Below:  Unique photochrome Images of Venice circa 1890

Carnival

Venice 1860

Photo Tours

Old Venice

Prints

Venice Art

Burano

Murano

Note the Grand Canal snaking through from the train station, on the left, to Saint Mark's Square and the Doge's Palace at the right end of the canal.

The large pool of water toward the right end of Venice is The Arsenal, a huge boat-ship building facility that produced, assembly-line style, the ships that made Venice a naval power and trading-rich Republic.

Giudecca is the island(s) at the bottom of the image. 

San Michele, the cemetery island, sits above Venice. 

Murano, the glass-making island, is above San Michele.

Murano

The wondrous things that can be made of glass...

Only seeing is believing.  Until you have a chance to visit Murano island and its many shops and the foundries in operation, I have some images you can enjoy on my Murano Page.

Yes, this is made of glass!

As is this...

Burano

There are other islands in the Venetian lagoon.  About 40 minutes from Venice by boat (vaporetto) is the island of Burano.

From my experience, there comes a moment when visiting Venice, that the crumbling decay of the once glorious buildings, and the graffiti on walls from the 1200s, makes me depressed.

If that happens to you, I suggest a trip to Burano.  It is light, airy, colorful and beautifully tended. 

It is a living community of fishermen and women.  Once famous for the lace-makers, it is now just a nice side trip from Venice.

I have a page dedicated to Burano.

Art and Artists

Canaletto's view of the main square of Venice.

  You can visit my Venice Art - Canaletto page for more images and info.  The Venetian palace, now a lovely, human-sized museum, Ca' Rezzonico, has two Canalettos in their collection.

Here is an image of the canal-level entrance to the Grand Canal palace Ca' Rezzonico.

And the main staircase of Ca' Rezzonico.

And a view from the top floor, looking out on the garden in the back (to the right), and the view over the rooftops and rio (a small canal).

Scuola Grande di San Rocco's wonderful website, including a virtual tour. Worth a visit!

Introduction

Venice is called the Serenissima, or the Most Serine, because of it's serine beauty, and for the quiet atmosphere created by waterways running through the town rather than roads.  Some call it the Queen or Jewel or Pearl of the Adriatic.

I prefer to call it magical, especially when the fog is blurring her rougher edges, and mist has given every stone a reflective sheen.

The geographic isolation of Venice has contributed to the unique character and dialect of Venetians.  They are famously soft-spoken, sweet-tempered and mild-mannered, in an Italy more known for it's extraversion.  The spoken dialect sounds like a whispered song; very sensual.

Remember this...

No books, videos, photos or words can adequately prepare anyone for a trip to Venice. 

Once on the boat-bus, il vaporetto, number 1, cruising down the Grand Canal, the unique reality that is Venice hits full force.  The size, beauty, water-streets, crumbling extravagance... The result is a stupor, the early phase of Stendhal Syndrome, the illness caused by an over-indulgence in magnificent art and culture.

Rialto Bridge

Stendhal Syndrome, in mild to severe form, follows all visitors to Venice during their stay there.  Every turn of a corner presents to the eye something new, fascinating, beautiful, evocative, things never before imagined.

The cumulative effect of all this, is a numbness of the brain.  One finds one's senses shutting down.  Suddenly mundane things push themselves into the brain.  While standing before the Baroque exuberance of St. Moses Church, for example, you can hear tourists talking about gossip from back home.  It is a defense mechanism.

When you find yourself doing that, it is best to return to your hotel or apartment to rest and recover, before setting out again to make more beautiful discoveries.

Vaporetti - Boat Busses

There are no cars or busses in Venice.  Not even bicycles are allowed.  Transport is via foot or via boat.  Take comfortable walking shoes! 

Vaporetto - Bus-boat

Actually, take several pairs of comfortable walking shoes with you.  You will want to alternate them.  And some soft inserts are a big help against the pounding your feet will take from the cobblestones.

To visit the most in the shortest amount of time, it is a good idea to use the boat-busses, vaporetti.  There are several passes available that cover everything from 12 hours to a week.  A single trip is 6.50 Euros.

Inside the prow of a vaporetto

Check your plans, see which will save you the most money, then you can purchase the tickets/passes at the Tobacconist shops throughout Venice, or from the machines situated at the larger vaporetto stops.

Buy a good Venice map, and you will find all the bus-stops indicated, and the bus-lines.  You can use the vaporetti to around Venice, Giudecca, the Lido, to the cemetery, Murano, Burano and other islands.

A vaporetto (bus) stop, indicated by the yellow bands, and the name of the stop

There are usually two ramps:  one for disembarking passengers, and one for boarding passengers.  All the disembarking passengers are given right-of-way.  Then the boarding passengers are allowed on.

Rialto's vaporetto stop on the left

Here is the same stop from the other perspective, with the Rialto Bridge, lined with shops, in view behind boat moorings

You have to put your ticket/pass before a time-clock before boarding.  It registers the time and route automatically, and if you watch the machine's face closely, you can see when you pass will expire, if it is a time-pass.

The Local Point of View

A colleague from Venice once confided in me the four things that most worry Venetians:

• the diminishing number of Venetians living in Venice,
• the imported glass, lace and paper products sold as "Venetian",
• over-tourism ruining quality of life,
• and the annual flooding that drapes raw sewage over streets and houses.

In Europe, the French are the most famous for wanting to discuss the philosophical aspects of every issue rather than the actual issue itself.  But I've noticed that the average Venetian is also very philosophically minded.

Doges Palace with the bell-tower behind

An example is the time I approached a Venetian cafe for a well-needed coffee.  Outside I noticed, seated around the tables, the barista and at least five twenty-year-old men.  

Were they discussing sports or women?  Not exactly.  While preparing my coffee, the barista asked my opinion on their topic of discussion: 

"Isn't it very interesting to note that even wealthy and beautiful people have romantic difficulties just like the poor and the plain; wealth and beauty make only a superficial difference in life; to be human is to be the same as every other human in what causes suffering and loneliness."

So there, all you Francophiles!

La Fenice

La Fenice is the town's famous opera house and performance hall.  Their website is full of history, concert schedules, a shop and photos.  

Two images from opening night at La Fenice in December 2003.

La Fenice burned down in 1996 but has recently risen from the ashes.  To fully understand how devastating the fire was to Venice and her proud citizens:

• read this account by a local, accompanied by frightening photos of the fire and aftermath.  
• The town-hall of Venice has lots about the so just Google Il Comune di Venezia, 
• and visit this link to the Classical Music Website Gramophone to read about the reopening.  
• To read about scandals during the rebuilding, click here.

During it's absence, productions and symphonies were held in a special tent, and the shows were aimed at a wider audience than those usually shown in La Fenice. 

Next to the theatre, to one side of the Antico Martino Restaurant, there is this lovely courtyard before a palace divided into several apartments.  On the ground floor is a wine-bar.

Now that the restored and rebuilt theatre is open again, there is a fight going on between the artistic and business managers about whether to continue the more popular, and profitable, performances, or return to a narrower audience for challenging musical spectacles. 

Gondolas

The typically Venetian boat, the gondola, has varied little over the centuries.  They are used everyday in Venice to transport not just tourists.

There are gondola traghetti (overcrossing) routes along the Grand Canal that cost you .50cents.  They are indicated on good maps of Venice.

For a very, very long time, an earlier wooden version of the Rialto Bridge was the only bridge across the Grand Canal.  The gondolas carry people with their shopping, briefcases, school bags... from one side to the other, all day long.

Here is a gondolier using an age-old technique to cast off from a wall so as to make the tight turn up ahead.

Carnevale

Venice is famous for it's celebration of Carnevale, and for the carnival masks.

I've a page dedicated to Venice's Carnival, with lots of beautiful images, the characters you might see roaming the streets, and some background. 

Carnevale began as one of those wild festivals that give periodic relief to citizens of repressive societies.  Masked Venetians could make fools of themselves and their partners without paying the consequences only that night of the year.  

The wild nature of the celebrations wore out even the ever-ready-for-an-adventure English poet Byron.  He left Venice after a wild Carnevale, too exhausted to remain.

Photochrome Images of Venice Circa 1890

These extraordinary images come from the Old Picture site.  It is a wonderful place to browse the past.  If you are an educator, it is a fantastic resource for lessons, bringing the past to life in a way mere words or paintings cannot.  This is the link to their Italy category, and this link is to their home page.

Venice Courtyard

The aquifer wells, visible in almost all squares (campi) were sealed after a water pipe was installed to bring water from the mainland into Venice.  It was discovered that the pumping up of water from the aquifers was causing Venice to sink. 

The chimney on the left, against which the woman is leaning, is a typical Venetian construction.  The chimney for a fireplace was attached to the outside of the building, not built into the structure. 

The old wooden shutters are still seen around Venice, today, as are the wash drying lines, and window grates.

Venice Shop and Street Scene

The buttressed balconies and second floors can be seen everywhere around Venice. 

And in some places, you can see the medieval structure, in which the buttressing extends to create a covered walkway.  But most houses have built in that area to increase the size of the ground floor, as in the image. 

Small shop fronts in Venice can hide deep and large shop interiors that extend across several buildings. 

Fresh garden produce is still grown on the islands in the Venice lagoon, and it is brought to shops, markets and even sold off the side of boats in Venice, today, just as it has always been done.

Street Scene looking toward the Rialto Bridge which rises in the distance, covered with people

This scene, looking toward the Rialto Bridge (you can see the crowd rising in the distance as they cross the shop-covered bridge), is very similar to how it looks today. 

Shops line this street, that leads to the Rialto Market where you can purchase fresh produce and fish.

Venice Bridge of Boats over the Grand Canal

This is an image of one of the temporary bridges that are constructed throughout the year for religious festivals, to provide easy access to important churches for pilgrims.  Boats line up and a wooden bridge is constructed over them.  This bridge looks like one made for the November festival that links the two sides of the Grand Canal at the beautiful Church of La Salute.

Riva degli Schiavoni

The quay looks up toward the Doges' Palace on the right (pink) and the Church of La Salute on opposite side of the basin, to the left.  The Grand Canal begins between the two famous landmarks.

The two large groups of sailors are especially interesting in the photograph.  As is the statue, that looks like the one of Garibaldi that is now on Via Garibaldi, not far from here.

I'm not sure why the man has the basket on his head (foreground - right).  Maybe that is the best way to carry it?

Old Bell Tower in St. Mark's Square

A decade or so after this photo was taken, the massive bell tower collapsed.  It was rebuilt.

There are many more images of Venice, her sights, canals, palaces and churches at the Old Picture site.  This is the link to their Italy category.

 

Cesare Colonnese

 

If you would like to learn to cook like a Venetian, and to speak like one too, you can watch the entertaining and educational cooking videos made by Cesare Colonnese in Venice.

 

This one shows you how to cook the classic Venetian sardine dish "Sardee in saor".

 

 

 

 

Aqua Alta

 

The water level in Venice in December of 2010 was extremely high.  Here is a video made that shows you what life is like during the flooding season.

 

 

 

 

Books About Venice

 

If you'd like to read more about Venice before your trip, or checkout the printed guidebooks, you can use this Search tool to see what's available from Amazon.com, what people say about the books, and what they cost.  

Just enter 'Books' in the 'Search' field, and 'Venice Italy' (for example, or you could put 'Guggenheim' or 'Venice Italy camping'...).  Then click on the 'Go' button to see the resulting list.

Search: All Products Apparel & AccessoriesBabyBeautyBooksCamera & PhotoCell Phones & ServiceClassical MusicComputer & Video GamesComputersDVDElectronicsGourmet FoodHealth & Personal CareHome & GardenJewelry & WatchesKitchen & HousewaresMagazine SubscriptionsMiscellaneousMusicMusical InstrumentsSoftwareSports & OutdoorsTools & HardwareToys & GamesVHS Keywords:

 

Venice Guides

 

 

 

   

 

Some Music

 

 

 

A Venice Game

 

 

 

 

Venice prints, poster, canvases... from the Internet's biggest, worldwide print shop.

 

Free Art Prints

     

 

 

My other pages on Venice:

Carnival

Venice 1860

Photo Tours

Old Venice

Prints

Venice ArtVisit my Murano Glass page for inspiring images.

Visit my Coloring Pages for images of Venice for children to color