ABOVE: QuickVenice has a "mobile first" responsive layout that adapts to computer monitors, tablets, and smartphones for optimum display and quick page loading.

By Durant Imboden

Ever since 1997, Venice for Visitors has been what PC Magazine calls "the premier visitors' site for Venice, Italy." The site has provided in-depth information about Venice to millions of travelers over the years.

Recently, though, we realized--after 17 years--that some travelers don't want in-depth information:

• Maybe they're staying in Venice for only a day or two and just want to know the basics.
• Maybe they're browsing the Web with smartphones and need a phone-friendly experience.
• Or maybe they simply aren't as enthusiastic about reading and researching trips as we are.

With those thoughts in mind, Cheryl and I came up with an idea for a new site: "Quick Venice," using the theme "All the basics for shorter trips."

The site is now live, and it offers 75 pages of practical, useful, personally-researched information under the headings of:

• Introducing Venice
• Deciding where to stay
• Arriving and getting around
• Sightseeing and excursions
• Venice for cruise passengers
• Practical advice and warnings

Each page has a small photo, just enough text to convey the required facts or advice, and links to in-depth Venice for Visitors articles or other resources when needed.

The site is built around a "mobile first" responsive layout that adapts to displays on desktop computers, laptops, large or small tablets, and smartphones.

It's designed for quick loading, and for even faster display times, the pages are cached and served from 23 regional data centers around the world.

We hope you'll take a look at the new site. Even if you prefer the in-depth approach of Venice for Visitors, you may find that QuickVenice is perfect for use when you're browsing the Web on a smartphone or with a sluggish hotel Wi-Fi connection.

You'll find QuickVenice at:

quickvenice.com

Venice's Caffè Florian is one of the oldest coffeehouses in Italy: It was founded in 1720, nearly four decades before the collapse of the Venetian Republic, and it has long been popular with well-heeled tourists who are willing to pay stratospheric prices for historic atmosphere.

Along with Caffè Quadri and Caffè Lavena, its rivals on the Piazza San Marco, Caffè Florian offers live outdoor music to its customers and passersby in decent weather. Guests at Florian's tables pay a whopping six-euro surcharge for music, but tourists who are just wandering through the square can enjoy the "Dueling Orchestras" for free.

In the video below, you'll see and hear the Caffè Florian's musicians playing on their bandstand overlooking the Piazza. (Note the middle-aged waiter on the left at the beginning of the video, who resembles the late Ed McMahon in his Johnny Carson Tonight Show days.)

Venice is one of Southern Europe's leading cruise ports, and many readers of this blog and our travel-planning site, Venice for Visitors, have booked cruises in or out of Venice.

If you're among the cruisers who'll  be visiting Venice this year or next, we recommend taking a look at our Venice cruise videos, which show 16 cruise ships cruising up the Giudecca Canal or in St. Msark's Basin on their way to the Adriatic and points beyond. To see the clips, which are hosted by YouTube, click:

Venice for Visitors: Venice Cruise Videos

We also suggest reading our cruise-related articles at Venice for Visitors, which include:

Venice Cruise Terminal (Port of Venice)

Venice Cruise Port Transportation: Getting to Your Ship

Venice Cruise Terminal Hotels

For general Venice travel information, go to the home page of Veniceforvisitors.com.

Finally, for information on cruise lines and cruise reviews (such as an in-depth review of an MSC Eastern Mediterranean cruise from Venice), see our European cruising site, Europeforcruisers.com.