CAT BAUER

To the uninitiated, Venice is Piazza San Marco, crammed with foreigners reenacting scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds," a gaggle of pigeons feeding on their heads. Of all towns in Europe, Venice has the highest tourist-to-inhabitant ratio. Restaurants are pricey; hotel rates can be astronomical. But Venice is a parallel universe. There are two worlds that co-exist in the same place - the world of the tourists, and that of the Venetians. Behind the heavy wooden doors of the palazzi, or tucked into the calli of working-class neighborhoods, everyday Venetian life goes on.

One way to get behind the scenes is to rent an apartment. Wake up to the sound of laundry flapping across the corte, and brew your own coffee right on the stove. Wander over to the Rialto market and purchase a fish caught just that morning. Buy fresh vegetables grown on one of the local islands, then bring home your haul and try your hand in the kitchen. Have a glass of wine and eavesdrop on conversations in the neighborhood campo, where the undulating rhythm of the Venetian dialect echoes the ebb and flow of the water lapping in the lagoon.

Apartment choices vary widely, with everything from small, one-room studios equipped with a pull-out sofa bed, to an entire piano nobile furnished with antiques. Prices are generally lower than staying in a hotel, and even the smallest apartment is often larger than a hotel room - perfect for the independent traveler, or for families or groups traveling together.

There are tradeoffs, however. Due to the city's unique infrastructure and the difficulties of getting around, maid service is more likely to be once a week than every day, sometimes with an extra charge for sheets and towels. Some agencies will meet you and take you to your apartment, while others simply give you a key and map, then send you off into the labyrinth of Venetian streets and canals.

Piero Troi, a seventh-generation Venetian, is one of the owners of Flat and Business, a local real estate agency that specializes in short-term apartment rentals. "A street address in Venice is nearly impossible to find, since it is merely the sestiere, or district, followed by a number," said Mr. Troi. "For example, our address is Dorsoduro 3896, but the only person who knows how to find it is the postman. That's why we meet all our guests and take them to the apartment. Tourists understand that Venice is built on the water and that there are no cars, but many times they don't really grasp what that means. In most towns you can just take a taxi to your door, but unless you're renting a palazzo with a water door, you're going to be carrying luggage through winding streets and over a bridge or two. A water taxi can get you reasonably close, but they are expensive - about 150,000 lire. So, pack lightly and bring a suitcase on wheels."

American mystery writer M.D. Lake is a seasoned veteran when it comes to navigating the Venetian transportation system. He recently spent a month in an apartment in the Castello district. "I usually take the bus from the airport, not only because it's cheap and fast (about four thousand lire and 20 minutes), but because it drops me at Piazzale Roma, where I can either take a vaporetto down the Grand Canal to wherever I'm going, or walk. Either choice is a great way to wake up from a long flight and plunge into the rhythms of Venetian life. It helps, of course, if you've been to Venice before and know where you're going.

"By arrangement, I met Denise Corsili, the owner of VeniceRentals, in Campo Santa Maria Formosa at four o'clock, and she took me to my apartment. Denise is an American married to a Venetian, so she understands both cultures. Because I was renting for a longer period of time in the off-season, the price came out to be about 92 dollars a day for 31 days, and that included somebody who came in once a week and changed the bed linens and took away the dirty towels. The only time I needed to contact Denise after I moved in was when I discovered the kitchen had neither a cheese grater nor a bread knife - in Italy, yet! A bag containing one of each was hanging from my front door when I returned to the apartment that night."

Don't expect to step into Lord Byron's prior residence on the Grand Canal, however, for that price. "Like many apartments in Venice, there were windows only on the north and south sides, and these faced the walls of other buildings - so close that I could almost have reached out and touched them," Mr. Lake observed. "The décor reminded me of summer cabins in northern Minnesota, but with crucifixes on the walls instead of antlers. It was clean, though, and large - two bedrooms with a big new bathroom and a decent shower, and a functional kitchen. The beds were firm and comfortable, and that's all I cared about. Denise had explained that she had higher-end apartments available, but I liked that location. I spend as little time as possible in an apartment or hotel room when I'm in Venice. Also, it was only a minute's walk from one of Venice's liveliest campi, Santa Maria Formosa. And the apartment was far superior to one I'd rented several years ago, which, among other horrors, had a painting on the wall that featured Chinese men carrying a monkey tied to a bamboo pole through a forest, while other Chinese men were beating the monkey to death. My landlady assured me it was an old and very valuable painting, but as soon as she left, I draped a blanket over it."

Venetian terminology can also present cultural differences, according to Mr. Troi. "Our agency offers a wonderful apartment that sleeps four in the Castello district, private garden, fully restored with modern furniture in a 16th Century palazzo for about 165 dollars a night," he said. "It was one of the homes of the Querini family, part of the Venetian nobility. In our apartment description, we had literally translated the word 'palazzo' to 'palace.' Well, we had a family from San Francisco arrive, demanding to know where their palace was. They were thinking Buckingham Palace in England."

In ancient times, Venice was a Republic governed by a wealthy noble class that tried to out-do each other with the grandeur of their homes. The families lived, worked and entertained in their palaces. A typical palazzo was used as a warehouse, office and residence. Located on a canal, with an entrance hall that stretched from one end of the building to the other, the ground floor could be accessed by either land or water and was also used as a storehouse for goods such as wine, spices and fabric. An outside balcony highlighted the distinctive windows of the piano nobile, or noble floor, where entertaining took place. Nowadays, the palazzi have been divided up into hotels, offices, museums, and smaller apartments, although it's still possible to score the entire floor of a piano nobile - for a price.

Seven years ago, Nicolas Arnita bought and restored Palazzo Ca' Zanardi where he lives with his wife. "I can arrange a personalized, high-end vacation," Mr. Arnita said. "I had a client who wanted to surprise his wife with a romantic getaway. She worked for Christie's and was always working, always flying. He booked the entire piano nobile for just the two of them. They arrived at the water door by boat taxi, ate dinner in our fabulous music room accompanied by a baroque quartet. We also do weddings, conferences, and seminars. Some of the top businesses in the world such as Oracle and Olivetti have held their meetings at our palazzo. Negotiations between two telecommunication companies were conducted right here."

Sharon Campbell, a former health care worker who loves to travel, chose to rent an apartment because she got more for her money. "After a lot of research, I found I could stay in Venice much longer than I would have been able to in a hotel," she said. "The apartment I rented through House Deal Consulting was in Campo San Lorenzo. The price for a one bedroom was less than 1,700 dollars for two weeks, and it accommodated upto four people using the sofa bed in the living room. The first week there were four of us; the second week just two, which made it much more comfortable. The biggest disadvantage was not having an elevator since it was on the top floor. My mother counted the steps: 99. The apartment was what I would call the attic, or garret, though it didn't feel like an attic when you were inside. In the living room there were steps up to a large window which led to our little altana - the main reason I selected this particular apartment. I'm not one for heights but that view was amazing."

Altane are wooden terraces that pepper the rooftops of Venice. As far back as the 15th century, Venetian noblewomen donned white dresses and large hats without crowns, through which they pulled their hair; then armed with a bottle of lemon juice, they climbed up to the altana to lighten their tresses. Ms. Campbell discovered an alternative function for her altana. "We would spend our cocktail hour up there, soaking in the view, drinking wine and eating cheese. It was glorious, especially in the evening at sunset. We could see Piazza San Marco and the twilight playing on the domes of the Basilica, the Campanile, and the top of the Palazzo Ducale. Renting an apartment gave us an entirely different view of Venice."