As you’re walking down the streets of Venice, it’s easy to get lost. Main roads stretch their cobblestone arms into smaller streets and crooked alleyways. Rows of terracotta colored houses suddenly open up into tremendous piazzas. One wrong turn can lead you straight to the water’s edge. But, getting lost can also lead you to find the hidden gems that make Venice like no other place in the world.
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One of those hidden gems is Libreria Acqua Alta: a quirky bookshop tucked away in one of the city’s few quiet corners. But this isn’t just any old bookshop - this one sits right on the edge of a canal.
In Italian, acqua alta literally means "high water." The phrase describes the natural phenomenon that takes place when high tides force the Adriatic Sea into the Venetian Lagoon. The rise in sea levels during acqua alta is responsible for flooding the city’s famous canals.
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Libreria Acqua Alta was opened just over ten years ago by venetian Luigi Frizzo. Because of its location on the water, the bookshop truly lives up to its name. In fact, it’s possible to enter this unique store from the canal it sits on. But if you decided to leave your gondola at home for the day, don’t worry: You can enter this bookworm’s oasis from dry land.
If you’re coming from Piazza San Marco on your way to Libreria Acqua Alta, you can walk through Campo Santa Maria Formosa and take a side street (Calle Longa Santa Maria Formosa). When walking down this calle - the venetian-Italian word for “street” - you might miss the bookshop at first.
Once you finally turn yourself around in the right direction, Acqua Alta will magically appear in front of you. And after seeing its entrance, you’ll ask yourself how you managed to miss it in the first place.
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Books, postcards, maps and calendars seem to spill out of the libreria’s “front door” and onto a cobblestone courtyard outside. Tables in front of the store are piled high with posters just begging to be explored. If you’re lucky you might spot one of the bookstore’s resident cats roaming among the volumes and prints stacked outside - or taking a catnap in the shade.
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Stepping inside Acqua Alta is like being transported to a different world. The smell of antique books and fresh sea salt waft through the air, and books cover the walls all the way up to the ceiling. Here you’ll find new and used volumes from around the world. Medical journals, children’s novels, comic books, fiction and non-fiction in every language are squeezed onto long wooden shelves all over the room. No matter what you like to read, there’s something in Acqua Alta for everyone.
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But the star of the show is the extravagant gondola takes up the center of the main room. When you watch these long black boats pass underneath bridges on the canals they seem so small. But they’re actually huge - 35 feet long to be exact. Instead of floating down a canal, the gondola in the middle of Acqua Alta is overflowing with novels.
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On your way to the back of the main room keep your eye out for a door leading to a patio outside. Here, you’ll see something even more peculiar than a gondola out of water: a staircase made out of old books. The book staircase climbs high to the top of a wall where you can get a great view of the canal below. Journey to the top of this mountain of books and take a glimpse of Venice from a different perspective. Be sure to have someone snap your picture when you’re at the top!
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Before you leave explore one of the other rooms in the bookshop. Each room is home to its own collection - one of the rooms is dedicated to comic books, while another has a corner stocked full of cooking books. Most of these collections can be found in huge row boats - and even bathtubs - scattered around in each room.
Acqua Alta employee Frederica Pelazzi says her favorite part of the bookstore is the final room of the bookshop. Like most things in Acqua Alta, this room is easy to miss if you're not looking - but it's easily the most spectacular part of the store.
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Towards the back of the final room in the right corner, there's a large archway that leads directly into - you guessed it - a canal. The only thing between the shelves of books and the water is a wooden bar hanging in the door frame. If you want, you can grab a novel and make yourself comfortable on one of the few chairs sitting next to the canal. It's the perfect spot to skim through your new book while watching the gondolas go by.
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The store's reasonable prices make it the perfect spot to pick up some last-minute souvenirs. Towards the front of the store there's a great selection of postcards less than a dollar each! Even the brand-new hard cover books are well priced - you can buy this Italian version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for 11 euros.
Acqua Alta’s friendly staff makes walking through the bustling aisles of the bookshop feel more like visiting a warm Italian home. The two or so people working welcome tourists flooding into their store with grace. They’re eager to help you reach a book that’s too high or answer any questions you have about where to grab a good local lunch.
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Whether you’re there to buy a few souvenirs or just to wander among the bookshelves (and boats), Libreria Acqua Alta is a Venetian must-see. This literary labyrinth is a heavenly escape from the crowded streets of Venice. Grab a warm cappuccino and head inside to explore.
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