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Cities Information
VENICE
| Region |
Veneto |
| Capital |
Venice |
| Total Population |
800,370 |
| Males |
387,086 |
| Females |
413,284 |
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City of Canals
Venice
is the capital of the region of Veneto and of the province
of Venice in Italy. Its population is 271,663 (census
estimate January 1, 2004). The city is included, with
Padua (Padova), in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area,
population 1,600,000. The city stretches across numerous
small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the
Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon
stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po
(south) and the Piave (north) Rivers.The population
estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of
the whole Comune of Venezia; the historic city of Venice
(Centro storico) inhabitants are around 62,000, while
approximately 176,000 people live in Terraferma (literal
dry land, it means the extra-lagoon areas) and 31,000 live
in other islands of the lagoon. The Venetian Republic was
a major sea power and a staging area for the Crusades, as
well as a very important center of commerce (especially
the spice trade) and art in the Renaissance.
Venice
is world-famous for its canals. It is built on an
archipelago of 118 islands formed by about 150 canals in a
shallow lagoon. The islands on which the city is built are
connected by about 400 bridges. In the old center, the
canals serve the function of roads, and every form of
transport is on water or on foot. In the 19th century a
causeway to the mainland brought a railway station to
Venice, and an automobile causeway and parking lot was
added in the 20th century. Beyond these land entrances at
the northern edge of the city, transportation within the
city remains, as it was in centuries past, entirely on
water or on foot. Venice is Europe's largest urban carfree
area, unique in Europe in remaining a sizable functioning
city in the 21st century entirely without motorcars or
trucks.
Gondola on Grand Canal beside Rialto Bridge.The classical
Venetian boat is the gondola, although it is now mostly
used for tourists, or for weddings, funerals, or other
ceremonies. Most Venetians now travel by motorised
waterbus ("vaporetto") which ply regular routes along
the major canals and between the city's islands. The city
also has many private boats. The only unmotorized gondolas
still in common use by Venetians are the traghetti, foot
passenger ferries crossing the Grand Canal at certain
points without bridges.
Venice is served by the newly rebuilt Marco Polo
International Airport, or Aeroporto di Venezia Marco Polo,
named in honor of its famous citizen. The airport is on
the mainland and was rebuilt away from the coast so that
visitors now need to get a bus to the pier, from which a
water taxi or Alilaguna waterbus can be used.
Above all:
walk. If you do nothing else, you'll be quite happy. The
main part of Venice is divided into six sestieri
(districts): San Marco and San Polo (the busiest and most
touristy); Dorsoduro, overlooking the Giudecca (the most
elegant); Santa Croce and eastern Castello (the most
down-with-the-people working districts); Cannaregio
(large, but less explored); and the fascinating Ghetto
(after which all ghettos are named). Since the Venice map
of complete accuracy and reliability has not yet been
drafted, no matter how hard you try not to, you will get
lost But since this is the principal pleasure of
strolling the city, don't fret about it.
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Museums