"Sin is in, sweetie, " a poster declares, borrowing a line from Absolutely Fabulous, the lowbrow British TV comedy that features a couple of booze hounds who love to shop.

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My short walk home passes a small, rather dingy square, the graffiti-covered Piazza San Apollonia, where a disused butcher's shop, an ironmongers and a tiny comedy theatre are all that remain of the final act in this famous love affair.

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"Das Liebesverbot" ("The Ban on Love, " 1836) translates Shakespeare's misanthropic comedy "Measure for Measure" into a kind of Teutonic bel canto.

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Continue towards Campo di Santa Maria del Giglio, an area just west of the Piazza San Marco, where Woody Allen stalked Julia Roberts in the light-hearted comedy Everyone Says I Love You, then turn north to the theatre Teatro La Fenice and the nearby Ponte Maria Callas bridge, dedicated to American-born Greek opera singer Maria Callas who debuted at the theatre in 1947.

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