Press Articles
Financial Times Life and Arts, 3 March 2010
Canals, Canalettos, carnival… - Is it still possible to have an original, cliché –free travel experience in Venice?
By Sophy Roberts
...Emily FitzRoy is founder of British-based Italian travel company Bellini Travel. She concedes that to beat the big Venice clichés, it is sometimes necessary to pay handsomely for the privilege. One night, at 7pm, FitzRoy and her guide take me into the Basilica of St Mark’s, already closed up for the day. Last time I came here the only thing that overwhelmed me was the crowds. The gatekeeper unlocks the doors and myself and two friends have this remarkable cathedral to ourselves. I can see the detail of the mosaics, the way the water rises into the crypt. I’m not a religious person, yet the spectacle of this empty golden church moves me.