Jasper Sharp: Having taken the decision to make the place my home in 2000, I was a little surprised to discover that there are in fact two cities in northern Italy called Venice. On the face of it, they have much in common, and topographically speaking might be twins. In each case more than 400 bridges span 28 miles of canals to connect a jigsaw of 118 different islands, on whose sodden belly a succession of intrepid architects took turns to embellish a smorgasbord of architectural flamboyance unsurpassed in the history of the western world.

Images of both cities are seared on mankind's collective consciousness, the pigeons and their palaces each contributors to what has been referred to as a "shared inheritance". The two, you think, might be as one. I did, and millions still do. Only the luxury of a prolonged encounter has proven me wrong. These are, I now know, two very different cities.