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<\/p>\nDame Emma Thompson memorably once referred to Britain as a ‘a tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island’. Now, she plans to move to warmer climes, I hear.<\/p>\n
The Oscar winner has said she wants to ‘settle in Venice’ after revealing she is spending increasing amounts of time in the Italian city.<\/p>\n
Dame Emma said she had dreamed of living in Venice since childhood and was now spending a minimum of two months a year there.<\/p>\n
For the time being, family ties mean she maintains a permanent base in Britain, but she plans to ‘settle’ in Venice. She says: ‘Since I was a child I have dreamed of living in a magical place like Venice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, I have realised my dream. I have moved into a house in the city and when I can, I spend at least two or three months there. And, in the meantime, I’m studying Italian, which I want to know and speak as best as possible.’<\/p>\n
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Weather: Dame Emma Thompson (pictured) once referred to Britain as ‘a tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island’<\/p>\n
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Actor: The Oscar winner has said she wants to ‘settle in Venice’ after revealing she’s spending more time in the Italian city<\/p>\n
Speaking to Italian publication Il Gazzettino, she declares: ‘I still live in London, in the same street as my children and my mother, who is 91 years old and needs me, but my greatest desire is to settle in Venice for the whole year. Meanwhile, I’m happy to be able to enjoy the city for at least a couple of months.’<\/p>\n
Dame Emma, 64, adds that she loves the fish market in Venice and is ‘crazy for Venetian and Italian food in general’.<\/p>\n
She gushes: ‘Venice is not only a special city, the Venetians are too, they have a unique character. And I also understood why: the Venetians know what resilience is, they know how to resist everything.’<\/p>\n
She was speaking in Venice while attending the Diane von Furstenberg Awards on the island of San Giorgio.<\/p>\n
Earlier she had faced accusations of hypocrisy after appearing on board a luxurious \u00a3200million super yacht owned by Fox News Founder Barry Diller and his wife, the fashion designer Von Furstenberg.<\/p>\n
Critics contrasted the luxury vessel with her appearance onboard a boat dumped in Oxford Circus as part of an XR climate protest in 2019.<\/p>\n
Three years ago, she became an honorary citizen of Venice along with her husband, the actor Greg Wise, 57, who played the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma in Netflix hit The Crown.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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