Venice

Introduction

La Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, captivating city of canals and palaces - or merely a floating rip-off merchant bursting with tourists... Call her what you will, Venice is simply unique. For a thousand years the city led an independent existence as one of the most enduring mercantile sea powers in history. Today the brilliance and influence have long since faded, leaving a town of tarnished glories that's out of time and out of place, so achingly beautiful and complete it's hard not to look for evidence of props. If you get caught up in the never-ending flow of visitors tramping the narrow main thoroughfares it can be the epitome of hell. Step off the main drag, however, and you'll discover the subdued, shabby charm of the real Venice, whose baroque backstreet churches are framed by lines of washing flapping in the breeze.

There's no denying that the proud city of the winged lion is slowly expiring, attacked by submergence, neglect and pollution. Rationally speaking she shouldn't exist at all. Venice is too small and her attractions too dainty to cope with the mass tourism she receives year in, year out. The preservation of her crumbling monuments and churches is almost an industry; the debate on how to stem the Adriatic floods is never ending; and the battle to clean the lagoon of toxic petrochemical waste is highlighted by media reports on building subsidence and rotting foundations. Venice will have to pull a pretty good stunt to survive, but love her or loathe her, life without her is utterly unthinkable.

Orientation

Venice is built on 117 small islands, and has some 150 canals and 409 bridges (only three of which cross the Grand Canal). The historic centre is divided into six sestieri (quarters): San Marco, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Santa Croce, Cannaregio and Castello. It covers a deceptively small area (7.6 sq km/3 sq mi) - if you don't get lost (which you will!), walking from Cannaregio in the northwest to Dorsoduro in the south should take only 30 minutes. The city's 'main street' is the Grand Canal, which passes each of the districts as it twists along the length of Venice from the railway station to San Marco.

Venice goes well beyond the six sestieri. The shallow waters of the Laguna Veneta are dotted by a crumbling mosaic of islands, including Murano, Burano and Torcello. Acting as a breakwater to the east is the long and slender Lido di Venezia, stretching south for some 10km (6mi) to the similarly narrow Pellestrina. This in turn dribbles down to the sleepy mainland town of Chioggia, marking the southernmost point of the lagoon. Spreading inland from the Laguna Veneta is the rather humdrum industrial town of Mestre, where the day-to-day 'life' of the city increasingly takes place. Mestre's southern half is occupied by Porto Marghera and its massive shipping docks.

Marco Polo airport lies east of Mestre. The train station, Stazione di Santa Lucia, is in the northwest of town, at the end of the Ponte della Libertà. The bus station is on the opposite (southern) side of the Grand Canal in Piazzale Roma. Cheap(er) accommodation is found in the vicinity of the railway station, and of course the priciest places line the Grand Canal and San Marco. When dining out steer clear of the station and San Marco, and head into the backstreets of Cannaregio, Santa Croce, San Polo and Castello instead.

When to Go

It's almost always high season in Venice, although the city is busiest in spring (Easter-June) and Sept-Oct. Accommodation can be hard to find then, as well as around Christmas-New Year and Carnevale (February). Like Italy's other great tourist hubs, Venice is at its worst in high summer (June-August): it's crowded, oppresively hot and sticky. The most pleasant time of year to visit is late March into May, with clear spring days and comparatively fewer crowds. September is the next best in terms of weather, but October is quieter. Flooding occurs in November and December, and winter can be unpleasantly cold - but seeing Venice under snow is the stuff of fairy tales.

Events

The year kicks off with the Regatta delle Befane, the first of the lagoon city's 100-plus regattas, held on 6 January (Epiphany). The major event of the Venetian calendar is February's bewigged, bemasked and berobed Carnevale, the event that's spawned a million pastel postcards of pierrots and columbines looking unduly pensive. In May there's the Festa della Sensa (Feast of the Ascension), when Venice celebrates the Sposalizio del Mar (Wedding with the Sea). The Venezia Biennale arts fest is held every odd-numbered year in June in the pavilions of the Giardini Pubblici. July's Festa del Redentore is another highlight, with a regatta and fireworks festival. The Venice International Film Festival, Italy's version of Cannes, is held annually in August at the Palazzo del Cinema on the Lido. The Regatta Storica in September is a historic gondola race along the Grand Canal that's well worth catching. November's Festa della Madonna della Salute procession crosses the Grand Canal via a bridge of boats.

Venice's public holidays include Liberation Day (25 April), Labour Day (1 May), the Feast of the Assumption (15 August), All Saints' Day (1 November) and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (8 December).

Attractions

St Mark's has to be one of the most spectacular houses of worship in the world, attesting to the Venetian Republic's former maritime and commercial might. Adorned with an incredible array of plundered treasures, the seething mass of domes and arches was modelled on Constantinople's Church of the Twelve Apostles and consecrated in 1094. The basilica is famous for its golden mosaics, particularly those above the doorways in the facade and decorating the interior domes. The interior is indeed dazzling: if you can take your eyes off the glitter of the mosaics, take time to admire the 12th-century marble pavement.

The basilica's many treasures include the gleaming Pala d'Oro altarpiece of gold, enamel and precious jewels. The Tesoro (Treasury) contains most of the booty from the 1204 raid on Constantinople, including a thorn said to have come from the crown worn by Christ. On the loggia above the main door are copies of the delightful prancing horses that were also hijacked from Constantinople (the gilded-bronze originals are on display inside). The basilica's 10th-century campanile collapsed without warning on 14 July 1902, and was rebuilt brick by brick over the following 10 years. Take the lift to the top for some fabulous views over the rooftops and lagoon.

Napoleon dubbed St Mark's Square the 'finest drawing room in Europe', and visitors and pigeons alike have been flocking here for centuries to strut and crow. The square has a constant carnival atmosphere, thanks to the cacophony of the ceaseless parade, the duelling cafe orchestras of Florian and Quadri, and the hourly clanking of the bronze Mori (Moors) as they strike the bell of the 15th-century Torre dell'Orologio. Now that most visitors arrive in Venice via the railway station, the magical symbolism of the waterside Piazzetta San Marco has to a great extent been lost. The piazzetta's two columns bear emblems of the city's patron saints: the winged lion of St Mark and the figure of St Theodore. St Mark's Square is one of the lowest parts of the city, and so is always the first to be covered in water when the acqua alta (high tide) arrives - a magical sight on a moonlit night!

The Piazzetta San Marco is overlooked by the exquisite Palazzo Ducale, for centuries the city's political heart. The pink and white Venetian Gothic fantasy housed the doge, the many arms of government and a couple of prisons. The doge's first-floor apartments are followed by a succession of increasingly grandiose state rooms on the second floor, including the Sala delle Quattro Porte (design by Palladio, paintwork by Titian and Tintoretto), the Anticollegio (four Tintorettos and Veronese's Rape of Europa), the Sala del Collegio (yet more Veroneses and Tintorettos), culminating in the immense Sala del Maggiore Consiglio (featuring Tintoretto's Paradiso, one of the world's largest oil paintings, and Veronese's Apotheosis of Venice). A trail of corridors leads you to the small, enclosed Ponte dei Sospiri(Bridge of Sighs), which crosses from the palace into the New Prisons. Breathe a sigh of relief and exit from the main entrance, the gloriously Gothic Porta della Carta.

The Gallerie dell'Accademia houses Venice's single most important art collection, brilliantly illustrating the progression of Venetian art from the 14th to 18th centuries. The art tour kicks off in the meeting hall of the Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Carità, the oldest of the Scuole Grandi (Venice's six major lay confraternities). The highlights here are Paolo Veneziano's Coronation of Mary and Carpaccio's altarpiece Crucifixion and Apotheosis. The next rooms house brilliant works by Giovanni Bellini, in particular his Madonna with Child Between Saints Catherine and Mary Magdalen, and Giorgione's mysterious Tempest. Works by Titian are followed by Lorenzo Lotto's Portrait of a Young Gentleman in His Studio, Paolo Veronese's Feast in the House of Levi, and Tintoretto's Theft of St Mark's Body and Crucifixion. Moving on chronologically, we come to characteristic landscapes by Canaletto and Guardi, and interiors by Pietro Longhi. The tour backtracks to end with the vibrant 15th-century crowd scenes of Carpaccio's Miracle of the True Cross and Gentile Bellini's Procession in San Marco, bringing the past alive with fine attention to detail.

If you're longing to take a look inside one of the fabulous palazzos that line the Grand Canal, why not go for the most sublime, the Ca' d'Oro (Golden House). The magnificent 15th-century Venetian Gothic structure was named for the gilding that originally decorated the facade's superb sculptural details. The Ca' d'Oro houses the Galleria Franchetti, an impressive collection of bronzes, tapestries and paintings. On the second floor you can see fragments of Titian's frescoes saved from the outside of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi. You also get the chance to lean out from the balconies overlooking the Grand Canal and pat the cute lion gargoyles on their pretty little heads.

The Rialto has always been the commercial heart of Venice, so it's hardly surprising that the first bridge over the Grand Canal was built here. The canal crossing had quite a chequered history before Antonio da Ponte (Anthony of the Bridge) built this robust marble version in 1588. Today the area is still famous for its bustling fruit & veg market, but the bridge itself is neck-deep in stalls selling tourist tat.

Several notable buildings surround the bridge. The Fondaco dei Tedeschi, formerly a German trading house and today the central post office, almost abuts the bridge to the north. Once upon a time its blank exterior was daubed with frescoes by Giorgione and Titian. The neo-Gothic arches of the Pescaria are only a hundred years old, but the tradition of selling fresh fish here goes right back to 1300. The city's oldest church, the Chiesa di San Giacomo di Rialto, is virtually in the middle of the market and was supposedly founded on 25 March 421, the same day as Venice itself. Cross the bridge to head into San Polo, and you'll come to one of Venice's most sublime religious treasure troves, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. The Frari was built by the Franciscans and stars Giovanni Bellini's poignant sacristy altarpiece and Titian's gloriously uplifting Assumption altar painting and Madonna di Ca' Pesaro.

Off the Beaten Track

Murano and Burano are the best-known and most-visited of the lagoon's islands, and both reward a wander into their quiet backstreets. Sleepy Murano has long been famed for its glass production - since the 10th century, in fact, when the secrets of the art were smuggled into Venice by merchants trading in the East. Once ensconced in Murano, the methods of the craft became such a well-guarded secret that it was considered treason for glassworkers to leave the city. You can still catch the odd glassworker in action in shops and factories around the island, but whether your opinion of the end result is 'beautiful' or 'grotesque' is a matter of taste. The Museo Vetrario is devoted to the art and history of glasswork, and there are some exquisite pieces on display. The island's architectural highlight is the Veneto-Byzantine Basilica di SS Maria e Donato, with its colonnaded apse and 12th-century mosaic pavement. Vaporetto No 12 takes you to Murano, Burano and Torcello.

Bustling Burano is famous for its fishing and lace industries. The village's pastel-coloured houses have appeared on countless postcards, but they're more than just pretty facades - they say that the bonbon colours have their origins in the fishermen's desire to be able to see their own houses when heading home from a long day at sea. Given the island's distance from Venice (around 40 minutes by ferry) you really do get the feeling of having arrived somewhere only fleetingly touched by La Serenissima. Take time out to wander into the quietest corners and shady parks, crossing over the wooden bridge to neighbouring Mazzorbo - a larger island with little more than a few houses, a couple of trattorie and open green space. Choose carefully if you plan to buy lace on Burano, as these days much of the cheaper stuff is imported from Asia. That said, you can still occasionally see women working away at their lacy creations in the shade of their homes and in the parks. The Museo del Merletto di Burano explores the craft and history of Burano lace.

For an atmospheric glimpse of pre-Republican Venice, take a ferry to the distant scrub-covered flats of Torcello, in the north of the lagoon. This far-flung, marshy and truly eerie islet was where the first mainlanders sought a safe haven from the barbarian invasions, and it is where the story of Venice began. Torcello has a magical, otherworldly atmosphere, with an overgrown main square, abandoned buildings and monuments, and canalside walks leading nowhere. It was once home to some 20,000 people, but fewer than 80 call the ghost town home today. The magnificent Byzantine mosaics in the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta are a striking reminder of Torcello's former glories, and a couple of good trattorie (including an unrelated version of Cipriani's) make the visit even more worthwhile.

A short hop away from the southernmost tip of the Lido, Pellestrina is the place to catch a firsthand glimpse of the lagoon's Murazzi, the seawalls of Istrian stone that protected the lagoon from the Adriatic's swell from 1782 until the horrific floods of 1966. Pellestrina is little more than an 11km (7mi) sandbank lining these walls, home to fishing villages, lacemakers, cats and seabirds. A walk along the deserted ribbon of grey sand (at low tide!) is the perfect antidote to those crowded Venetian alleyways. The No 11 Lido-Chioggia bus and ferry connection stops at Pellestrina en route.

Activities

Being as tightly packed as the city is, Venice does not make an ideal place to come to practise your favourite sport. Just walking around and up and down bridges means that you're likely to be getting a pretty good workout! If you've got any energy left after all that walking, try a spot of swimming off the Lido (if you're game) or at one of Venice's two public swimming pools (they close in summer). In case you want to emulate Julia Roberts in Everybody Says I Love You and do some jogging - as if! - try the Giardini Pubblici or Isola di Sant'Elena in Castello. You could indulge in a spot of rowing at Venice's oldest club, Reale Società Canottieri Bucintoro. There are also a few small gyms where you can pump some iron and hit the treadmill. Alternatively, you can stay indoors and do some courses: choose from Italiano, cooking, history, art and music.

History

The islands of the Venetian lagoon were first settled during the barbarian invasions of the 5th and 6th centuries AD, when the people of the Veneto mainland sought refuge in the marshy region. The refugees built watery villages on rafts of wooden posts driven into the subsoil, laying the foundations for the floating palaces of today. The traditional date of Venice's birth is given as 25 March 421, but there is little evidence to support this belief.

Settlement became focused on the Rivo Alto (later known as Rialto, the highest point in the lagoon), and Venice slowly evolved into a republic. Lip service was paid to the Byzantine Empire, formerly the Eastern branch of the Roman Empire, and the first of Venice's eventual 118 doges (chief magistrates) was elected in 697. Venice's name became inextricably linked with that of St Mark when the apostle's earthly remains were spirited out of Alexandria by merchants in 828. The holy relics were eventually brought to rest in the purpose-built St Mark's Basilica, which was consecrated in 1094.

The Repubblica Serenissima (Most Serene Republic) provided ships for Pope Urban II's First Crusade of 1095, which degenerated into the rape and pillage of the Byzantine Empire and Jerusalem. This ignominious event was but a tea party compared to the Fourth Crusade of 1202, which saw the Venetians plunder and eventually rule Constantinople. Famous booty included the four gorgeous horses, bejewelled Pala d'Oro altarpiece and array of marble statuary that decorate St Mark's Basilica. Venice now commanded a thriving and expanding commercial empire, with the banner of St Mark flying over the bulk of the eastern Mediterranean. Meanwhile, the checks and balances of Venice's government fell into place, overseen by the Great Council made up of members of the city's powerful and moneyed families.

Venice's rapid expansion had not gone unnoticed by its competitors, in particular the similarly maritime city of Genoa. Despite various inconclusive battles and peace treaties, the two navies pursued each other around the Mediterranean with growing fury but little definitive success until Venice's victory in the Battle of Chioggia in 1380. Venice then turned its sights to the mainland, acquiring self-sufficiency and allies to bolster its population, which had been decimated by the Black Death in 1348. Trade continued to flourish, but the Turks' capture of Constantinople in 1453 spelt the beginning of the end of Venice's dominance.

In the emerging world order of nation states and global empires, Venice was now distinctly small fry. The Turks were rapidly making inroads into La Serenissima's Mediterranean empire, taking Cyprus in 1570 and Crete in 1669. At home, corruption was on the rise, politics was going soft, and Venice had neither the will nor the manpower to equip great enough fleets, let alone armies, to match those of its competitors. Plague struck again and again, wiping out up to one-third of the population, and a host of art treasures were lost when the doge's palace went up in flames. The scene was set for the arrival of Napoleon in 1797, and the city's eventual shunting into Austrian hands.

The Austrians never managed to endear themselves to the Venetians, and in 1848 the city joined the long list of rebels who rose up against the established order across Europe. The movement for Italian unification spread quickly through the Veneto, and Venice was finally united with the Kingdom of Italy in 1866. The city was a hive of activity during the last decades of the 19th century: increased port traffic was coupled with growing industry; a railway bridge linking Venice with the mainland was built, permanently erasing the lagoon city's island status; canals were widened and deepened; pedestrian zones were laid out in the city centre; and tourism began to take off. Under Mussolini, a road bridge was built parallel to the railway bridge.

The shift of business and industry to what is now 'greater' Venice - Mestre and Marghera - made the city a target of Allied bombing campaigns during WWII, but it came out of the conflict pretty much unscathed. In the postwar years, the creation and expansion of petrol refineries and metallurgy, chemical and plastics industries in the Marghera region brought thousands of jobs to Venice - and plenty of problems, too. The disastrous floods of 1966 focused the world's attention on the city's watery plight, and the ensuing years have seen a succession of debates on a range of solutions, from floating barriers to platform soles. The population has more than halved in the past 50 years: housing is too expensive, transport too complicated, jobs too scarce. If the depopulation continues, Venice may one day truly become just a theme park, open daily from eight till late, pay your admission at the door.

The city is not immune from Italy's wider political problems; in August 2001, a few hours before Italy's recently elected right-wing prime minister and tycoon Silvio Berlusconi visited the city, a bomb ripped through the court buildings of Rialto. A leftist terrorist group modelled on the Red Brigade claimed responsibility. Meanwhile, Venice continues to sink, the process of restoration is perpetual, and the answer to the city's problems remains elusive.

Getting There & Away

Most visitors flying into Venice land at Marco Polo airport, 12km (7.5mi) from Venice, just east of Mestre. A few charter flights land at Treviso's tiny San Giuseppe airport, about 35km (21.5mi) north of Venice. Departure tax is factored into airfares. Marco Polo airport is connected to Venice by inexpensive bus (25 minutes), hydrofoil (a very scenic 60 minutes), somewhat expensive taxi (15 minutes) or super-expensive water taxi. From San Giuseppe airport there's a one-hour connecting Eurobus service, the local bus 6 to the Treviso train station and from there to Venice, highly expensive taxi to Piazzale Roma or you can drive.

Direct trains call a halt at Venice's Stazione di Santa Lucia (known in Venice simply as the ferrovia) from Padua, Verona, Milan, Bologna, Switzerland and France; Paris-Venice takes 9.5 hours, including the change at Milan. If you're coming from the east (Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and beyond) you will need to change at Trieste. The legendary Orient Express runs between Venice and London via Verona, Zurich and Paris twice weekly from March to November. At the other end of the scale you can arrive in Venice by bus, deposited at Piazzale Roma. It's marginally cheaper than train, but being stuck on a bus for 30 hours from London doesn't sound like too much fun (unless it's a double-decker).

Driving into Italy, the main points of entry are the Mont Blanc tunnel from France at Chamonix (reopened in March 2002 following the March 1999 fire), the Grand St Bernard tunnel from Switzerland and the Brenner Pass from Austria. Once in Italy, the A4 is the quickest way to reach Venice from east or west, connecting Turin with Trieste, and passing through Milan and Mestre. Once over the Ponte della Libertà from Mestre, cars must be left at one of the huge, hideously expensive car parks in Piazzale Roma or on the island of Tronchetto.

Getting Around

Few cities reward walkers so generously as Venice: get ready to pound those antique pavements! Don't bother following the interminable signs directing you to 'San Marco', 'the Rialto', 'the Ferrovia' or all three at once - get lost in the timeless backstreets, dead-end alleys, canalside fondamente and deserted squares that make up the real Venice. Vaporetto (water bus) is the other essential method of getting around, and it can be equally rewarding: you won't find too many public transport routes as unforgettable as vaporetto No 1's trip along the Grand Canal. Get yourself a travel pass to do the vaporetto thing - single tickets don't come cheap. Taking a ride in a gondola is corny, expensive, embarrassing and ... well, if you really want to, why not? The traghetto is a commuter gondola that crosses the Grand Canal at strategic points, but it's quite a balance test for newbies as you have to stand. Water taxis (motorboats) are almost as expensive as gondolas, but their pilots don't wear stripy shirts and sing 'O Sole Mio'. Regular buses (yes, they do exist) run from Piazzale Roma to Mestre and other mainland destinations, as do regular four-wheeled taxis. Obviously, don't bring the rental car to Venice - you'll just be paying to leave it in a carpark for the duration. Cycling is officially banned in the lagoon city.

Further Reading