What is there about Italy that so captures the imagination? Part of it is the sense of history you feel wandering through cobblestone alleys crossed by bridges connecting the second floors of two opposing buildings. Part of it is the glory of the Italian countryside, the antiquity all about you, the noisy exuberance of the Italian people. Italy is the liquidity of her language, her sensuous food, the songs from gondolas passing under your hotel room at night, the old woman in Venice who feeds stray cats, the glittering lakes, the sense that the glorious voice of Luciano Pavarotti is about to ring out....

But, for us, so much of the glory of Italy is Venice, one of our favorite cities in the world.

Below are images of Italy (no, not all of them Venice)—not the usual photographs you'll see in a tourist guidebook, but part of Mimi's more personal vision of Italy.

Venice by night is even more beautiful than Venice by day....

But as beautiful as Venice is—as beautiful as all of Italy is—here's a confession. The most exciting part of our visit was attending the Moscow Circus in Milan!