VENICE, ITALY

Venice is a city located on the northeastern Italy, exactly sited located on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. These islands forms the Venetian Lagoon which is the enclosed bay of the Adriatic sea.

This city is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture, and its artworks.

In this entry you will found some of this beauties to visit, festivals to take part in and a piece of advice to travel there. 

GRAN CANAL

Gran Canal forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. Public transport is provided by water buses (vaporetto) and private water taxis, and many tourists explore the canal by gondola.

It’s about 4 km long and divides the city in two parts. At one end, the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Lucia railway station and the other end leads into Saint Mark Basin.

PIAZZA SAN MARCO AND BASILICA DI SAN MARCO

Piazza San Marco is the principal public square of Venice, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". It is the lowest point in the city, so the square uses to suffer the high tide.

In Piazza San Marco you can found the Basilica di San Marco which is One of the most beautiful cathedrals of Europe and probably of the world.

We found something really interesting about that place that you should know. Napoleon said that it was the most beautiful square in Europe!

PALAZZO DUCALE

The Palazzo Ducale is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice. The palace used to be the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice. But nowadays is opened as a museum where you can find paintings of Tintoretto and Veronese.

But the really beauty of that place is hidden on the basement where you can find some cells. In one of this cells was trapped the famous Casanova, but he could scape running trough the roofs of the city.

BURAN

Buran is a small island near from Venice. It is only 7km far away and you can go by vaporetto in a trip that lasts 20 minutes.

This island is well-known for it's smile and brightly painted houses. The colours of the houses follow a specific system originating from the golden age of its development; if someone wishes to paint their home, one must send a request to the government, who will respond by making notice of the certain colours permitted for that lot.

PONTE DEI SOSPIRI

Ponte di sospiri is one of the most famous bridges in Venice. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the New Prison (Prigioni Nuove) with the interrogation rooms of the Palazzo Ducale.

There are some legends about it name, but we think that the best one is to go and see it with your own eyes. If you want to hear about of this legends before going to Venice, you can search for it on the internet.

PONTE DI RIALTO

Ponte di rialto is one of the four bridges which you can find on the Gran Canal. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo.

FESTIVALS

There are some typical festivals in Venice that you can enjoy taking part from it.

One of the most important festivals is “Carnival of Venice”. It is held annually in the city and they spend some weeks celebrating this festival. The carnival is closely associated with “Venetian masks”.

There is another festival as important as Carnival one. The “Venice Film Festival” is well-known because it's the oldest film festival in the world.

In this city there are celebrated more interesting festivals, but there are not so important as the other ones:

- The “Venice Biennale” which is one of the most important events in the arts calendar.
- The “Festa del Redentore” which is to give thanks for the end of the terrible plague of 1576.

CLIMATE

Venice has a humid subtropical climate, with cool winters and very warm summers. And the rain is spread evenly throughout the year. So if you go there in winter take warm clothes and if you go on summer take summer clothes, but never forget the umbrella and the raincoat. You will probably need it!

CURIOSITIES

• Art and cinema. Venice has been the setting or chosen location of numerous films, novels, poems and other cultural references. The city was a particularly popular setting for novels, essays, and other works of fictional or non-fictional literature.
• Economy. Venice is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world for its celebrated art and architecture. The city has an average of 50,000 tourists a day. In 2006, it was the world's 28th most internationally visited city, with 2.927 million international arrivals that year. It is regarded as one of the world's most beautiful cities.
• Foreign words of venetian origin. Words with a Venetian etymology include arsenal, ciao, ghetto, gondola, imbroglio, lagoon, lazaret, lido, Montenegro, quarantine, regatta. The name of Venezuela is a Spanish diminutive of Venice. Many other places around the world are named after Venice, e.g. Venice Beach.