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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Drama / Human Interest
- Subject: Character Based
- Published: 10/01/2025
Encounter In Venice.
Born 1948, F, from Essex, United KingdomEncounter in Venice
Aggie and Emilio were in their mid-50s. Aggie was having a break in Italy, Emilio lived in Venice and liked to say that he lives in a Palacio overlooking the Grand canal. In reality he lives in a small apartment.
They have yet to meet.
Aggie decided she needed a short break. Her job as a social worker was not the easiest. She just felt she needed to step away from a great deal of human misery that she inevitably saw in her work.
She had always been a bit sniffy about Venice seeing it as a mass tourist trap and thought it couldn’t be as fantastic as everyone said. Despite friends asking why on earth she didn’t book somewhere in Venice, she booked for the nearby city of Treviso thinking she could just take a day trip to Venice, and maybe take a train up to the Dolomite mountains.
Now she sat on the balcony of her rented Airbnb and enjoyed all she could see. To the right was a rather dilapidated villa and she watched the people living there going about their daily business. If she looked straight ahead, she could just see the Dolomites, and to her left were some local shops.
She had already explored the city centre which she found beautiful, and she had booked a train ticket to Venice for that afternoon.
Aggie set off around 3 o clock thinking she could visit Venice, have an early evening meal and then back to Treviso. Then she would be able to tell family and friends that she had seen Venice.
As the train pulled across the long bridge towards Venice, she could see it rising out of the sea. The train pulled into the station and she walked towards the exit. It brought her out onto the Grand Canal, and once there she stood dead still.
‘Wow’ she thought ‘that is amazing’, as she gazed at the stunning, stunning view.
‘I think I’m going to have to rethink my opinion’.
She set off to explore, hopping on and off vaporettos at relevant points. She was truly amazed at the beauty, the history, the scenes that looked exactly like the Canaletto paintings she had seen in the National Gallery.
Around 6pm, she found herself in St Mark’s Square. It was quiet now and she walked over to a café and ordered a coffee. When it came with the bill, she nearly fell off her chair. A coffee in Treviso was a third of the price.
As she sat sipping and gazing at the beauty around her, a man wandered over and sat at the next table. ‘Bongiorno’ he nodded.
Aggie noddded back.
He ordered his coffee and then turned to her.
‘Visiting? How do find Venice?’
‘I’m delighted by it. It’s stunning’.
He smiled and reached across to shake her hand ‘Emilio’ he said.
‘Aggie’ she replied.
Emilio looked puzzled.
‘It’s short for Agatha, my mum was a huge fan of Agatha Christie’.
Emilio smiled at her in a tolerant way.
While they chatted, Aggie noted that Emilio was dressed beautifully. Jeans, a crisp white shirt with an expensive jumper slung over his shoulders. ‘Bet it’s cashmere’ she thought. He was a pleasant looking man probably in his late 40s.
They chatted easily together until she paid for her coffee and stood up to leave. She was surprised when he quickly paid too and said: ‘I’ll walk a little way with you’. As they walked along the canal, he casually pointed to a building across the water. It was a palacio looking in need of repair.
‘That’s mine’ he pointed ‘would you like to come over and see inside?’
Aggiie looked at him and something inside of her said ‘No’.
Not wishing to seem rude she answered ‘Sorry, I have to be back in Treviso. I’m dining with friends’.
‘I thought you said you’d come alone’.
‘Yes. Yes, these are people I met on my guided tour. Arrivederci’. And she wandered off across the bridge.
Turning to look back, she saw Emilio wander along the canal until he came to another café. There was a lone female sitting outside. She saw him take a seat at the next table, then turn and speak, and then shake her hand.
‘Right’ she thought ‘that’s how he operates….Always trust your instincts’. She smiled to herself as she watched. ‘I’ve met a gigolo’
Aggie wandered along to the station, looking in wonder at the beauty that was Venice. It was quiet now as the tourists had ebbed away. Sitting on the train back to Treviso, she looked at her phone to see a WhatsApp message from her work mates: ‘How’s it going?’
She typed in a reply: ‘I’m having a great time, love Treviso and have totally changed my mind about Venice. It’s glorious, Everywhere is a Canaletto painting!! Have had an ‘encounter’ with a louche Italian gent today. Think he wanted his wicked way with me! But I dodged that bullet and watched him sauntering along to his next victim’.
As she travelled back on the train to Treviso, Aggie smiled to her herself’
‘Well, that certainly wasn’t boring. What an adventure!’
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