The Venetian Macao

This guide to The Venetian Macao follows Ruggiero, a gondolier who left the real Venice for a job poling boats through indoor canals under a painted sky that never changes. It traces how the resort's stretch of Cotai was built from dredged seabed and over a thousand concrete pilings before opening in 2007, and it introduces Renzo, another transplanted gondolier, and the moment his singing moved a stranger. Along the way you'll walk the three canals and hear what an entirely artificial Venice can still make real.