Summer weekends in Venice are best spent away from the main island. This is something adopted locals come to learn rather quickly, but that born-and-raised Venetians simply know, having absorbed earlier on all there is to know about life as it’s meant to be lived in the uniquely strange part of Italy that is the Venetian lagoon. 

Save for a handful of heavily-hit insular destinations such as Murano, Burano and Torcello, the remainder of the Venetian archipelago is largely untouched and sees only sparse swarms of visitors. And though it’s only a matter of time before the minor islands begin to receive their fair share of traffic, it’s here, in these few secluded alcoves away from the main stage, that life unfolds in its truest forms.