
OG Venice is the only guide to Venice Italy that focuses not on historical sights, but on local artists, small restaurants and bars and how to do simple everyday things, on the other side of the looking glass in Venice. This guide tries to open a window into the real life of Venezia for visitors who are interested in discovering the living breathing city behind the facades.
Who's it for? OG Venice probably has something for every visitor to Venice. Whether you desperately need a charger for your phone, prefer to spend your free time at the beach, would like to take a guided bacaro tour, or just want to get some idea of how things work, OG Venice can help you do it in Venice.
What's Inside? Not everything. Just great stuff! OG Venice is not a phone book. I do not blindly catalogue everything in Venice. I don't know everything. And, to be honest, I don't include everything that I do know. What's here are honest local businesses wherein I sincerely believe that anyone who walks through the door, not just me, will be treated well and fairly and have a chance at discovering a slice of real Venetian life.
How do I do it? Trial and error! (Seriously, you would not believe how many things I've done wrong in Venice over the years...) And following my four simple rules:
1. Anonymity. Every place that I visit on Venice I go to as a stranger at least twice. I do not tell people that I write a guide until I have already decided that I want to include them in OG Venice. Going it alone is the only way I can be sure that I'm giving good advice. And don't worry about me... I'm not a lonely type... *sob*
2. Humility. OG Venice Travel Guide is not high art. I am not a critic, activist or politician. Yes, I have thoughts and ideas. Yes, I want to discuss them over a spritz! But, it is not the place of OG Venice to go beyond that.
3. Positivity. I never have and never will write anything negative about any business that I visit in Venice. And, I will never add a "What NOT to do in Venice" section to OG Venice Travel Guide. If I stumble into a tourist trap, get charged for tap water, or if someone offers to grate cheese on my capesante, I brush it off and move on. This city is home to the most wonderful hosts in the world and visited by some really fascinating people. Who has time to sit around complaining?!
4. No photo, no listing. Every listing in OG Venice includes a candid photo, that I took myself. I have a very good reason for this: Many businesses in Venice do not have a sign outdoors. (This has to do with preserving the looks of the city. As I understand it, there is a very steep tax associated with signage.) A candid photo is the only way that those who use OG Venice can both decide if a place is their style and be certain that they've arrived at where they wanted to go!
Anyway...whew! I don't know about you, but I think it's a little early to sit around being such a stickler for the rules. What a waste of precious time in Venezia! So, now that we've been "formally" introduced, what do you say? Wine and cicchetti? Just the wine? ;-)