Editor's Note: Dreaming of Venice

New York between Thanksgiving and the December holidays is the best time of year. Store windows are alive with festive decorations, and the interiors of major stores are a sight to behold. If you’re in Midtown, be sure to check out the main floor of Bergdorf Goodman (above). It’s all done in white, as if a fresh snow has fallen. Winter wonderland, indeed.

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Now, a couple of bonus weekend treats for one and all:

What I watched this week and loved—The Good Mothers. This 2023 Italian miniseries centers on women who tried to escape the violent abuse of husbands and fathers in the Calabrian mafia. The drama stars Gaia Girace, who played the young Lila in My Brilliant Friend. A special thanks to Peter Saenger. (Hulu)

Here’s the trailer…

What I miss this time of year—Venice. The city in the winter is spectacular, especially around the holidays. For years, my wife and I spent Thanksgiving in Venice, and one year we went between the day after Christmas and New Year’s Day.

There’s nothing more dramatic than taking a private water taxi from Marco Polo Airport to your hotel in Venice. The city is magical in December, the food tastes better and it’s much less touristy.

Here are four videos that make me wish I was there now, and you’ll likely feel the same. If only we could be emailed there in seconds via a Zip folder. We’d just need someone on the other end to double-click to let us out.

Here’s the water taxi ride from Marco Polo Airport to Venice in the evening…

The water taxi trip by day…

Christmas in Venice…

And New Year’s Eve in Venice…

Here’s the opening in Venice of the 1962 film Eva, starring Jeanne Moreau and featuring Michel Legrand’s score…

Herb Geller—here’s an hour and change with Herb Geller and Italian jazz pianist Roberto Magris in 2009…