Venice has six Sestieri (Venetian name given to its districts) which constitutes the old city centre. Cannaregio: populate sestiere.
There is the Jewish Ghetto, the small area in which Jews were confined.
Castello: the greatest and animated Venetian sestiere. It's in the east of the city and includes the Arsenal.
Dorsoduro: it's one of the most comfortable areas of Venice. The name seems to derive from the small hills of debrises.
Santa Croce: San Paolo - next to the Grand Canal. In Santa Croce, Piazzale Roma and the island of Tronchetto with its big parking are located.
Lido di Venezia: It's the only area of the old city centre where cars can have access. It's the seat of "Venice Film Festival" and many other tourist attractions.

LIDO DI VENEZIA

The Lido di Venezia (Lido Inlet) is the main land barrier between Venice and the Adriatic Sea. It's the only island that allows people to use cars and mopeds. Otherwise you can use without any problem bikes as they are rented in the Lido near the main stop of the water bus.

The Lido, it's the perfect place for people looking for a comfortable accommodation; here in fact, you'll find many hotels providing all kinds of comfort. The Lido becomes very popular at the end of August/beginning of September as it hostes the International Venice Film Festival.
The Lido is easily reachable from Venice centre; it takes more or less twenty minutes coming from St. Mark's Square. You can use different lines according to the timetable: 1, 6, 11, 52, 82.

PUNTA DELLA DOGANA

The Punta della Dogana (Custom Point), is a promontory at the entrance of St. Mark's Basin and where it's possible to admire a wonderful sightseeing including the Riva degli Schiavoni, the island of San Giorgio, the fondamenta "Zattera".

This place, around the XV century, was the base of the maritime customs that had to control the ship cargos. The customs' wing placed at the tip, was built in 1677 by Giuseppe Benoni; the interior was designed by Alvise Pigazzi in 1835-1838.
Therefore you fine small squares with elegant well-heads, picturesque canals, narrow streets leading into wider "salizzade", the first paved Venetian roads.

SAN MARCO

PIAZZA SAN MARCO (ST. MARK'S SQUARE), "the drawing room of the world".
Piazza San Marco is the only square in Venice. Once Musset said about it "the drawing room of the world", meaning the marvellous, fascinating sensation that you can breathe. In the past it was both a religious and a political centre as well as a crowded square full of shops and cafes.

The Square has a rectangular shape established in the XII century, for the meeting of Pope Alexander III and the Emperor - Barbarossa.
All the Square is surrounded by old palaces sustained by porches. As the background, the Square has the St. Mark's Basilica. Northern there is "the Procuratie Vecchie", a big palace that once was the central office of Venetian main Bench.
Next, there is the Campanile or Clock Tower.
Southern we can find the "Procuratie Nuove", built in 1582 by Scamozzi and next is the Sansoviana Library. The Napoleonic annex closes the smallest part of the Square.

CANAL GRANDE

The Grand Canal is the main waterway in Venice, that goes from Piazzale Roma (the main stop of the public transports) to St. Mark's Square, crossing the city with a curios S-Shape. It's over two miles long and features three bridges
. The section of the Grand Canal between the train station and the Rialto Bridge offers scenic views of century-old palaces.
The most famous one are:

- Palazzo Dario;
- Palazzo Grimani;
- Palazzo Grassi
- Ca' Barzizza;
- Rialto Bridge;
- Ca' Pesaro (link);
- Ca' d'Oro;
- Mocenigo Palace;
- Vendramin Carlegi Palace;
- Venier Palace;
- Fondaco dei Turchi.

The three bridges Rialto Bridge, Bridge of the Barefoot and Academy Bridge are part the main bridges that go over of this fascinating canal. A fourth bridge by Santiago Calatrava is going to be constructed in order to connect Piazzale Roma to railway train station. Being the main Venetian waterway, the Grand Canal is crossed by water buses.

The best way to see the Grand Canal in Venice is by boat. Taking a public water bus (number 1) is a good idea for making a pleasant ride on the Grand Canal at a low cost.

Here is the list of the stops:
- Piazzale Roma;
- Ferrovia;
- Riva de Biasio;
- S. Marcuola;
- San Stae;
- Ca' d'oro;
- Rialto Market;
- Rialto;
- San Silvestro;
- Sant'Angelo;
- San Tomà;
- Ca' Rezzonico;
- San Samuele;
- Accademia;
- Santa Maria del Giglio;
- Salute;
- San Marco Vallaresso.

Santa Croce and San Polo are two adjacent quarters. They represent the ancient and original heart of the city.
Rialto was the first settlement of what after become Venice.

THE MERCERIE

Like the other famous Italian cities, in Venice there is a specific area full of fashionable shops, ready to satisfy a lot of people in the mood if shopping. The term "Mercerie" refers to a series of narrow streets that connect St. Mark's Square to Rialto.

There are three Mercerie:
- Merceria dell'orologio;
- Merceria di San Giuliano;
- Merceria di San Salvador.

From centuries they have been the heart of commercial activities, where the most appreciated shops remained opened even during the night.
Walking around the streets of Mercerie, you'll find several shops and boutiques of all kind (from jewelry shops to fashion ateliers) occupies this area of Venice and constitutes the heart of the city.

THE JEWISH GHETTO

The Jewish ghetto is in the Cannaregio Sestiere of Venice; it's divided in two parts: Ghetto Nuovo (New Ghetto) and Ghetto Vecchio (Old Ghetto) and it's surrounded by canals. It's nice to know the name's division is a misunderstanding: the New Ghetto is the oldest.
The presence of the Ghetto was tolerated during the Republic of Venice; this tolerant atmosphere ended at the beginning of XVI century when Jews were expelled from Spain (1492). That's because the Ghetto was built in Venice: it was a way to satisfy Catholic Church's claims.

During some catholic celebrations, Jews were forced to remain in the Ghetto. In spite of the restriction, Ghetto's population enlarged, so in 1663, the New Ghetto was constructed, there you find five beautiful synagogues.
During Napoelon's occupation the gates which enclosed the Ghetto were demolished although the Jews didn't have the same rights of the other Venetian citizens. During the 2nd World War, more than 2,000 Venetian Jews were deported to Germany. Only seven or eight Jews came back.

TORCELLO

Torcello is an island on the lagoon, very romantic and fascinating. Unlike Burano and Murano, Torcello is unhabitated. It's reachable from Venice taking the water bus (line N).
Archaeological remains of the past are still present in a remarkable state of conditions. The cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is in Piazza Torcello. Inside the cathedral, a big mosaic representing the Universal Judgement embellishes the interior walls.

The Estrario Museum contains significant archaeological finds from the Roman, Byzanthine and medieval periods; near there is the so called Sedia di Attila, a throne that once was the Administrator justice seat.

MURANO, THE GLASS MANUFACTURER

"(.)The craftsmen modeled the harmonious goblets, everyone obeying in operating to a rhythm its just generated from the quality of the matter and the custom of the moviments apt to dominate it(.)"

Gabriele D'Annunzio, Il fuoco
Source: venixe.com "the Art of Murano Glass".

Glass manufacturing is a distant tradition in Venice. Since the year 1000, there has been traces that the manufacturing of glass started.
Around the end of the XIII century, The Republic of Venice, forced glassmakers to move to Murano because they thought in case of a fire, it could burn down the city's mostly wood buildings.

The importance of Murano in manufacturing glass grew all around Europe. What made Murano's manufacturing unique, was that they used pure silica extracted from local quartz pebbles. The majority of the population in Murano were glassmakers, and they were forbidden to leave the Republic in fear that they would open there own business or sell to other manufacturers in Europe the secret of their manufacturing style.

Sand is a peculiar element to prepare a good glass product, and of course Venice has lots of high quality sands in its shores. Glass is the result of several mixed elements: the sand constitutes the main part of the glass. It contains also sodium, calcium carbonate, sodium nitrate and arsenic. Other substances are used to colour it.

A specific characteristic of glass is its way of solidification. It takes 1400°C to fond it and then a temperature of 500°C to maintain the glass fluid.
Glassworkers in Murano were and still are very experienced in manufacturing glass, and for this reason glass production is a drawing sector of Venetian economy beyond its artistic importance.

BURANO, the tradition of needle-lace

"The island of light, the harmoniously quiet island, forgotten from the land, voted to the religion of the sea".
Michel Desforgues

Burano is an island of the Venetian lagoon and it's famous for the production of handmade needle-laces.To trace the origin of lace production in Venice we have to go back to the year 1500. Lace manufacturing is essentially based on the creation of geometrical drawings like flowers and animals.

With the pass of time, women from Burano became very experienced in making the lace, scooping the cutthroat competition of France.
Needle lace manufacturing unfortunately lost importance after the Serenissima's collapse; a new flowering period in the XVIII century arrived thanks to the work of Cencia Scarpaiola.
Nowadays it's possible to visit in Burano the Lace Museum.

Lace production is handed down from older to younger generations from centuries. Its production required a lot of time, in fact women worked busily all day long.
Still today tourists are fascinated by the creative ability of lace workers.
For more information go to the official website of Burano: www.isoladiburano.it

CHIOGGIA, the second little Venice

Chioggia is an island in the south of the Lagoon. It's one of the major fishing ports. It's about 25 km from the Venice coast.

The small islands were subject throughout the centuries to several historic events:
- in the IX century, it was destroyed by the king Popping of Itlay.
- in the middle ages, it was abandoned in 1370 but later rebuilt and named Sottomarina.
- in the XIV and XV it became the main principal contest between the Serenissima and the Republic of Genoa. It was conquered by Genoa (1378) and years later by Venice (1380).

The little islands of Chioggia are also known to be a second Venice because of its old city centre, that looks very much alike to the centre of Venice. Like the Capital, Chioggia has its own main Canal, the Canal Vena, crossed by 9 brigdes.
Ponte Vigo, that takes you to Piazza Del Vigo, differs from the others for its majesty. Nowadays Chioggia accommodates the seat of the Maritime Biological studies of the University of Padua. Therefore Chioggia has many cultural attractions such as the church "Sant'Andrea", built during the XVIII century, the Romanesque tower was the place for military defence. The tower conserves the most ancient tower clock designed by Giovanni Dondi.
The museum of San Francesco, located in the homonym church, conserves ancient archives revealing the historical passages of the islands, and all kinds of objects dealing with the history of Chioggia are exposed. Every 3rd week-end of June Chioggia celebrates the "Palio della Marciliana", that evokes the war between the Serenissima and Genoa in the XIV century.
Being a seaport, the main economic resource of Chioggia is fishing, but also the production of Radicchio and tourism are very important economic revenues.
How to get there from Venice: take the lines 1 or 82 towards the Lido. Then you have to buy a ticket for the bus number 11 for Pellestrina. You should arrive in Chioggia in one hour and half.