Venice

State

Veneto

Country

Italy

Continent

Europe

Size

415 KM²

Population

258,685

Spending Budget

$1,837 - $6,185

Famous For

Canals, Bridges, Gondola Rides, Murano Glass
Carnival, St. Mark's Square, Narrow Streets

Best Time to Visit

January
February
March
April
May
November
December

History

Venice is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islands are in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay lying between the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers . In 2020, 258,685 people resided in the Comune di Venezia, of whom around 55,000 live in the historical city of Venice . Together with Padua and Treviso, the city is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE), which is considered a statistical metropolitan area, with a total population of 2.6 million. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC. The city was historically the capital of the Republic of Venice for over a millennium, from 697 to 1797. As well as it was an important center of commerce—especially silk, grain, and spice, and of art from the 13th century to the end of the 17th. The city-state of Venice is considered to have been the first real international financial center, emerging in the 9th century and reaching its greatest prominence in the 14th century. From the 9th to the 12th century, Venice developed into a city state .Its own strategic position at the head of the Adriatic made Venetian naval and commercial power almost invulnerable. The Republic of Venice seized a number of places on the eastern shores of the Adriatic before 1200, mostly for commercial reasons, because pirates based there were a menace to trade.

Present Day

Today Venice is recognized as part of the artistic and architectural patrimony of all humanity, a fitting role for a city whose thousand-year economic and political independence was sustained by its role in global trading. The situation of the city on islands has limited modern suburban spread beyond the historic centre; its framework of canals and narrow streets has prevented the intrusion of automobiles; and its unmatched wealth of fine buildings and monuments dating from the period of commercial dominance has ensured a keen and almost universal desire for sensitive conservation. This concern for conservation is now extended not just to the city’s monuments but to the very city itself, as rising water levels and subsidence of the land upon which Venice is built threaten the continued existence of the city in its present form. In 1987 Venice and its lagoon were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Future

The Highest flood Rate has led people to question the fate of Venice, and whether it will soon submerge completely. Such outlooks sound drastic, and whilst there is no need to panic, ongoing research shows that we should at least be concerned about the increased frequency of these devastating events. It is believed that both a mixture of climate change and the movement of tectonic plates are to blame for the possible fate of Venice sinking. By tracking the elevation of Venice over a ten-year period scientists have concluded that the Adriatic plate on which Venice sits is subducting beneath the Apennines Mountains. In other words, the plates are moving under each other, causing Venice to sink by two millimetres each year. In addition to this, the rising sea levels caused by climate change are also contributing to the underwater fate of this historical city. Thermal expansion along with the melting icecaps are causing global sea levels to rise, meaning Venice is not the only urban infrastructure at risk. But combined with its placement on a subducting plate, it could be the most vulnerable.

Must Visit Places ------------

St Mark's Basilica

St Mark's Basilica is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice, northern Italy. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture.

The Doge's Palace

The Doge's Palace is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Republic. It was built in 1340 and extended and modified in the following centuries. It became a museum in 1923 and is one of the 11 museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.

The Grand Canal

The Grand Canal is a channel in Venice, Italy. It forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. One end of the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Lucia railway station and the other end leads into the basin at San Marco; in between, it makes a large reverse-S shape through the central districts of Venice. It is 3.8 km (2.4 mi) long, and 30 to 90 m (98 to 295 ft) wide, with an average depth of 5 metres (16 feet).

The Piazza San Marco

Piazza San Marco , often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as la Piazza ("the Square"). All other urban spaces in the city are called campi ("fields"). The Piazzetta is an extension of the Piazza towards San Marco basin in its south east corner (see plan). The two spaces together form the social, religious and political centre of Venice and are commonly considered together. This article relates to both of them.

The Lido di Venezia

The Lido, or Venice Lido , is an 11-kilometre-long (7-mile) barrier island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy; it is home to about 20,400 residents. The Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido late August/early September. The Lido has also hosted numerous film-shoots. In 1971 the film Death in Venice (Morte a Venezia) directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Dirk Bogarde and Björn Andrésen, and based on the Death in Venice novel published in 1912 by Thomas Mann was screened.

Rialto Bridge

Rialto Bridge marks the spot of the island's first settlement, called Rivus Altus (high bank). Built in 1588, some 150 years after the collapse of a previous wooden bridge, this stone arch supports two busy streets and a double set of shops. Along with serving as a busy crossing point midway along the canal, it is a favorite vantage point for tourists taking - or posing for - photos, and for watching the assortment of boats always passing under it.

Scuola Grande di San Rocco

This impressive white marble building was built between 1515 and 1560 to house a charitable society dedicated to San Rocco. Soon after its completion, the great 16th-century Venetian artist Tintoretto won the competition to paint a central panel for the ceiling of the Sala dell'Albergo by entering the building and putting his painting in its intended place before the judging, much to the irritation of his rival artists.

Ca' d'Oro

The delicate marble filigree by Bartolomeo Bon seems too lace-like to be carved of stone, and you can only imagine the impression this façade must have made covered in its original paint and gold. Along with the Porta della Carta in the Palazzo Ducale, also created by Bartolomeo Bon, this is considered the most perfect example of Venetian Gothic.

Murano and Burano

A trip to Venice wouldn't be complete without hopping aboard a vaporetto for the ride across the lagoon to Murano, home of Venice's fabled glass workers. They were sent here in the 13th century in hope of decreasing the risk of fire from one of the glass furnaces sweeping through Venice's tightly compacted center. Or so they claimed. Just as likely, it was to keep the secrets of glassblowing a Venetian monopoly. This was no small matter to the Venetians, whose Council of Ten decreed in 1454: "If a glass-blower takes his skill to another country to the detriment of the Republic he shall be ordered to return; should be refuse, his nearest relatives shall be thrown into prison so that his sense of family duty may induce him to return; should he persist in his disobedience secret measures shall be taken to eliminate him wherever he may be." It was a lot easier to keep track of them if they were confined to an island.

Lido

The long (12-kilometer) strip of sand that separates the Venetian lagoon from the Adriatic Sea was Europe's first real beach resort, and in its heyday, at the turn of the 20th century, was Europe's most fashionable watering hole for royalty and the day's celebs. Today, the grand hotels where they reposed still welcome guests and still own the beautiful fine-sand beaches, although for a price you can share them with hotel guests. You can tour Lido on foot or a bicycle rented near the landing stage where the 10-minute Motonave or longer vaporetto ride from St. Mark's deposits you. The island is filled with Art Nouveau villas and hotels; to see the villas, wander along some of the side streets. In August and September, the Lido is the venue for the International Film Festival, held in the Palazzo del Cinema.