An Introduction To Venice
Your first trip to Venice can be a bit daunting, all that water, bridges and different types of boats and on top of all that everything is in Italian!
Never fear, it will all become clear when you understand a bit about the city.
Here is an aerial shot of Venice. It sits in a lagoon and is joined to the mainland by a very long causeway (top left) which carries road traffic and trains.
All road traffic and trains are parked at the Venice end of the causeway, from then on you will walk or catch a boat to your accommodation.
You can see the Grand Canal snaking through the middle of the city. The Rialto Bridge crosses the Grand Canal in the middle of the S. The long narrow island at the bottom of this photo is Giudecca.
The entire city is made up of 117 small islands all joined together by bridges-410 of them.
The roads are made of old flagstones and the bridges have steps. So, as you can imagine, the big thing is to have luggage that you can easily manage-either a backpack or suitcase with wheels.
This is a live webcam of the Historic Rialto Bridge which is going through a multi million dollar restoration at the moment. The Renaissance bridge is the oldest on the Grand Canal and the work is expected to take 18 months to complete. You can still use the bridge during the restoration, just parts of it will be closed at a time. The whole project is being funded by fashion tycoon Renzo Rosso, president of OTB Group, which owns the brands Maison Margiela, Marni, and Diesel among many others. Thank goodness for fashion!
Ponte della Liberta. (Liberty Bridge) The name of the causeway built around 1840 from the mainland to Venice.
Tronchetto. The name of the island at the Venice end of the causeway where you can park your car.
Piazzale Roma. The name of the area at the Venice end of the causway where all the buses park.
Venezia Santa Lucia. The name of the train station in Venice (not Mestre which is on the mainland end of the causeway).
