Venice may often seem metaphorically drowned under a sea of tourists at the height of summer, and even the landmark Piazza San Marco is often literally drowned during the flood tides, but there is no denying that La Serenissima (The Divine Republic) is an epic, unique and unforgettable city.

Venice has the capacity to impress not only goggle-eyed first timers, but also the most jaded of travellers. It is unlike anywhere else on the planet, with a collage of 116 islands connected by 409 bridges, where cars are banned and everyone, including postmen and the police, goes by boat.

The city of the Doges
History is writ large in this north-eastern Italian city and when visitors ease through the morning mists on empty canals, with grandiose buildings rising up on all sides, it is easy to slip back through the centuries, to the time of the Doges - the omnipotent rulers, whose influence spread well beyond the Venetian Lagoon.

Away from the main tourist throng, another Venice appears, with narrow canals, women hanging out their washing and small osterias (bars) where locals, for once, outnumber tourists.

Avoid summer
In the intense heat of a Mediterranean summer, the city can just get too much and the pressure from tourism immense. This was recognised by the local mayor, who in 2008 instigated plans to cut visitor numbers, as well as banning picnics, banishing pigeon feed sellers from St Mark's Square and imposing harsh penalties for dropping litter as part of an ‘Urban Decorum' drive.

The city's citizens have endured flooded basements for decades, wearing Wellington boots to navigate Venice's waterlogged streets during acqua alta (high waters), and there has been chronic damage to some of its most impressive buildings. But finally something is also being done to shore up Venice: the ‘Moses Project' has come to save the day after years of political struggles, though its completion date is as unpredictable as those high tides.

Perhaps the last word on Venice should be left to one of her most illustrious patrons, Henry James: ‘Dear old Venice has lost her complexion, her figure, her reputation, her self-respect; and yet, with it all, has so puzzlingly not lost a shred of her distinction'.