Italy's most romantic city is the perfect place to take your Valentine – or get into the carnival spirit, says William Cook.

Benetton Treviso 20 Saracens 26

I'm tasting savoury food all day, so at home I crave sweet'

Conversazioni I presents a programme of baroque pieces reflecting the patronage of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, a well-connected young Venetian related to Pope Alexander VII who chose to indulge his passion for music through copious commissions of Albinoni, Handel, and both Scarlattis.

Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Venice

Scotland 21 Italy 8

Serves 4

Shona Main in Padua

A new exhibition of Venetian paintings by Canaletto and other artists shimmers with beauty. But look closer and there are signs of a city in decline, says Michael Glover

Treviso 29 Leicester 34

Having drained London dry, Ackroyd has found a juicy new topic on the Adriatic. In this ironically titled study, La Serenissima gains an Ackroydian gloss, familiar to the many fans of his London: A Biography. Ackroyd's Venice is "the home of the dispossessed and the deracinated".

Italy's federalist and powerful Northern League, not content with demands for more local political autonomy, now wants freedom from the tyranny of national weather forecasts.

Venice has had to endure much over the ages: invading armies, constant floods and marauding tourists. But the evocative lagoon port has drawn the line at the latest assault – the arrival of fibreglass gondolas.