I woulnd’t, but there is so much more to blame them for -as you mention, the general (without generalzing) lack of intuition, of genuine curiosity for the place, of being travelers rather than a flock of sheep. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Electronic sound experiments sit snugly alongside fine-tuned club constructions and good old fashioned pop music, some fresh and some dug out of forgotten hard drives. Gavin Fuller is head of the Telegraph library, responsible for maintaining that newspaper s archive. The palazzi that rise up on either side of the street prove that it has long been a respectful, noble street.

Oh I do love this comment Molly, and your take on it – stopping to savour the moment, slowing down, it’s a real art form these days isn’t it? Stayed in an apartment near the lovely Mercato Sant’Ambrogio (wonderful neighborhood), ended up doing a cooking class near Piazza della Passera, which we stumbled upon at night–charming and romantic, oh and on top of that ate a few lunches of Gusta Pizza on the steps of the church by Via Santo Spirito, and had a lovely meal at a restaurant there as well…loved being anywhere that tourists were not…thanks for the suggestions! D. Salinger, through prescient warnings about the threat posed to the English skyline by office blocks,.On the other hand, Venice somehow has been able to defend itself from the general invasion, so that you can still find corners of it which are movingly beautiful and fairly deserted, especially in the fall, when tourists retire and the city becomes suddenly silent, and at night, almost bare. Don’t forget to turn around and look at the view of Florence’s red rooftops and steeples or the countryside that seems to have suddenly creeped up on you. By turns eccentric, wistful and polemical, Betjeman's writing for the Telegraph gave voice to this unease.

I grew up in Venice (we moved there from NYC, quite a cultural shock) and it was the best place for a child to live. Via Santo Spirito: Between the Ponte alla Carraia and Ponte Santa Trinita, one block in from the river is this short and elegant street. The times I’ve enjoyed Venice best though have been in the cold, damp, foggy autumns and winters, that sort of cold that seeps right into your bones and leaves your feet numb (always a good excuse to pop into a bacaro at that point to warm up! Especially after living in Florence (I think it must be a side effect) I have always tried to do this when travelling in places I’ve never been before. In 1951 'The Catcher in the Rye' and 'The Day of The Triffids' were afforded a single paragraph in The Telegraph.

This may have been considered quite informative at the time but to a modern audience it feels unnecessary when Wikipedia is so easily accessible.