How busy will Venice be the days leading up to Easter this year?

March 6 should not be extra crowded, and the 28th - Holy Thursday - will not be an extra heavy time especially outbound. However, your fate is predetermined by the nature of mass transport - there will be crowds, families with school kids and tourists, but pushy boors are rare, and even school kids are as polite as you and I.

Venice has areas that get extremely crowded with tourists as the day unfolds, notably the Piazza San Marco and the area around the Rialto Bridge, but there are plenty of other areas that are very quiet and peaceful. And, in the early morning and evening, the tourist hot spots are quiet and peaceful too.

the 28th - Holy Thursday - will not be an extra heavy time especially outbound.

What do you mean by "outbound"? "Away from Venice"?

I'll be leaving that morning. But schol vacation begins March 27 (Wednesday). I'm wondering whether vacationing Italian families will head to Venice the weekend before "to get a head start." Or even two days before (Monday). Perhaps I'm worrying about something unlikely to be a serious problem. But I could still arrange to leave Venice on March 24 or March 23 to avoid getting caught in a crowd descending on Venice.

Yes, outbound from Venice. Italian families are not a large factor in Venice crowding. Foreigners comprise more than 80% of Venice's visitors, and your fellow American hold first place. The Venetian tourist infrastructure will not be strained by March crowds - they are less than half the crowds of summer. You can become an expert on Venetian tourism by going down this rabbit hole: Venice 2022 Tourism I think your dates should work out well.

https://www.visitvenezia.eu/en/tourist-information/festivals-and-traditions-in-venice-month-by-month-events-of-history-and-folklore-not-to-be-missed

Thank you, Mike in Boston, very much. I have been worrying about this upcoming trip. I turned 70 in August and I've only been to Venice once before, on a Rick Steves Best of Italy 16-day tour, where we had only 36 hours in Venice. I vowed to go back some day. And that today is March 5/6.

There isn't a direct flight from Seattle. Lay-overs can be painful. Which is why I'll be spending three weeks in the Serenissima (sp?).

Once there, I'll be re-reading Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice" while having been immersed at times in viewing David Lean's "Summertime," Nicolas Roeg's "Don't Look Back," the Helena Bonham Carter starring "Wings of the Dove."

I did study Italian Renaissance art in grad school. After having spent three weeks in Rome (for the Baroque of Bernini and Caravaggio, primarily), I'll be trying to do Venice justice, if that is at all possible, that is.

It's horrible to bump into large crowds of American tourists, most of whom seem to congregate in St. Mark's Square (Hard Rock Cafe...). Ditto for the mainland Chinese who seemed to leave in busloads from the parking lot just on the outskirts of the city. I'd come in the dead of winter if I weren't hesitant about dealing with the acqua alta.

I’ve been there in the dead of winter (first week of January) and loved it.

We were in Venice the week before Easter, precovid. The masses seem to hit the city on Good Friday, when even riding the Grand Canal vaporetto at night was uncomfortable due to the crowds. Before Friday, I found that moving about was reasonable and wasn't impeded by crowding. Have a great trip!

I did study Italian Renaissance art in grad school...

This is slightly off topic, but where did you get your degree and what in what discipline? We are about the same age and I have a BFA from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.

I hope you have a wonderful trip. My wife and I were in Venice in August 1966 while on a 21 day high school tour of Europe. That's where we met. We've returned to Italy, but not to Venice, though we plan to go. I was looking at slides I took on that trip. I have a slide of St. Mark's square taken mid-day. The square is almost empty. Things have certainly changed.

I understand your hesitancy regarding Venice in winter. However, we spent 10 days in Tuscany in mid-December and loved it. If you have a chance to return to Italy in the future, I think you'll find the quiet time of winter charming.

Denny, you're doing it right. We stayed in a small apartment on the Lido for a 10 days in November long ago. Taking an early morning vaporetto across the lagoon in the early morning light and clearing fog lives in my memory like I experienced it yesterday.

Hi, Denny. For your reading pleasure, consider Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series. (Link goes to Goodreads.) I recall in one visit, joining a fellow traveler in looking for the Questura (police station) where his office is located in the books. I don't think this was the first time a tourist has done this!

Enjoy your trip. Venice is grand!

Thanks Denny for this thread, and @Mike for the interesting deep dive into Venice tourist arrivals, I had no idea Americans were quite so dominant. Knowing that, let's call it the run up to Good Friday, will be quieter is really useful for planning a trip to Bologna & it got me thinking it might not be THAT busy.... ha hope springs eternal.

We were in Venice the week before Easter, precovid. The masses seem to hit the city on Good Friday, when even riding the Grand Canal vaporetto at night was uncomfortable due to the crowds.

Not being a Catholic, I'm only assuming that Good Friday is the Friday that preceeds Easter (and not the week before). It appears to be March 29. But school vacation at least in the Venice region begins March 25 or 24. I think I'll stick with my plans instead of trying to leave before the school kids (and their families) are on the loose. I seem to bump into the same problem when I travel to France, where different regions have different schedules for their school vacations. Europeans do like to take advantage of their vacations to travel, especially locally.

This is slightly off topic, but where did you get your degree and what in what discipline? We are about the same age and I have a BFA from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.

I got a degree in English as an undergraduate (without having read Moby Dick or the Faerie Queen!). I started out, by the way, as a math major at Pomona College in Claremont. My graduate degree is in art history, from the University of Kansas. The focus was on Asian art history, but since that time, I have undertaken a lot of reading and study of Western art, particularly, 19th century French, 17th century Italy. The travel to Europe, twice a year when I can, in the past ten years has encouraged my interest, though I do believe that museum going almost anywhere in Europe is a very dicey proposition, because of the age of mass tourism.

The smaller museums often offer a more enjoyable experience. The Vatican museums and the Louvre overwhelm. The Musee Delacroix, for example, or the Musee de la vie Romantique, are much more charming. Or the Musee des Beaux Arts in Nice, etc. Cocteau museum in Menton.

Anything to avoid the hordes of tourists, even if that means traveling in December. Though Paris at Noel apparently is one HUGE shopping event and that tourists love to go there for the lights.

The "Golden Age of Travel" was the 1970's, from all accounts. My first trip to Europe was in 1974 or 1975 when, I believe, Les Halles in Paris had not been demolished.

Hi, Denny. For your reading pleasure, consider Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series. (Link goes to Goodreads.)

Thank you, Donna. The temptation is to stick with Ruskin's "Stones of Venice" or Henry James. Or seeing Venice through the eyes of Sargent. It's good to update things somewhat or even a lot.