It was definitely cool but we went in August and it was hot and smelly (the waterways get smelly in the heat). Pretty crowded as well.
Don't get me wrong I still enjoyed and had a nice time, just not in love like the rest of the people here (which usually happens when Dan loves something)
And Chabad had well over 800 people and they were not equipped to handle that many people (and I had yet to learn to bring extra food for shabbos just in case)
Give me a break.
I went in May and didn't make a secret of that. There were no smells, the temperature was very mild, and there weren't more than 100 tourists. And people loved Venice before 2010
Obviously if you go to a place in the very peak of seasons you're not going to have a good experience, especially a place without the infrastructure to handle so many tourists, and especially when the weather isn't optimal in that season. That goes for the city and the shuls/restaurants in it.
If you read Inferno, Dan Brown talks about the summer tourists murdering the city...