Videos

Travels in Europe with Rick Steves
#5: Venice
VHS videocassette
Small World Productions

Rick Steves, author of the budget guide Europe Through the Back Door, stars in a series of 28-minute European travelogues that are broadcast by public TV stations across the United States. The series is also available on video. Program #5 is a lively and personal introduction to Venice, and it's also a refreshing change from the stuffiness and unoriginality of most travel videos. You should be able to find the VHS cassette in your public library.

Summertime
starring Katherine Hepburn
VHS videocassette
Embassy Home Entertainment
0-4299-56019-3

David Lean directed this 1955 movie, which starred Katherine Hepburn as a love-starved American on her first trip to Venice. The film is packed with beautiful scenery that hasn't changed in the intervening decades. The Pensione Accademia Villa Maravegie, where the hotel interiors were shot, is still popular with American tourists.

Nudo di Donna
starring Nino Manfredi
VHS videocassete
Pacific Arts Video Records

Portrait of a Woman, Nude (the English title) is a 1984 comedy directed by Nino Manfredi, one of Italy's most popular film stars. The picture is a nonstop travelogue of Venice during Carnival season, with settings that include streets, piazzas, canal boats, and interiors of sumptuous palazzi.

For more Venice video reviews...

Please see the "Venice Movies and Videos" article and my illustrated review of The Wings of The Dove at Venice for Visitors.