This was no ordinary Italian railway station, for beyond its doors lay the mazelike waterways and intricately linked walkways and pedestrian bridges of the old Republic of Venice.

Note the red banner hanging from the Rialto Bridge, advertising the Biennale di Venezia.

Here, indeed, is where hyper-impressionism comes fully untethered from its rational moorings and you can waste an entire roll of film just getting to your hotel room.