HANLEY, ANNE

Exquisite and unique, La Serenissima is anything but serene these days, and efforts to shrug off the city's artistic theme park status are apparent on many fronts. Some of the architecture world's top names are working on exciting new projects; long-standing hoteliers are being forced out of their exorbitant complacency by a rash of newcomers; and a born-again community of sophisticated urban artisans is demanding (and creating) parallel eating, drinking and entertainment scenes rarely impinged upon by the ever-present tourist hordes. Even the art scene is being shaken up. The 2006 reopening of Palazzo Grassi - refurbished by Tadao Ando for French billionaire owner Francois Pinault - now poses a serious challenge with its top-level shows; and when Pinault moves his extraordinary permanent collection of contemporary works into premises on the Punta della Dogana, Venice is set to become one of Europe's contemporary art capitals.

Estimated despatch 14-20 days after ordering.