Page 40 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Venice & The Veneto

38  introducing venice and the vene t o

Average Monthly Temperature (Venice)
°C °F Temperature Chart
25 80 Summers in Venice can
be unbearably humid,
20 70 while winters can
15 60 bring the occasional
snowfall. Temperatures
10 50 in the Dolomites are
considerably lower,
5 40 with snow and freezing
conditions from
0 32
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec November to March.

Summer
Summer brings the crowds to
Venice. Queues for museums
and popular sites are long,
and hotels are frequently fully
booked. Avoid visiting the
city during the school holidays
(mid-Jul–end Aug). Verona, too,
will be full of opera lovers
attending the famous festival,
but elsewhere in the Veneto
it is possible to escape the
crowds and enjoy the
spectacular countryside.
June
Sagra di Sant’Antonio (13 Jun).
The Feast of St Anthony has
been celebrated in Padua for
centuries. The day is marked by
a lively fair in Prato della Valle Boats for hire at Sirmione on Lake Garda
(see p187).
Biennale (Jun–Oct). The world’s July displays on Lake Garda at Pal
biggest contemporary art Opera Festival (Jul–Sep). del Vo. Boats are illuminated
exhibition takes place in Venice Verona’s renowned opera and decorated, and the catch
in odd-numbered years festival overlaps with the is cooked and distributed to
(see p260). equally famous Shakespeare guests and participants.
Festa di Santi Pietro e Paolo Festival, providing culture
(end Jun). The feast day of SS lovers with a feast of music, August
Peter and Paul is celebrated in drama, opera and dance in the Village Festivals. The official
many towns with fairs and stimulating setting of the holiday month is marked by
musical festivals. Roman Arena and the city’s local festivals throughout
La 500 x 2 churches (see pp260–61). the Veneto, giving visitors
(third Sun in Jun). Adriatic Festa del Redentore (third Sun the chance to sample food
classic sailing regatta starting in Jul). The city of Venice and wines and see local
from Caorle (see p179). commemorates its deliverance costume and dance. Around
from the plague of 1576. An Lake Garda these are often
impressive bridge of boats accompanied by firework
stretches across the Giudecca displays and races in boats
Canal so that people can walk like large gondolas.
to the Redentore church to Palio di Feltre (first weekend
attend Mass. On the Saturday in Aug). Medieval games, horse
night, crowds line the Zattere or racing and feasts commemorate
row their boats into the lagoon Feltre’s inclusion in the Venetian
to watch a spectacular firework empire (see p225).
display (see p158). Festa dell’Assunta (8–16 Aug).
Exhibit by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama at Sardellata al Pal del Vo (late Spectacular nine-day
the Biennale Jul). Moonlit sardine-fishing celebration in Vittorio Veneto

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