Venice! One of the Most Fascinating Cities In The World!

Venice is a city built on water!

416 bridges

200 canals

118 islands

Speaking of the Grand Canal, what is it, exactly? Well, it's a large canal that snakes through Venice, dividing it into two. Venetians call it the Canalazzo.

Venice is actually divided into six sections or districts: Castello, San Marco, Cannaregio, Dorosduro, San Polo, and Santa Croce. Each section is called a sestiere. Three of these sestieri (plural for sestiere) are located above one side of the giant S shaped canal, and the other three are below it.

If we are going to say that Italy is in the shape of a boot, we have to also admit that Venice is in the shape of a fish. The Grand Canal winds only through the head of the fish.

There are four bridges crossing the Grand Canal.

1. The Ponte dell' Accademia was originally built in the 1800's out of iron, and later rebuilt in wood. It's located a little behind where the mouth of the fish would be.

The Ponte di Rialto

2. The Ponte di Rialto, the oldest bridge crossing the Grand Canal, on the other hand was originally built out of wood and then rebuilt out of stone in the late 1500's! This bridge is located near the back of the fish's head.

3. The Ponte degli Scalzi is located about where the eye of the fish would be. Scalzi means barefoot in Italian. This bridge gets it's name from a nearby church (The Church of the Scalzi) which was built by friars who wore sandals with no socks even in the winter!

4. The Ponte di Calatrava connects Venice with the train station. It's the most recent bridge to be built over the Grand Canal. You can see a picture of it in the section above entitled, "Venice: A City Built On Water."

There are no cars, no trucks, no motorcycles, and basically no bikes. What would life be like if you had to walk most places?

In the part of the US where I live, most people drive their cars to the store or to work. If we pass someone in a car that we know, we might beep the horn and wave, but then we have to move on or risk irritating the traffic behind us! But in Venice, there are no cars to get in the way. Venetians walking home with a loaf of bread or a small cart of groceries often come face to face with the people they know. It's much easier for them to stop and chat a few minutes, rather than driving on past with just a quick wave as a greeting!

I won't say Venice is alone in this friendly and relaxed way of life though! Many small villages all over Europe have outdoor markets that spring up in the morning and then are gone by lunch. Cars aren't usually allowed in these areas, which means that once again everyone walks, often taking time to stop and chat with those they know.

There are no huge malls or superstores in Venice either. Don't expect to find a Walmart or Target there!

Even though there are no cars in Venice, there are some paved alleys, streets, and plazas. Not everything is water!

The Piazzo San Marco is a large paved area located near the mouth of the Grand Canal.

Photo Credit: Eustaquio Santimano/ CC BY 2.0

There were pigeons EVERYWHERE in the Piazza San Marco! Don't believe me? Check out the photo below!

The Piazza San Marco, also known as St. Mark's Square, is surrounded by many buildings, including the Basilica di San Marco (a church).

The Basilica-di-San-Marco in Piazza San Marco

Winged lions can be found all over Venice. Quite a number of them exist in the Piazzo San Marco, including the two pictured here. In the photo above, St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice, can be found to the left of the lion. This is, of course, the same St. Mark that Piazzo San Marco (St. Mark's Square) and the Basilica-di-San-Marco are named after.

If the book in the lion's front paws is open, peace reigned over Venice at the time that lion was made. If, on the other hand, the book was closed, that means Venice was at war then.

Children often love to make a game out of searching for the winged lions!

Carnival used to last for almost six months out of every year! A big part of Carnival was wearing masks and disguises which allowed the Venetians a chance to interact with others of every social class without being identified. Large stages were set up in Piazza San Marco and other places around Venice, and entertainment abounded, from balls to parties, theater shows to carnival games, fireworks to mimes, acrobats, jugglers, and musicians!

But that came to the end in the late 1700's, by the rule of Napoleon.

In 1979, Carnival was brought back to Venice. Instead of almost six months, it now lasts about 11 or 12 days, taking place during February and sometimes the beginning of March. But entertainment, along with costumes and masks, is still the emphasis!

There were lots of stands around selling everything from Venetian gondolier shirts, to miniature carnival masks, to teddy bears wearing gondolier shirts, to decorated bags sporting images of Venice, even marionette puppets.

I bought very little in Europe (feeling we were spending enough just on food and trains and hotels!), but we did buy a few souvenirs of Venice, since we all loved Venice so dearly! You can see some of what we bought farther down this page.

We stayed at a Hilton Hotel in Venice. You can see it across the water in the photo above. The shuttle bus that carried us back and forth from the small island where our hotel was to the main part of Venice can be seen in the foreground.

See the tiny arched bridge that crosses a small canal right before the hotel? As we were coming down those steps, a couple of us even bumping our suitcases down the stairs - as gently as we could mind you, a bellboy from the hotel came out to meet us and help us with our bags. Believe me, this was greatly appreciated, as Venice was one of our very last stops during a three week trip to Europe, and we were getting pretty tired of lugging those suitcases around by then! Even though much (but not all) of our luggage had wheels, there are tons and tons of steps to go up and down for those who ride the Eurail around Europe and carrying suitcases up and down all those steps can get old in a hurry!

Here's the view from our hotel across the water to the main part of Venice.

On top of our hotel, right on the roof, was a swimming pool. The walls above the roof (that surrounded the pool) were clear, so as we swam we could look out on Venice. It felt so amazing to be there, swimming in the water, while looking out at Venice!

As mentioned above, we didn't buy too many souvenirs in Europe (but we made up for that in taking pictures!!!), yet we did buy several things from Venice.

My kids each bought a plain white mask, which they decorated with paints once they got home. I purchased a Needle Point bag with Mark's Square on it. My husband purchased a black and white striped gondolier's shirt.

The fire mask, made by my son, is not quite done yet.



The music mask was made by my daughter.



The needlepoint on this bag is of St. Mark's Square.

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Page last updated 2/17/12.