Venice – The City of Canals
A trip to Italy is not complete without taking some time to enjoy the beauty of the city Venice. Mostly known for its famous gondola rides, the city has a remarkable history and is home to numerous attractions that you as a tourist shouldn't miss.
Veneto
As the capital of the region of Veneto Venice is also known as the “city of canals” and stretches across one hundred and seventeen small islands in the Venetian Lagoon, along the Adriatic Sea in Northern Italy. The historic city (Centro storico) is inhabited by about 62,000 persons while most of the population lives in the extra-lagoon areas.
When I knew my next trip would be to Italy I had little knowledge about Italy and about Venice. So I started looking it up around the Web. The city’s official website (which is available in English) offers a lot of information about the Venice’s economy, tourism and culture, while the Official tourism and events site is more focused on travel tips and hints on what to do and where to go in Venice.
Venice - a city with history
Legend has it that Venice was founded in 422 by Roman refugees fleeing from Goths. Historically, there aren’t any records about the origin of the city, but it was probably founded as the result of the refugees’ influx following the invasion which ravaged northern-eastern Italy. Over the centuries, the Visigoths, the Huns, the Lombards and the Byzantines ruled over Venice.
Later between the 9th and 12th century, Venice developed into a city state. Its strategic position gave Venice a lot commercial and naval power and made the city flourish. Over the centuries, the city developed and became the Republic of Venice and acquired control of most of the islands in the Aegean Sea, including Crete and Cyprus.
In 1797, Napoleon conquered Venice during the First Coalition. He brought to an end the most fascinating century of its history, but also he made it the most elegant and refined city in Europe. After some years when French and the Austrians ruled over Venice, it became part of Italy in 1866. However, after 1797 the city felt into decline. In the 19th century, Lido became a very popular beach resort.
Our Venice trip
We were quite fascinated reading about the long and interesting history of the city and the region. When we arrived in Venice we already had lots of background information and made a tour of the city’s main attractions. They include: Rialto (the commercial center), Canalazzo (The Grand Canal), Basilica dei Frari, Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace), Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Squareas), as well as 109 bridges which connect the islands, many churches and palaces. It was really amazing and we truly enjoyed our time there. There are many sights here in Philadelphia, but Venice has much more stunning sites to offer.
We soon realized that there are many ways to get around in the city - however, going by car wasn't one of the. The main ways of getting around are walking, taking the vaporetto (water bus) or taking the gondola, since regular taxis are banned in some parts of the city and a bicycle couldn’t really help us. So we started walking, hand in hand, amazed by the narrow streets and old buildings and doing that fell in love with Venice.
Venice Sights
We decided to go first at the Doge’s Palace (in Italian: Palazzo Ducale). The palace the residence of the Doge, who was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice, and housed the offices of some political institutions. The foreign ambassadors were received in the Sala del Collegio, located at the third floor. We mostly liked the Sala del Maggior Consiglio (Grand Council chamber) where the legislator met, because the room is filled with paintings, particularly portraits of the Doges. It’s also home to the world’s largest painting on canvas: Tintoretto's Paradise.
We were amazed by the beauty and vastness of the Palace and decided to stroll along the canals to Piazza San Marco, the nucleus of Venice. It’s where the first citadel - Palazzo Ducale – and church - Basilica di San Marco- where erected on the stony foundations. The Basilica impressed by the strange mixture of Byzantine, western European and Islamic architectural styles. Pigeons flock to the square while travelers flock to the numerous cafes and stores located in the square. We decided to take a rest there. After drinking an espresso in one of the cozy cafes, we strolled along Mercerie, Venice's main commercial street to take a look at the shops and also buy some little presents and soon arrived in Rialto. Rialto has always been the commercial core of Venice and the place where the first bridge over the Grand Canal was built. Even today we could feel that the fruit and vegetable market of former times didn’t lose its fame.
Then we decided to take a vaporetto along the Grand Canal, which splits the city into half. We could admire the old and imposing buildings, still testifying to Venice’s past opulence. A lot of the city’s activity is located around the Grand Canal were you find many shops, cafes and restaurants.
We got off the vaporetto at Academia (there are only three bridges across the Grand Canal, and two stations: at Rialto and Academia) and decided that we have visited enough attractions for one day. Our feet were aching and so we finished the day having some nice Italian food in a lovely reastaurant. We would have loved to spend more time in Venice, but even one day was enough to make us know that we will have to come back again one day.