Queen of the Adriatic

Romance, art, history — Venice, the City of Canals, has something for every
kind of traveller, writes Harender Raj Gautam

FOR centuries, Venice, a dream destination of many a tourist, has captivated travellers with romantic images of gondola rides through glistening canals and old palaces and villas painted in vibrant hues of periwinkle and plum.

Venice is the capital of the Veneto region, situated in the lagoon of Venice some 250 km east of Milan. The city was one of the most poerful mercantile sea powers during the Middle Ages and Renaissance and an important center of commerce (especially in silk, spice and grains) and art from 13th century up to the end of the 17th century.

World-famous for its canals, Venice is built on numerous small islands, divided into two groups by the Grand Canal. An archipelago of 118 islands, formed by about 150 canals in a shallow lagoon, Venice’s various islands are connected by about 400 bridges. The main islands include Lido, Pellestrina, Murano, Burano-Mazzorbo, Torcello, Sant’Erasmo, San Francesco Del Deserto, San Lazzaro Degli Armeni and San Servolo.

The islands of the Venetian lagoon got their first settlers during the barbarian invasions of the 5th and 6th centuries AD when the people of the mainland of Veneto sought refuge in the marshy region. The refugees built watery villages on the rafts with wooden posts driven into the subsoil, laying the foundations for the floating palaces of today.

Full of churches (around 56), palaces (45) and museums, the economy of Venice is based primarily on tourism.

There is no wheeled traffic in the city and transportation within the city remains, as it was in centuries past, entirely on water or on foot. This unique feature of Venice makes it Europe’s largest urban car-free area, while remaining a sizable functioning city in the 21st century entirely without motorcars or trucks.

Since the canals serve the function of roads in most of the city, motorised waterbuses called vaporetti or watertaxis are usual means of transport, preferred by most Venetians. These ply on regular routes along the major canals and between the city’s islands. The classical or the traditional Venetian boat, called the gondola is mostly used by tourists, or for weddings, funerals, or other ceremonies. The only gondolas still in common use by Venetians are the traghetti, foot passenger ferries crossing the Grand Canal at certain points without bridges.

Apart from romantic gondola rides, other attractions in Venice include many historical buildings, museums and art galleries, housing paintings from the 5th to 6th centuries and tapestries etc.

St Marks Square, known as Piazza San Marco in the local parlance, is the heart of Venice. Tourists flock to the square to explore many of the city’s main attractions (located here or`A0in close proximity)`A0including St Marks Basilica, Doge’s Palace and Torre dell’Orologio (Clock Tower) to name a few.

St Mark’s Basilica is the most famous church of Venice and a splendid example of Byzantine architecture. The five-domed cathedral, with its opulent design, liberal use of marble, gilded mosaics, also houses a number of relics from all over the world and the icon of the Madonna of Nicopeia.

The bell tower of the basilica, called St Mark’s Campanile, stands alone in a corner of St Mark’s Square, near the front of the basilica. One of the most recognizable symbols of the city, 98.6-metre-tall tower is one of the highest buildings of Venice.

Nearby is another popular tourist attraction; the Palace of the Doge. It is a beautiful Gothic structure with its upper stories supported by two layers of delicate stone arches.

The square also houses a museum called Museo Maciano that displays many relics of St Mark’s Basilica, including tapestries and carpets. The Procurators building in the square houses the Archaeological Museum, the Museum of the Risorgimento and the Correr Museum Mercati di Rialto is one of the liveliest and most famous markets of Venice, having stalls of fruit, vegetable, flowers and fish.

The picturesque Ponte di Rialto, one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal, is the oldest bridge across the canal and one of the most famous in world.

Another famous bridge is Ponte dei Sospiri also known as Bridge of Sighs. It connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge Palace. The bridge was named so by Lord Byron in the 19th century as the the view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment.

Teatro Goldoni and Teatro Malibran are the oldest theatres dating back to 17th century.

Gallerie dell’Accademia is an art gallery with extraordinary collection of works of many great Venetian painters, including Titian and Leonardo da Vinci.

In addition to its great school of painters, many other art forms have flourished in Venice. Its masons, mosaic artists and glass workers have been famous since early times. Venice was also a hub of printing presses in 15th century and produced more books than combined publications of all major cities of Italy.

Romantic, artistic, full of historical buildings, Venice defies description but it rewards every traveller who has ever meandered into its cat’s cradle of intertwined lanes.

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