Gardens

In Venice there are many gardens; most of them, are inside palaces, so they cannot be easily seen. This garden faces the Grand Canal, near Ponte degli Scalzi:

 

Hidden Place

This is a very hidden place near Campo San Barnaba: 

La Biennale

La Biennale (51th International Art Exhibition) has opened to the public. This is something you could see there:

 
Is it a man? is it a statue? Try to guess it!

Venetian Cat in a Boat

This is a Venetian cat in a boat.

Venice has always been a city with many cats (but today there are less cats than some years ago). Why Venetians brought so many cats in Venice? To eat mice!
PS: thanks Luca for this interesting picture 

Venetian water buses

In the picture below you can see a Venetian water bus: 


Getting around the Grand Canal in a water bus is a relaxing experience, above all if you're lucky to get a not crowded water bus.
A good line is Line n.1 (linea uno), that allows you to see all the Grand Canal.

Casa Fondaco

This palace can be see when going to Campo San Polo from Campo san Giacomo:

Note the "casa fondaco" structure, always used for the houses of Venetian merchants: the ground floor was a warehouse; a small floor between ground and first was used for the offices of the merchants; the first floor was a show room; the second floor was where the familiy of the merchant lived; the third floor was for the servants. 

Enrico Dandolo

Tomorrow will be 800 years after the death of Enrico Dandolo, one ot the greatest dogi (dukes) that Venice has seen.

Enrico Dandolo, old (in his nineties) and blind, led the Fourth Crusade to Zara and then Costantinopoli, to serve the ambitions of Venice.

Dandolo, the 39th Doge, never came back from Costantinopoli, where he died.

But the rewards for Venice from the Fourth Crusade (that never reached its target to reach the Holy Land) were so large that made Venice the first Mediterranean power.

Fondamenta della Misericordia

The walking on the left is Fondamenta della Misericordia, a place with many bars, restaurants and places where to meet friends:

 

Ca'Zenobio

This canal leads to Campo dei Carmini, near Campo Santa Margherita.
The white marble palace on the right is Ca'Zenobio:

 

Children Playing at san Giacomo

These are some children playing at Campo san Giacomo dell'Orio: 


Children sometimes play with bicycles, but in Venice you can't get around with a bike

Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista

The Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista is near Campo san Stin and Rio Marin. These are 3 pics of this Scuola: 

Venetian Taxi

This is a Venetian water taxi:

To get around in Venice you can walk, go by water bus, or choose a water taxi. 

Marble Palaces

This canal is between the Tre Archi Bridge and the Guglie Bridge, at Cannaregio.

A note about marble palaces in Venice, as the one you can see above: Venetian palaces often have only the facade in marble; the other 3 sides usually have only bricks.

Which Venetian palaces have more than one marble side?
two of them are Palazzo Labia and Ca'Pesaro.

For example, this is the marble left side of Ca'Pesaro:

It's unusual for a hidden side of a palace to be entirely covered by marble.

 

A Canal near San Nicolò dei Mendicoli

This wonderful place is near San Nicolò dei Mendicoli:

 

A Smaller Water Bus

The boat on the photo below is called "motoscafo", and is a smaller water bus:

This canal is near Ponte delle Guglie e Ponte dei Tre Archi. 

Restoring the Foundations

The canals digs the foundations of the palaces. For this reason, periodically these foundations must be restored.

This canal is between Zattere and San Vio:



And this canal is near Fondamenta Ognissanti:

Venice Ghetto

Under the government of the Serenissima Repubblica (the Most Serene Repubblic, as Venice proudly appealed itself), Jewish lived in a quarter called "Ghetto", from the Venetian word "getto" (that means foundry).


 


 

The area called "Gheto Novo" was limited by two bridges which were closed during the night:


 
This is Campo del Gheto Novo:


 


 


 


 
The Jewish community was very active and played an important role on the economic development of the Serenissima.

Palaces in Venice

Here are 3 palaces at Cannaregio;

this one is near Fondamenta della Miserciordia:

 

this is just 4 minutes walking from the other, going east:

 

and this is a very tipical building at Ghetto:

 

Bridge without handrails

This is a bridge without handrails, at Cannaregio:


this is an unusual fact.

But, centuries ago, many more bridges were without handrails, and horses were allowed to go around the city. 

Scuola di San Marco

Have you ever seen the Hospital of Venice?
It's a big building, at Castello.

Time ago, part of this building was the Scuola di San Marco (St.Mark's School).
Here is a picture of the hospital (the building on the left): 



Here is the facade of the entrance, from Campo san Giovanni e Paolo:

Misericordia Abbey

A place I like at Cannaregio is Campo dell'Abbazia, near the Misericordia School:



This is the Abbey as can be seen from the other side of the canal:



To arrive to Campo dell'Abbazia from Campo del Ghetto, walk along Fondamenta della Misericordia till the end, when you'll find Misericordia School; now, turn left, along the canal.
You'll find this bridge, leading to the Campo: