're Freaked Out by a Leaning Big Ben in London, Beware Venice

In case you haven't heard, London's famous landmark Big Ben is leaning. The announcement was made just this month, with the detail that the very tippy top of the clock tower is 1.5 feet off center. This has naturally sparked fears that Big Ben may take a dive into the Thames, but—from all we know of Venice's various leaning towers, this won't happen in our liftetime...nor that of our children or children's children, so chillax.

For comparison, see the Campanile (bell tower) of Chiesa di Santo Stefano (St. Stephen's church) in our photo above. It's one of several towers with an impressive lean in La Serenissima, and it's been boozily tilting (and twisting) since it was rebuilt in the 1800s following a lightning strike nearly three centuries earlier. Although it's in constant danger of collapse, tourists still absentmindedly gather below it at pasticcerias and ristorantes.

Even worse is the 143' white campanile of San Giorgio dei Greci, which was completed in 1592 and has been leaning from the start. Paranoid travelers will now likely add "hard hat" to their Venice packing list, we suppose.

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Looking Down on Venice from 34,000 Feet

This is the kind of thing you miss when you pull the blind down on your window seat: Venice from the air.

We took this on a BA flight from Gatwick to Bari the week before last. When we’d flown the same route a couple of years before, we’d been treated to an unforgettable sight of Venice, with the Grand Canal snaking its way down the middle of the city. So this time we were prepared.

As we were crossing the Alps, we asked one of the flight attendants when we’d be going over Venice. “Will we be going over Venice?” she said, in that typical glum BA style. “I have no idea. Only the pilot would know that.” So we asked her to ask the pilot, who said that yes, in 10 minutes, it’d be coming up.

Ten minutes later, there it was. Not as perfect a view as the last time, but you can still make out the Grand Canal, Giudecca, San Michele, Murano and the Lido. Straordinario!

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Johnny Depp Lays Down $13.5 Million to Buy a Grand Canal Palazzo in Venice

It's been quite a while since the paparazzi had to chase down Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie with water taxis in Venice, since The Tourist wrapped filming and hit the theaters months ago. The stars have moved on—Jolie to filming a Bosnian war movie and Depp to Hawaii for Pirates of the Caribbean 4—but apparently the musty allure of Venice crept into Depp's heart and stayed, as he's just bought himself a palazzo on the Grand Canal.

It's not a flashy one at all (as you can see in the photo above), but the Daily Mail reports that Palazzo Dona Sangiantoffetti is costing Depp £8.5million ($13.5 million) after a bidding war with an Arab prince. There are only so many available palazzi left right on the Grand Canal, we suppose, especially since many have been turned into museums.

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Florence and Venice Want a Slice of Rome's New Lucrative Tourist Tax

When the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2011, the capital city of Italy—Rome—rolled out a new policy to "tax" tourists per day they visit the city—even business travelers and Italians from other cities! The tourist tax, which ranges from 2-3 Euro per night, per hotel guest (paid in cash, at check-out) and an extra 1 plopped on top of museum entrance prices, is only just beginning with Rome. Two other Italian cities are looking very deeply into digging further into traveler pockets, and Venice and Florence could very well have their own taxes in place sooner rather than later.

Venice's mayor, Giulio Orsoni, is especially enthralled with the idea of taxing his city's 20-million-plus annual tourists with the aim of helping the city's own finances. It may also dissuade some from making the trip to La Serenissima, which isn't exactly a spoken goal of the tax, but it would help lessen tourist overcrowding a smidgeon.

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Venice Film Fest Brings Psycho Ballerinas and Wannabe Rap Stars to Italy

Black Swan will kick off opening night.

After a summer of lackluster movies—The Expendables and Piranha 3D, seriously?—we're eager to see some great fall flicks. The first place we're looking to is the 67th annual Venice Film Festival, which happens September 1 to 11.

Although the Venice event isn't the flashiest or most star-studded of the fests, it's got cred; it's the world's oldest film festival.

The fest will have some famous folks in attendance. Sofia Coppola will be there with her boyfriend's band "Phoenix" to promote her new drama, Somewhere, set in favorite Hollywood hotel Chateau Marmont. Natalie Portman, Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck and Quentin Tarantino are also expected to turn up at the fest.

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Will Venice Upset History By Introducing Plastic Gondolas to Its Canals?

One of the biggest issues a tourist to Venice will have is whether or not to pay over 80 Euros for max 40 minutes of being slowly rowed around the canals in the gondola. In fact, this is our number 1 "What Not to Do in Venice," since you can just as easily take a smaller gondola&151;called a traghetto—across the Grand Canal for pennies.

And now the rip-off gondola rides could possibly get worse with the introduction of plastic gondolas. The Independent reports that an Italian shipyard has construction lookalikes of the famous black boats in fiberglass, which has easier maintenance and cheaper cost to own. A traditional gondola—handmade of 280 pieces of 8 different woods—costs some €25,000 ($33,000) to buy, which the gondolier will easily make back in one summer tourist season. A fiberglass version would cost dramatically less, which means they could also possibly charge less per ride.

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Brad and Angelina Rented an Entire Venetian Island for Their Easter Egg Hunt

The world's most set-jetting couple and their brood spent Sunday morning searching for Easter eggs and devouring chocolates like the rest of us, but, unlike the rest of us, they were on the beautiful Italian island of San Servolo.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie rented the island in the Venetian lagoon for the day so their kids—Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne—could have a very big, very private Easter egg hunt. But don't think mom and dad were up at dawn hiding all those eggs, as apparently that's what bodyguards are for. After they found all of their eggs and opened their baskets, the whole family enjoyed a picnic on one of the island's Great Lawns.

How to visit San Servolo on your own, after the jump

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The Jolie-Pitts Bring the Whole Brood to Venice for Filming 'The Tourist'

Our favorite Super World Travelers are at it again! Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are slogging around Europe with their whole brood in tow while Jolie films "The Tourist," a drama that gets Johnny Depp (a tourist) wrapped up in the doings of Jolie, who is an Interpol agent tracking an Italian gangster.

Last week they were in Paris, but filming now has then swinging down to the canals of Venice to continue the movie. Jolie and Pitt were spotted with their rarely-seen 19-month-old twins, Vivienne and Knox, as the family hunkered down in a rented lavish palazzo.

One more pictures, after the jump

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Venice Is Flooded Again; Everyone Go Wakeboarding!

The terribly wintery weather currently hitting Europe right now is bringing the lagoon waters of Venice up into the piazzas and reminding us of one of our favorite quirky stories from last year: that of the guy who wakeboarded through a flooded St. Mark's Square. We've posted the video for you again above, and believe us that it's worth watching all two minutes because the Red Bull guy also wakeboards in a canal. This is what happens when you combine horrible weather, a sinking city, and an opportunist tourist on energy drink.

Each year, this high water, or Acqua Alta, hits the Italian city at its weakest time: when the tourists and locals are all in town to celebrate the holidays. It also doesn't help that the lowest (and therefore most affected) place in town is the visitor mecca of St. Mark's Square. When the waters get knee-high here, you'll see Venice become a network of raised platforms as sidewalks—here's a great picture to demonstrate. Come to think of it, we should add "leaving the rain boots behind" to our list of the Top Five Tourist Mistakes in Venice.

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Cancel Christmas To Suck Face In Venice Instead

Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn have the right idea in the movie Four Christmases; ditch the family for a romantic vacation this holiday. Venice is a reliable spot for a you and your mistletoe partner to get away for some alone time. And it's not too late to buy tickets. Kayak is offering round-trip airfare to the starting at $1,099 during the holidays. That's expensive for the rest of the year, but not during this season—it's a bargain.

Of course, the obligatory romantic thing to go is take a gondola ride in the canals, but that's the number one offense on our list of what not to do in Venice. While riding a gondola with only two people can get pretty expensive, don't let that deter you from enjoying the canals, even if it's by vaporetto, or water bus. The canals are a big part of the city's mystique and being on the water in the winter will give you a reason to snuggle with your honey.

Or do more than snuggle...

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Open Thread: Does Venice Smell?

Have you been to Venice? Was your visit in summer? Actually, no matter what season you found yourself among the romantic canals of Venice, you may remember whether you did or did not smell something afoul in the city. Stemming from our earlier post on what not to do in Venice—taking a gondola being one "don't"—we want to know if think Venice smells.

We lived in Italy for a while, and sometimes we'd head to Venice for the day, for the weekend, or for the week depending on how much good white wine and risotto al nero di seppia we craved. In the winter, we found the air to smell cold and salty, like any other seaside town that brought in boats of fresh seafood. But the in the summer, thanks to the rotting first floors of most residences coupled with the perfume of a sweaty population barely masked by the scent of restaurants cooking up prix fixe meals, our nose caught a whiff of something other. It's not enough to assault your senses, but it's there.

So tell us: have you smelled Venice? What did it smell like, if anything? Should people bring their gas masks or should Glade invent a Venice-scented room freshener? Let us know in the comments below!

Related Stories:
· What Not To Do In Venice: The Top 5 Tourist Mistakes [Jaunted]
· Venice Travel [Jaunted]

[Photo: mattedgar]

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What Not To Do In Venice: The Top 5 Tourist Mistakes

Gondolas, palaces and 'O Sole Mio"—ahhh, the usual romantic image of Venice. Granted, the city known as "La Serenissima," is quite lovely and enchanting, but also full of money potholes and tourist stereotypes.

Because we like you, and because we've had our fair share of Venice visits and wish all the same enjoyment for yours, we're helping you out with our list of What Not To Do In Venice: The Top 5 Tourist Mistakes.

Check them out, after the jump.

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