In the early morning, when the mist still lingers over the lagoon, and the palaces seem to float on water, you may be forgiven for thinking that Venice is only an illusion. Nothing in Venice is ever quite what it seems. The placid lagoon is gnawing at the foundations, having already gobbled up all but 30 of the 490 islands that existed 1,000 years ago. Yesterday’s Venetians defended their city for 986 years with bluff, bluster, cunning and masterly diplomacy – and then let it fall without a blow. The city itself, once the bazaar of the world and the centre of cosmopolitan life, today has a fast-declining population and an infrastructure threatened by the 20 million tourists that descend here annually, as well as by the high tides which occasionally flood its streets and squares.
A gondolier navigates the narrow canals of Venice.
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The republic soared to power in 1203 with an act of treachery as wicked as it proved expedient. In exchange for allowing the Crusaders to use his port, Enrico Dandolo, the blind doge – Venice’s chief magistrate, elected by the 41 powerful men who made up the republic’s Great Council – persuaded the flotilla of 500 ships to ransack Constantinople, capital of Byzantium, the Eastern Roman Empire. It had become the richest city in the world, and its power and seafaring influence had long been a thorn in the side of Venice.
In 1204, the pious Crusaders sacked Constantinople, murdering the city’s inhabitants. As booty, Venice was awarded the legendary “quarter and a half of a quarter” of the Eastern Roman Empire. The priceless monuments and relics looted from Constantinople, and now in St Mark’s Basilica, include the Quadriga from the emperor’s box at the Hippodrome and the Madonna Nicopeia, a sacred icon. Venice became the greatest repository of Byzantine art.
Navigating Venice
The city is small enough to be covered on foot, but a good map is essential for exploring the maze of alleys and squares. For longer or faster trips, the main form of transport is the vaporetto (water-bus), with 24 routes. Information on routes is available from the ACTV office near the train station, from tel: 041-2424, or on www.actv.it. Tickets can be bought online or the tourist office (www.veniceconnected.com). Single tickets cost around €7 and are valid for 60 minutes, but tourist travel cards, valid for from 1 to 7 days, are more economical. The ACTV is introducing an electronic ticketing system, the imob, with which you can recharge a card once an amount of credit has been used. The most scenic, but slowest, vaporetto line is the No. 1 Accelerato, down the Grand Canal. Vaporetti also run from different stops to the Lido and the outer islands of Murano, Burano and Torchello.
The more private alternative to vaporetti are water-taxis, which take up to four people and, like regular taxis, display meters. There are water-taxi “ranks” at many points in the city. Charges are high, and often complicated; two of the main services are Consorzio Motoscafi Venezia, tel: 041-522-2303, www.motoscafivenezia.it, and Venice Link, tel: 041-240-1715, www.venicelink.com, which also offers tours.
The most famous Venetian transport, though, is of course the one-man-powered gondola. To hire one during the day costs from around €80 for 40 minutes, with extra charges for any time over that, and at night (after 8pm) the basic charge will be €100. If he (or she) sings it will also cost extra, although it’s common to haggle with gondoliers. A maximum of six people are accepted, and gondolas booked as a group tour may be cheaper. Very much cheaper are the traghetto gondolas, which cross the Grand Canal where there are no bridges.
Piazza San Marco
Heart of the Venetian Republic, Piazza San Marco 1 [map] (St Mark’s Square) is still the city’s great showpiece and home to some of its finest monuments. The square teems with tourists and pigeons, while café orchestras play on, determined to see the Grand Old Lady dance to her grave. When Napoleon first set eyes on the gossiping multitudes and lavish decor, he called it “the finest drawing room in Europe”. Byron, Dickens, Proust and Wagner all sat at the famous Caffè Florian, which still serves the best (and most expensive) coffee on the piazza; Thomas Mann brooded here in the early 20th century and wrote Death in Venice; and Ernest Hemingway drank six bottles of wine a night here while he wrote some of his best prose.
Tip
Several of Venice’s major attractions (the Palazzo Ducale, Museo Correr, Ca’ Rezzonico) are administered by the same foundation (www.visitmuve.it). The best way to see the Palazzo Ducale without the queues and the crowds is to book a place on the Secret Itineraries (Itinerari Segreti) tour, a fascinating behind-the-scenes visit which also gives you (unguided) access to the rest of the palace. Tours take place daily in English at 9.55am, 10.45am and 11.35am, and bookings can be made through the website or at the museum information desk. Book well ahead.
Despite the queues, be sure to visit the Basilica di San Marco 2 [map] (St Mark’s Basilica; daily) to see the gold-backed mosaics, carved galleries, jewel-encrusted altar screen (Pala d’Oro) and the original four bronze horses that used to adorn the facade (the ones outside are replicas). A striking feature of the square is the soaring Campanile or belltower, a replica of the original tower that collapsed in 1902. Inside, a lift (daily) ascends 100 metres (330ft) for a sweeping panorama of the city. The piazza’s other tower is the Torre dell’Orologio (Clock Tower; pre-booked guided tours only, www.visitmuve.it), designed in 1496.
The Palazzo Ducale, once the residence of the doges.
Adjoining the piazza and extending to the waterfront is the Piazzetta San Marco. On the right as you face the lagoon stands the 16th-century Biblioteca Marciana 3 [map] (daily). Palladio, Italy’s greatest 16th-century architect, considered this structure, with its finely sculpted arcades and detailed figures, one of the most beautiful buildings ever constructed. It houses Venice’s historic library, with many fine manuscripts and early books. Adjoining it in the Procuratorie Nuove building facing the main square is the Museo Correr (daily), an interesting collection of works by Venetian Renaissance artists and exhibits on Venetian history displayed in sumptuous, recently restored rooms that formed the residence of the Habsburg royal family when they visited Venice while it was under Austrian rule, from 1815 to 1866.
Overlooking the lagoon stands the sumptuous, oriental-looking Palazzo Ducale 4 [map] (Doge’s Palace; daily), residence of Venice’s doges, seat of government and home to the law courts and prisons. Behind the palace is the Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri), where prisoners from the palace who crossed to the dungeons drew their last breath of free air.
Two columns bearing St Theodorus and the Lion of Venice dominate the lagoon end of the square. From the wharf where pleasure boats set out for trips around the lagoon, merchant ships used to ride at anchor. Vaporetti (water buses) and speedboat taxis stop here, with the remaining gondolas from the flotilla that was once 10,000 strong.
Piazza San Marco.
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Along the Grand Canal
The Grand Canal (Canal Grande) is the Champs-Elysées of Venice; along its winding 3.5km (2-mile) route stand 200 palaces and seven churches. At times this unique waterway is as congested as an urban road. Polished mahogany speedboats jostle for space with the vaporetti. Dodging in and out between them are the freight barges, the postman’s barge, the milkman, the debt collector, the tourist gondolas and the traghetti that ferry pedestrians across the canal.
Venice was one of Europe’s largest ports until the 16th century, after Columbus discovered America and the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama found a new sea route to Asia around the Cape of Good Hope. These discoveries ruined the overland spice traffic that had filled Venetian treasuries with revenue far greater than the income of the papacy or the empires of the time.
One of the great symbols of Venice, the majestic domed church of Santa Maria della Salute 5 [map], presides over the Grand Canal entrance at the San Marco end, from the south bank. In gratitude for the deliverance of Venice from the plague, the city’s fathers built the church in the 17th century. On the same side of the canal, the Guggenheim Venice 6 [map] (Wed–Mon) is housed in the squat Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, once the home of millionaire art collector Peggy Guggenheim. She knew most great 20th-century artists personally, and her collection – kept here, separate from the other Guggenheim museums in New York, Bilbao or Berlin – is of exceptional quality. Classical Venetian art – Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto – is housed further along in the Galleria dell’Accademia 7 [map] (Mon–Sun). The poet Robert Browning (1812–89), who was a great admirer of Venetian painting, died in the Ca’ Rezzonico 8 [map], which is now the museum of 18th-century Venice (Mon–Wed). Nearby, Campo Santa Margherita is one of Venice’s main tourist-magnets, ringed by hotels and restaurants.
Beyond the bend in the canal, on the opposite side, the Palazzo Corner Spinelli 9 [map] is a fine example of the early flowering of the Renaissance spirit in Venice; Palazzo Grimani ) [map], a little further along, represents a final Renaissance flourish from the master Sanmicheli. Up ahead is one of the city’s most famous sights, the Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) ! [map], built in the late 16th century to replace an original wooden structure that had collapsed. The area around the original bridge was known simply as the Rialto, and in its day it was the Wall Street of Europe. The Rialto is lined with tightly packed little shops selling jewellery, leather goods, carnival masks and other souvenirs.
The Grand Canal’s most famous palace, the Gothic Ca’ d’Oro @ [map] (Golden Palace; daily), stands at the first landing stage beyond the Rialto. The pink, lace-like facade was once covered in gold, hence the name. Further up, on the same side, is the Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi £ [map], designed by Mauro Coducci – yet another superb Renaissance creation – now houses the city’s casino. This is the last major building before the railway station, Ferroviaria Santa Lucia $ [map].
The Rialto Bridge.
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Venetian quarters
North of the Grand Canal, between the station and the Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi, is Cannaregio, home to the Ghetto. Venice is the origin of the English word Ghetto, since Jews were first confined to this area in the 16th century. Cannaregio is one of the best areas for tranquil strolling along its canals, and getting an idea of modern Venetian life away from the tourist crowds.
Eat
Bacari are a special Venetian institution, small, snug traditional wine bars with a choice of Venetian wines and delicious cicheti snacks, the local equivalent of tapas. It’s traditional to stand at the bar and visit several in an evening, but one of the most atmospheric is the Antico Dolo on Ruga Vecchia in San Polo, near San Giacomo dell’Orio, which also has a restaurant if you want a full meal.
The area of San Polo that lies within the large bend of the Grand Canal is home to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco % [map] (daily), visited for its works of art by Tintoretto (1518–94). They include The Crucifixion, which inspired Henry James to exclaim: “Surely no single picture in the world contains more human life, there is everything in it including the most exquisite beauty.”
The eastern section of the city, Castello, has charm of its own, and a good place to begin a visit is the Campo Santa Maria Formosa ^ [map], a congenial market square. The elegant church is worth visiting to admire Palma il Vecchio’s St Barbara and Saints.
Further north is another fine square, Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo & [map], enlivened by an imposing statue the of the mercenary Bartolomeo Colleoni, and the great Gothic church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, commonly called San Zanipolo and known as Venice’s Pantheon as it contains the tombs of 25 doges. In the Baroque church of the Gesuiti * [map] near the Fondamente Nuove, the prize work of art is Titian’s Martyrdom of St Lawrence.
A view of the Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge.
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The islands
The Fondamente Nuove is the ferry departure point for the northern islands. Across the water lies San Michele, the lagoon’s cemetery island. Further north is Murano, the island of the glass blowers, which produces the fragile Murano glass that is known all over the world. The Museo Vetrario (Thur–Tue) houses a fine collection of antique pieces.
The Laguna Nord ferries carry on from here to the lively island of Burano, traditionally known for lace making and fishing, and with narrow streets lined with brightly painted houses. From here it’s a short ferry hop to Torcello, an evocative and remote little island, where the Byzantine Cathedral is the sole evidence of its former glory. In the opposite direction, to the south, boats also run to the Lido, Venice’s beach island. It’s no longer the elite resort Thomas Mann portrayed in Death in Venice, but its sands and sea air provide a welcome break in a hot summer.