The Renaissance of Venice’s Favourite Retreat

My first impressions of Venice as I leave the Ponte della Libertà, the bridge spanning the lagoon from La Serenissima to the Domini di Terraferma, are not very promising, as I drive past the giant refineries of the mainland's petrochemical industry, then the immense skeleton of a mega-cruise ship under construction in vast maritime shipyards. But after 20 minutes, the verdant countryside suddenly gives way to built-up suburbs as my bus pulls in along the winding banks of the Naviglio del Brenta, the last section of the mighty Brenta River that engineers had made "navigable" as a canal in the ...