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Venice
DIRECTIONS
WRITTEN AND RESEARCHED BY
Jonathan Buckley
NEW YORK • LONDON • DELHI
www.roughguides.com
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Contents
Introduction 4 Central Castello .................................................118 C
Eastern Castello ................................................127 O
The Canal Grande ............................................133 NT
Ideas 9 TThhee nsoourtthheerrnn iissllaannddss . ........................................................................114520 ENT
S
The big six .................................................................10
The main islands ..................................................12 Accommodation 159
Museums and art galleries ..........................14
Hotels .............................................................................16 Hotels .........................................................................161
Venice viewpoints ................................................18 Bed and breakfasts ........................................166
Palaces .........................................................................20 Apartments ............................................................168
Restaurants ...............................................................22 Hostels ......................................................................168
Scuole ............................................................................24
Bars .................................................................................26
Renaissance art and architecture ........28 Essentials 171
SCDOAVCehuareninofta méhtepthsehetsei,n a ia catnnwinanc Vdakod Vet ed epemnsdruni i c.aatn.i.ice.rnei..kse ..ds....eh ... ........tmi....sc............ e.....e.......... .....n.....c..........t.....r ............e..................a..................m.............................. .................................................................................................................................................................33333440246802 AICMFDneriifutrrsoyeistvr cietmavrtualoa .am.lrn.s.ty.i.s s.o ..ap.. ..n..ano.... ...ndr......t...d ... ....s.... ........pm............e........o....c........n....i....a....u........l....m ........e............ev............ne............tn....s........t.... .....s.......... ..................................................................................................................111111777778345780
Multicultural Venice ............................................44
Festivals .......................................................................46 Chronology 183
Places 49
Language 189
San Marco: the Piazza .....................................51
San Marco: North of the Piazza .............63
San Marco: West of the Piazza ...............70
Dorsoduro .................................................................78 Index 201
San Polo and Santa Croce ..........................92
Cannaregio ............................................................107
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4
Introduction to
Venice
N
O
I
T
C
U
D
O Founded 1500 years ago on a (cid:2)
R T
T cluster of mudflats in the cen- he
IN tbreec oofm thee E luargoopoen’s, Vmeaniinc etr raodsineg t o Záttere
post between the West and the , Do
East, and at its height control- rso
d
u
led an empire that extended from ro
the Dolomites to Cyprus. The
melancholic air of the place is in
part a product of the discrepancy
between the grandeur of its history
and what the city has become.
In the heyday of the Venetian Republic, some 200,000 people
lived in Venice, three times its present population. Merchants from
Europe and western Asia maintained warehouses here; transactions
in the banks and bazaars of the Rialto dictated the value of com-
modities all over the continent; in the dockyards of the Arsenale
(cid:3) Gondola, under the Rialto bridge
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5
Whentovisit
Venice’s tourist season is very nearly an all-year affair. Peak season, when
hotel rooms are virtually impossible to come by at short notice, is from
ApriltoOctober; try to avoid JulyandAugust in particular, when the
climate becomes oppressively hot and clammy. The other two popular
I
spells are the Carnevale (leading up to Lent) and the weeks on each side N
T
ofChristmas. R
For the ideal combination of comparative peace and a mild climate, O
D
the two or three weeks immediatelyprecedingEaster is perhaps the U
C
best time of year. Climatically the months at the end of the high season T
are somewhat less reliable: some NovemberandDecember days bring IO
fogs that make it difficult to see from one bank of the Canal Grande to the N
other. If you want to see the city at its quietest, January is the month to go
– take plenty of warm clothes, though, as the winds off the Adriatic can be
savage, and you should be prepared for floods throughout the winter. This
acquaalta, as Venice’s seasonal flooding is called, has been an element
of Venetian life for centuries, but nowadays it’s far more frequent than it
used to be: between October and late February it’s not uncommon for
flooding to occur every day of the week, and it’ll be a long time before the
huge flood barrier (which was begun in 2003) makes any impact. However,
having lived with it for so long, the city is well geared to dealing with the
nuisance. Shopkeepers in the most badly affected areas insert steel shut-
ters into their doorways to hold the water at bay, while the local council
lays jetties of duck-boards along the major thoroughfares and between the
chief vaporetto stops and dry land.
the workforce was so vast that a warship could be built and fitted
out in a single day; and the Piazza San Marco was thronged with
people here to set up deals or report to the Republic’s govern-
ment. Nowadays it’s no longer a buzzing metropolis but rather the
embodiment of a fabulous past, dependent for its survival largely
on the people who come
to marvel at its relics.
(cid:2)
The monuments which A
draw the largest crowds l Po
are the Basilica di San nte
Mof arthcoe –ci tyth’se pmatarounso lseauinmt osteria
– and the Palazzo Ducale , C
a
or Doge’s Palace. Cer- nn
a
tainly these are the most re
g
imposing structures in the io
city, but a roll-call of the
churches worth visiting
would feature more than
a dozen names. Many of
the city’s treasures remain
in the churches for which
they were created, but
a sizeable number have
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6
N
O
I
T
C
U
D
O
R
T
N
I
(cid:3) Rio di San Trovaso, Dorsoduro
been removed to one or other of Venice’s museums, with the
Accademia holding the lion’s share. This cultural heritage is a
source of endless fascination,
but you should also discard (cid:2)
your itineraries for a day and Th
e
just wander – the anonymous M
e
parts of Venice reveal as much rc
e
of the city as its well-known rie
a
attractions. re
a
The historic centre of Venice
is made up of 118 islands, tied
together by some four hundred
bridges to form an amalgama-
tion that’s divided into six large
administrative districts known
as sestieri, three on each side of
the Canal Grande.
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Venice
AT A GLANCE
I
N
T
R
O
D
U
C
T
I
O
N
SAN MARCO (cid:2)
S
The sestiere of San Marco is the an
hub of the city, being the location Ba
of the two prime monuments – the rna
b
Palazzo Ducale and the Basilica a, D
di San Marco – and the city’s o
highest concentration of shops rsod
and hotels. uro
DORSODURO
Lying on the opposite side of the
Canal Grande from San Marco,
and stretching westward to the
docks, Dorsoduro is one of the
city’s smartest quarters, as well as
the home of its university and the
main art gallery.
(cid:2)
S
a
n
(cid:3) The Basilica and Palazzo Ducale Z
a
n
ip
CASTELLO olo
, C
Spreading north and east of San a
Marco, the sprawling sestiere of stello
Castello encompasses many of
Venice’s most interesting church-
es, its former industrial centre
and some of its grittier residential
areas.
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8
(cid:2)
C
a
m
p
o
S
a
n
P
o
lo
N
O
I
T
C
U
D
O
R
T
N
I
SAN POLOAND SANTA (cid:2)
S
CROCE a
n
M
Adjoining Dorsoduro to the north, ic
thesestieri of San Polo and Santa hele
Croce are riddled with intricate , n
o
alleyways and characterful little rth
squares – and it’s here that you’ll ern
find the famous Rialto market. isla
n
d
s
NORTHERNISLANDS
The nearest of the northern islands
of the lagoon – San Michele – is
the city’s historic cemetery; a little
farther out lies the glassmaking
island of Murano, while in the out-
ermost reaches you’ll find Burano
and Torcello, Venice’s predecessor.
SOUTHERNISLANDS
Sheltered from the Adriatic by the
Lido and its neighbouring sand-
banks, the southern part of the
lagoon has a scattering of islands,
notably San Giorgio Maggiore and
La Giudecca, the focus of some
major redevelopment projects.
(cid:3) Fondamenta di Cannaregio
CANNAREGIO
The train station occupies a
corner of Cannaregio, and most
of the city’s one-star hotels are
clustered nearby, but much of this
district is tranquil and unaffected
by the influx of tourists.
(cid:3) San Giorgio Maggiore, southern islands
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