Libreria Acqua Alta
Venice, Italy
This is probably what Heaven looks like to any true book-lover.
A Book-lover’s Dream
By pure luck, I found this beautiful bookstore while wandering the many small alleyways of Venice. It was a wonderful experience suddenly discovering this unique book haven situated in the heart of the city.
Inside the store, there are thousands of books displayed in endless rows on shelves and bookcases. Books are also stored inside bathtubs, gondolas, and barrels scattered throughout the shop. Since Venice is infamously known for yearly flooding, the bookstore owners decided that the safest way to store their books was to simply store them in water resistant vessels. This is not only a smart solution to their problem, but it creates a uniquely creative athestic that cannot be found or replicated anywhere else in the world.
This bookstore is truely the best travel discovery I have every made by accident.
The Ultimate Bookstore
At Libreria Acqua Alta, you can buy all sorts of literary pieces including books, poems, textbooks, postcards, and much more. While visiting the store, I managed to picked up a hundred-year-old copy of Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. It felt like the most suiting book to purchase while in the Italian city.
Inside the bookstore, there is even a seating area that is surrounded by shelves filled with old, often water-damaged books. Theses aged books create the authentic bookstore smell that instantly makes any book-lover feel at ease and ready to sit down, open up a new book, and start reading for hours.
Staircase to Literary Heaven
After you have entered the store and browsed their beautiful collection, head to the very back of the bookstore (towards the canal). You will then be confronted with a glorious staircase made entirely out of books! Visitors can walk up the staircase, snap a memorable photo, and enjoy the wonderful view of the canal from the top. If you’re lucky, you might even catch an infamous gondola rowing by you.
Not surprisingly, this is a very popular spot for Instagram lovers, travellers, and families trying to get the perfect vacation photo while in Venice.
Not to mention, the bookstore is a pretty great date spot with your partner.
Hope you have time to check out this amazing bookstore during your next trip to Venice! If you’re interested in some travel-related books, click HERE.
Safe travels,
Carina
Location of Bookstore