Venice Travel Guide

The mere mention of Venice conjures an air of irresistible romance. With iconic canals, delectable food and wine, and a fascinating mix of architecture, art, and history, “La Serenissima” is one of Italy’s most magical destinations. A dominant world power for more than a millennium, Venice’s beauty may be faded, but it’s all the more precious for its age. Whether you’re getting lost in its maze of narrow streets or exploring its calm canals, the city’s lavishly decorated palaces, churches, and piazzas meet your eye and stir your heart.

Venice’s Centro Storico, home to about 272,000 people, is laid out across a series of 122 small islands in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, just off the Adriatic Sea. The 150-some canals dug across those islands and the more than 400 bridges that cross them are Venice’s defining features, but gondolas and water taxis are only the beginning of what this city has to offer. Dotting the city are sprawling squares, ornate palaces, and centuries-old basilicas. The heart of the city and its most famous square is the Piazza San Marco, dubbed “the drawing room of Europe” and first laid out in the 800s AD in front of Saint Mark’s Basilica. Surrounding the square are some of the city’s most breathtaking sights.

Venice’s humble origins give no hint of the mighty sea power the city would become. First populated in the second century by Italians fleeing the Barbarians, Venice’s first few centuries were a roller-coaster ride of invasions and conquests by the Visigoths, the Huns, and the Lombards, among others. But by the Middle Ages, Venice had asserted its independence. Eventually, the city declared itself a city-state and the Venetian Republic. The city’s strategic location on the Adriatic Sea ushered it into a heyday of unrivaled commercial and naval success, leading it to be a trade leader and a fearsome maritime power that dominated the Adriatic, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean Seas.
Such success brought Venetian families great wealth and their struggles to one-up one another by building the best and biggest palaces, patronizing the most talented artists, and decorating their city with the most beautiful plazas and halls endowed Venice with the awe-inspiring art and architecture we enjoy today.

Venice’s above-water wonders are its most famous, but no less interesting are those found in the murky depths of the lagoon. Thousands of woodpiles from areas now in Slovenia and Croatia support Venice’s stately buildings; many have been submerged for centuries and continue to bear the weight of imposing stone and brick buildings. Yes, Venice has sunk considerably, but not because of faulty foundations. Wells dug beyond the lagoon proved to be the source of the problem, but since artisan wells were outlawed in the 1960s, the sinking has slowed considerably. Still, in some old houses, problems with ground-floor flooding have forced people to abandon the lower level of their homes and businesses.