Art history major here. It’s a painting on canvas, not a mural!
you may want to correct .wikipedia:
The Last Supper (Italian: Il Cenacolo [il tʃeˈnaːkolo] or L’Ultima Cena [ˈlultima ˈtʃeːna]) is a mural painting by the Italian High Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1495–1498, housed in the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy
But we are or were talking about the Tintoretto oil on canvas Last Supper in Venice, aren’t we/ weren’t we?
from my OP:
“Also, I haven’t found direct flights from NYC so it will require landing in Milan and if we land milan, I’m thinking we should see the last supper and hang out for a couple of days and take the train to venice.”
Oh, okay.
Va bene.
Mea culpa.
that sound right to me. There are plenty of cheap flights right now to Milan and plenty of fast trains from Milan to Venice - and when you get off the train in Venice you are THERE. Athough the Vaporetto entry from the airport , past Murano to Venice is pretty cool also. Things have changed - we’ve definitely had direct flights to Venice in the past. Although in 2023 we went through Rome, on ITA.
And Im thinking the vaporetto from thw airport could be a cold, wet, and thoroughly unpleasant trip in February!
I took the vaporetto to the airport a couple of years ago, but it was a balmy and sunny June morning.
it was fine in March! but if it was cold and windy, Id skip it for the bus! In our March trip we went out to the islands on 3 different days
Truly
Personally, I would skip Milan. Maybe heresy, but it’s a big modern city, for the most part, and not at all what I ever go to Italy for, The Last Supper aside. The fast train from Milan to Venice is 2 hours 15 minutes, time for a nap.
I haven’t been in Venice for two years, but the three restaurants I would definitely book (I think I wrote about them when I was in Venice last September of 2022): Al Covo, Alle Testiere and Antiche Carampane, probably in that order, but that has changed for me over the years. Osteria La Bottega ai Promessi Sposi is a favorite casual spot of mine in Cannaregio. They do a grilled fish for two (sea bass maybe) that I like (good pasta vongole also in my memory), but it’s a more casual restaurant with a kind of tavern feel. Coffee is good of course in Venice, as it is in Italy, but my favorite: Torrefazione Cannaregio.
For your purposes, Estro is in my memory a very cute wine bar with good snacks to go along with wine. Osteria Bancogiro used to be a solid place in the touristy Rialto area for cichetti and it’s right on the Grand Canal (correct me if I have the canal wrong; I’m geographically challenged). It’s worth your time, I reckon to gather a small collection of places where you could reasonably stop for a glass of wine and cichetti, a very Venetian custom. (NYT had a piece on this probably pre-pandemic sometime.)
I love to stay in Cannaregio, though I do not know when or where the flooding (acqua alta) happens, but it sounds like your timing will be good. It’s a bit quieter than some of the other areas, and the easy access to bigger water and the train station assuages any panic I feel when lost somewhere in Venice (less so these days with Google Maps, but I keep my phone close). Here’s a screenshot of where I last stayed:
That "Ponte delle Guglie (right next to a vaporetto stop Guglie) is a very central and good place to stay. I am happy staying anywhere between there and about the ponte dei Tre Archi, along that canal. I tend to buy a pass for the vaporetto for the length of my stay, and then I have the ticket for any little trips I want to take. Venice is like nowhere else on the planet. No cars. It’s incredible. Be in touch back channel if you have other specific questions. I had just put Venice back on my map for my long break at the end of summer 2025.
Thank you @ninkat !
I generally agree on Milan. However, between the Duomo and the Last Supper alone, it’s worth seeing at least once.
Out of the usual suspects, I wouldnt miss Osteria alle Testiere. I’d carefully monitor ressies since they book quickly, just not too sure about Feb
@ninkat that area right around the Giglie bridge is definitely nice and well located, unless right on the Strada Nuova. However down the Cannaregio Canal I feel like the neighborhood thins out quite a bit and becomes less interesting and active the farther W you go, especially on the N side -Tre Archi is a bit remote except via the boats.
We stayed in an inexpensive hotel on the S side one winter - the walls of buildings nearby showed the signs (and scents) of recent acqua alta in that area. Pluses to area in addition to a big sky and feel of the sea are a couple of restos we have never made it to - Dalla Marisa, on the S side of the Canal toward the W end - and Trattoria Alla Fontana, on the N side. Who knows, there may be something new since the pandemic too.
We were very happy last trip with an apartment (totally booked for the next 3 mo) on the (N) lagoon side of Canareggio, (nearest vaporetto stop Madonna del Orto) in a quiet but pretty and not remote neighberhood, where we had a typical (walk down a side street then along a canal, then across the bridge to the other side and across another bridge and so on, 10 min to Vini del Gigio and nice local shops. A place by the Arsenale was our other favorite location so far , which was close to Al Covo and Corte Sconta, but there are many possibilities. I found that wherever we stayed there was a new neighborhood, shops sights and restaurants to discover when we walked out the door.
Milan - if you are interested in churches or religious history there are some great stops in Milan’s historic churches, including , in the basement of the duomo (which I dont much like) the roman bath in which Saint Ambrose baptized St. Augustine. Sort of mindblowing in its way. The Brera has one of the worlds great painting collections, very lightly visited. The Poldi Pezzoli, smaller is also worth a visit. And the fashion one sees on the streets in that area is pretty amazing. But the feel of the town overall is not very exciting - I like riding trams but the street scenes with over head wires is sort of stodgy… Sorry no restaurant reccs since I havent been there and done the research for several years.
@ninkat that area right around the Giglie bridge is definitely nice and well located, unless right on the Strada Nuova. However On and around the Cannaregio Canal I feel like the neighborhood thins out quite a bit the farther W you go, especially on the N side -Tre Archi is a bit remote except via the boats.
We stayed in an inexpensive hotel on the S side one winter - the walls of buildings nearby showed the signs (and scents) of recent acqua alta in that area. Pluses to area in addition to a big sky and feel of the sea are a couple of restos we have never made it to - Dalla Marisa, on the S side of the Canal toward the W end - and Trattoria Alla Fontana, on the N side.
We were very happy last trip with an apartment (totally booked for the next 3 mo) on the (N) lagoon side of Canareggio, (nearest vaporetto stop Madonna del Orto) in a quiet but pretty and not remote neighberhood, where we had a typical (walk down a side street then along a canal, then across the bridge to the other side and across another bridge and so on, 10 min to Vini del Gigio and nice local shops. A place by the Arsenale was our other favorite location so far , which was close to Al Covo and Corte Sconta, but there are many possibilities!
In Venice I like staying on the Giudecca across the water from from the crowds, a short #2 vaporetto ride over to St. Marks. I stay at the Al Redentore di Venezia, more like apartments than a hotel. Some with canal views. Spacious, great price.
For a few days you can feel like a resident rather than a tourist.
we have a vacation place on St Augustine Beach and the more I research the Venice food scene, the more I think it may be similar to what’s on offer in the old city of St. Augustine: overpriced, inauthentic, on the whole well prepared but no locals willing to venture in due to hordes of tourists and impossible parking. I truly hope I’m wrong.
Anyhow, I’m advocating for staying ca ci dio near arsenale vs something more central but not willing to spend marital coin on swayng the decision.
I’m learning Milan might just be the second-best pizza city in Italy and it’s a big enough city that we should be able to find some good stuff. There’s a Chinatown in Milan, seems like a stupid idea but I dunno, I’m not very good with directions and it’s just possible we get lost, end up walking through and I dart in to a bakery or two
thanks, I looked at places on the island, thought it might be a little deserted this time of year?
I stayed in Mestre, the part of Venice closest to the airport for a few nights in 2004. It was a mostly working class area then. I have no idea what it’s like now. This was before I was using Chowhound for tips in Europe.
I had been let down by some Lonely Planet guidebook recommendation in Travestere in Rome in 2000. I was winging it in Italy on my trip in 2004. I would say I did pretty well in Bologna, but I was striking out fairly often at dinner in Venice.
My hotel in Mestre was a 3 star hotel, popular with Italian families before their flights. No view.
I ate veal al limone at the modest hotel restauran the night before I left. My only hotel restaurant dinner on that visit to Italy. It was the best dinner I had in Venice on that trip.
I like visiting Chinese restaurants and Chinatowns when I’m in the UK and Europe, partly to see what they’re like.