venice gondole
venice gondole
description of the trip
Visit venice and gondole
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Piazza San Marco view hide
One of the most famous and beautiful squares in the world, Piazza San Marco is at the heart of the historic city of Venice, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. St Mark's Square is called a piazza and not a campo to distinguish it from the other city's squares and to emphasis its singular beauty. The square was paved in herringbone-pattern bricks: this was in fact the original paving style that used to line the streets and squares of Venice. The present-day paving stones date from 1723. Enclosed on three sides by the arcaded buildings of the Procurators, it was once a remarkable showcase for feasts, ceremonies, tournaments and fairs.
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Rialto Bridge view hide
The Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) is the true heart of Venice. The current structure was built in just three years, between 1588 and 1591, as a permanent replacement for the boat bridge and three wooden bridges that had spanned the Grand Canal at various times since the 12th Century. It remained the only way to cross the Grand Canal on foot until the Accademia Bridge was built in 1854. The Rialto Bridge’s 7.5-meter arch was designed to allow passage of galleys, and the massive structure was built on some 12,000 wooden pilings that still support the bridge more than 400 years later. The bridge has three walkways: two along the outer balustrades, and a wider central walkway between two rows of small shops that sell jewellery, linens, Murano glass, and other items for the tourist trade.
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Il Ponte dei Pugni view hide
"Ponte dei Pugni is a bridge, located in the Dorsoduro district, near Campo San Barnaba. It takes its name from an ancient tradition of Venice abandoned for centuries: the War of fists. The inhabitants of two opposing factions, the Castellani San Pietro di Castello and Nicolotti of St. Nicholas of Mendicoli fought to “fists” at the top of the bridge. The purpose of the “game” was to throw the opponents in the river. The winner was the team that kept most of his men on deck. This tradition, over time, became too violent and dangerous and was suspended several times by the Republic, which lead, after several serious accidents including deaths, to its final deletion in the eighteenth century. The bridge has four foot imprints in Istria stone in memory of this “War”."
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Bridge of Sighs - Ponte dei Sospiri view hide
Some legends say that the Ponte dei Sospiri was called so because it was a rendezvous for lovers; however, the truth relates a much sadder tale. The bridge, in fact was built to convey magistrates to the courts and prisoners to their fates. However, the Baroque bridge, designed by Antonio Contino, still has a very romantic association, and remains an important historical landmark in Venice today. It is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars, and connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge’s Palace. It was the last view of Venice the convicts saw before their imprisonment. The name was given by Lord Byron in the 19th century and comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of this beautiful city out the window before being taken down to their cells. A local legend says that lovers will be assured eternal love if they kiss on a gondola at sunset under the bridge.
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Venetian Arsenal view hide
The Arsenale di Venezia is a shipyard and naval depot that played a leading role in the Venetian empire-building. It was one of the most important areas of Venice, lying in the Castello sestiere. It already existed in the early 13th century, as mentioned in Dante's Inferno. The name probably comes from the Arabic Dar al Sina’a ("Dockyard") and the concept was clearly Islamic as much as Byzantine. Initially the dockyard worked simply for the maintenance of naval ships, but in 1320 the Arsenal Nuovo was built much larger than the original. It enabled all the state's navy and the larger merchant ships to be both constructed and maintained in one place. Warships started to be mass-produced in the Arsenal and also new firearms at an early date, beginning with bombards in the 1370s. The Porta Magna, the Arsenal’s main gate, was built in about 1460 and was the first Classical revival structure to be built in Venice. Significant parts of the Arsenal were destroyed under Napoleonic rule, and later rebuilt to enable the Arsenal's present use as a naval base. It is also used as a research centre, an exhibition venue during the Venice Biennale and is home to a historic boat preservation centre.
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Staircase Contarini del Bovolo view hide
The spiral staircase 'Scala Contarini del Bovolo' is an extraordinary example of Venetian architecture in transition: leaving the realms of the gothic to embrace renaissance style. Hidden inside a small courtyard, at the end of a narrow calle, next to Campo Manin, appears, unique in all its extraordinary elegance La Scala of the Bovolo. It is one of the most striking examples of transition from the Venetian Gothic style, well-rooted in local culture, to that of the renaissance. A series of overlapping arches link the different levels as the staircase winds upwards to form a cylindrical tower. Its Venetian name of “Bovolo” refers to the spiral shell of a small local edible snail. The structure adopted is inspired by the Renaissance, but it fits into a structure which recalls the shape of the Byzantine scalar towers. The ascent of 'La Scala' concludes with a lookout dome from which one can admire a splendid and unusual landscape: the roofs, towers, domes of St. Mark, with a view over the city.
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Jewish Ghetto view hide
Visiting the Ghetto of Venice, one enters an extraordinary and unique quarter. Five synagogues are located in this small area, representing the different "nations" (Jewish ethnic groups) who settled down in the Lagoon along the centuries. There are also the “skyscrapers”, the old and crowded buildings were the Jews lived, the ancient pawn shops, the midrashim, where the sacred texts were studied and discussed. The ancient stones are still located there and the Jewish Community, culturally very active, still reside here. Nowadays there are about 600 Jews living in Venezia and Mestre, very few in the Ghetto. The Venetian Community is committed to several projects in order to maintain its traditions and artistic legacy, share its history and culture, and fight prejudice and anti-Semitism. An ever growing number of visitors come here from all over the world to admire the synagogues and the museum.
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