Venetian dictionary

So after your first day in Venice when you visited San Marco and Rialto you are ready to explore other parts of the city. We are ready to take you there, only before we start it is important to set some ground rules and familiarize yourselves with some typically Venetian notions.

Altana – a unique Venetian pavilion or pergola, a sort of terrace on top of the roof of the building. The idea was apparently brought by Venetian seafarers from the Orient. Venetian streets are dark, narrow, with high humidity which works perfectly as a city-wide air-conditioning system, but the sunlight cannot penetrate inside. Room on the ground is limited (and expensive) so only the rich of the rich could afford garden so other Venetians perched it on the top. In the XV century Venetian ladies (and even more often courtesans) used altana to sun-bleach their hair. They put on a special straw hat called isolana that had no crown and spread their hair on the brim after having sprayed it with one of the magic potions of the time (some even contained urine so we will not quote them here).

Nowadays altana is a perfect spot for people-peeking.

Very rich families had gardens (like the one in Ca’Rezzonico), wealthy ones had altanas and simple people satisfied their thirst for nature with plants in the pots.

Bàcaro (stress on the first syllable) – a small and dark bar where you can have a glass of wine (if you don’t specify it will be a glass of white) accompanied by small bites called chicheti starting from the early morning until about 20:00-21:00 only (even though some more advanced have extended their working hours). A glass of wine here is called un’ombra (literally ‘shade’ as the drinks used to be consumed in the shade) and so what Americans would call ‘bar hopping’ here is called gira de ombre – making rounds visiting shades. Another way to call it is cichettare – from the snacks chicheti displayed by the bar counter. For those familiar with Spanish tapas or Basque pixtos this concept should be familiar – small seafood balls called polpette made of octopus and anchovies as well dried cod soaked and boiled in the milk with garlic until it turns into homogenous white paste called baccalà mantecato.

The procedure is simple: you choose wine and snacks and make yourself comfortable right next to the counter and at one of the stand-up tables nearby and then – even in an hour – ask for check (the bartender remembers everything) and pay your bill. You cannot take snacks and drinks from the counter and sit at one of the sit-down tables: there you will be served by a waiter, it will be a different menu and a different prices.

You cannot call bàcaro an extremely cheap pleasure: in order to fill your stomach you will have to take several chicheti so the bill might end up close to menu turistico served in most eating places, plus for some it could be tiring to stand. Yet we recommend to visit a bàcaro at least once to see a more real Venice.

Another variation of bàcaro  is enoteca – wine bar where you can taste wines, buy a bottle or – as many locals and tourists alike – have a ‘takeout’ wine and drink it on a canal side or on the steps of a church.

Barbacane (plural barbacani) were the projecting wooden beams that made it possible to increase the floor space without obstructing already narrow streets of Venice. Thanks to them every floor above the ground level could be extended without causing problems to the flow of pedestrian traffic. Despite the modern word sounds very Italian, its origins are probably Oriental coming from the Arabic b-al-baqara (cattle gateway). You can see barbacani throughout Venice and if you pay close attention on Calle della Madonna 574 in San Polo sestiere, you can even see the standard barbican that was used as a ‘standard measure’ for the city authorities to control that the citizens followed the building guidelines.

Barnabotti – impoverished aristocrats during the last years of the Republic. Term coming from the Church and Campo San Barnaba in Dorsoduro sestiere where the authorities provided sort of social housing for them. Still be Venetian law the nobles were not allowed to work and their only two money-making activities were begging and selling their votes in the Grand Council. By the way, Campo San Barnaba was a site of ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade’.

Church and Campanile San Barnaba

Campo San Barnaba (on the left)

Nowadays the only people trying to make money here are a few lazy gondoliers…

Bricole – probably the most famous polls in the world that can be seen all over the Grand Canal and the Lagoon (as well on nearly half tourist postcards) – black, sharpened from the top and very picturesque. They mark the sandbars and canals safe for navigation. A single poll is called paline (see below) and bricole is the name for three polls bind together by a rope or chain. Their color signifies from which side it is safe to sail (with white color), quantity and shape also bear some strategically important navigational information.

Calle a Venetian street which comes as a surprise for those who speak Italian as the street in Italian is strada or via. However (another surprise) there is only one (!) strada in Venice – Strada Nova that provides quick access to bus and train stations for Arsenal workers from the Eastern part of the city. And even this one did not exist until the end of XIX century when it was decided to ‘untangle’ the maze of the little streets leading to these vital destinations.

The only Venetian Strada

There are also only two via – Via 22 Marzo and Via Garbaldi. Most other streets are called calle – literally meaning trail or path. alOther types of streets include ramo – narrow passage, sottoportego (see below) and  salizzada – paved street. Salizzada (or salizada – as Venetians apparently do not like double consonants) – the name comes from ancient times when only certain streets were paved, nowadays everything is paved: calle, ramo, ruga... Lista – another type of Venetian street that used to lay in front of an ambassador’s palace and thus also enjoyed diplomatic immunity. This street was also paved with special white stones that were called liste.

Here shopping is also done on wheels, just different kind of wheels.

Campanile – literally bell tower, but in Venice it more than that: aside from fulfilling its primary duty of chiming time of the day and informing people about the beginning of the mass they also served as watchtowers (the narrow streets made the city very prone to fires) with a 24/7 watchkeeper. Another function was a lighthouse (the Campanile of San Marco was covered with reflecting plates). The most popular – and the only ones where the tourists can go to the top – are the one of San Marco and San Giorgio Maggiore across the canal, both offering breathtaking view. Read more about the Campanile of San Marco here.

Campanile of San Giorgio Maggiore

Other campanile are mostly free-standing, square-shaped without windows other than on the top. The second highest belongs to Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (or simply Frari) in San Polo district and dates back to XIV century.

Other campanile are mostly free-standing, square-shaped without windows other than on the top. The second highest belongs to Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (or simply Frari) in San Polo district and dates back to XIV century.

Campo is a Venetian square. Even though there are many squares in the city only of them is called Piazza – Piazza San Marco (next to it there are two small piazzetti). Since it the only square in the city, the Venetians often refer to it simply as Piazza. This officially makes Venice the only city of this size with only one street and one square.

All the rest of the squares are called campo – literally ‘field’ as until recently they were not paved and the grass grew here (one example of what it looks like the one below that you can still see next to the Church San Trovaso).

As Venice started from a constellation of separate islands, Campo used to be the center of each of these small communities having the church (usually eponymous with campo), often a market or a cafe and also serving as the water cistern (this is why some of them are slightly elevated  – just like from the other side of San Trovaso).

The way some of the campo are paved repeats the paths beaten by people coming to the pozzo (well) from different sides of the campo (more on pozzo below). You can see some of them on Campo Sant’Angelo, Campo San Giacomo di Rialto, Campo San Polo, Campo San Tomà etc.

Small campo is called campiello, while corte differs from both by having only one or two entrances and has no church, market or café but provides a perfect playground for young footballers. If the square is called piscina (literally ‘pool’) it means that underneath lays a former canal, now filled.

Canale. Another Venetian paradox. Even though everyone knows that there are plenty canals in Venice, actually only three of them are named canale: Canal Grande (sometimes called Canalazzo by the Venetians – suffix ‘azzo meaning big or huge), Canale della Giudecca and Canale di Canareggio. And, strictly speaking, these three in particular are not even canals as they were not artificially dug but are in fact former flows between islands or sandbanks.

Natural channels in Venice are called rio and typically are not more than a meter deep – you might see it some time in the city while they are being cleaned. If the rio was filled it is called rio terrà (see more below).

Carampani – old Venetian word for prostitutes. In the XVI century according to census there were 11,164 of them in the city. Therefore, one inhabitant in five was engaged in ‘the oldest profession in the world’. All prostitutes were divided into 2 classes or castes: cortigiana onesta, an educated high-level courtesan that served the nobles and was listed in ‘Il Catalogo di tutte le principale et piu honorate cortigiane di Venezii’ along with their fees and addresses, and lower class prostitutes cortigiana di lume working in the dedicated area near Rialto Bridge. Right next to it there was Ponte delle Tette – the bridge of breasts – where the prostitutes were officially allowed to display their naked breasts. In the evening upon the third strike of the bell of San Marco, the prostitutes had to shut themselves indoors and under no account show themselves during various religious activities. However the rules were more often violated so in 1421 the State decided once again to group prostitutes together – this time in the houses inherited from Rampani family whose last ancestor had died. As a family palazzo was called actually casa later shortened to Cà (more on palazzo below) with the family name – Cà Rezzonico residence of Rezzonico family, Cà Pesaro of Pesaro family and so on – all the prostitutes residing in Cà Rampani were called carampani. The life of sex workers at the time was no fun: they were subject to evening curfew, were forbidden to entice clients around Christmas, Easter and other major religious holidays, not allowed to go to bars and restaurants  and were only allowed to walk around the city on Saturdays wearing a yellow scarf around their neck. The punishment for any violation was whipping with the number of lashes determined by the severity of the crime.

By the XVII young prostitutes spread again throughout the city and only older women remained in Cà Rampani district as the very sight of them had become offensive. Younger ones though were still now allowed to live on the Grand Canal, travel by a boat powered by two or more oars, enter the church during the services, wear a white mantle (associated with young virgins) or adorn themselves with gold, jewelry or pearls. And – just like their pimps – they were not allowed to testify in court nor bring legal action against anyone who did not pay them for their services.

The Republic of Venice has had complex relationships with the sex workers going from love to hate: at some point they were expelled from the city and later brought back both to attract foreign visitors from the countries where it was not allowed but also in order to take measures against the spread of homosexualism.

One of the surviving reminders of sex trade in Venice is Traghetto del Buso where gondoliers ferried visitors from Fondaco dei Tedeschi (German inn) to the girls across the Grand Canal. Buso means ‘hole so you can imagine what it was vulgarly referred to…

Carnavale – one of the symbols of Venice traditionally held before the Lent (carnavale meaning ‘farewell to meat’ – same root with carnivore). With time the carnivals started lasting longer and longer and reached the peak continuing for months by the end of the Republic, when Venice was almost bankrupt.

The idea of putting on a mask and not being recognized resonated well with Venetian mentality, and the masks evolved from simple ones to very sophisticated, hand-made and gilded. Today it is one of the most popular tourist souvenirs and as always you have a choice between buying an affordable mask ‘made in Taiwan’ or a masterpiece by a local artist. Masks can be of various shapes and designs – some covering the entire face, some only the eyes. The most popular is ‘The plague Doctor’ with a long nose resembling a bird’s beak. This mask – nowadays pure entertainment – was once worn by the doctors during the plague epidemics of Renaissance times. The ‘beak’ contained aroma oils and other substances that were believed to help prevent contamination. Atop the clothes the doctor wore a long black coat making look like a sinister bird.

Doge – another symbol of Venice representing a unique political model: while in other European countries the power was inherited Venice chose their Doges who were considered as the servant of people, not monarch. Visiting foreigners considered that Venetian Republic had all the advantages of monarchy without its disadvantages. Indeed, throughout its history there was not one riot its stability based on permanent emergency situation where the interests of the State were always above the interests of an individual (for example one needed the permit to leave Venice). The nobles had privileges but in exchange they were called to temporarily leave the family business and serve the Republic in one of the administrative positions. Unlike nowadays the position of the Ambassador was the least desirable as all the expenses of representation were paid for from his own pocket. The only situation when an aristocrat was allowed not to serve the country was an urgent necessity to leave. Bourgeons and craftsmen did not have privileges but were happy that their interests were protected. Even plebs received social aid.

Nominally, the city was ruled by assembly of all the men of the city, but in fact only by nobles who were included in the Golden Book and had a spot in Maggior Consiglio the Grand Council, this spot passed through generations (their number varied between 1,500-2,500). By the end of the Republic it became possible to legally have your name added to the Golden Book with a help of a substantial bribe. Above the Grand Council was Senate – Quaranta – consisting of 300 representatives of political elite. The members of Senate could hope to become Doge at some point in their lives (usually around the age of 70) and then spend their last years nicely as Doge was appointed for life.

More on Doge’s Palace in your first day in Venice.

Fondamenta – Quay, but not just any quay. Fondamenta is only the quay residing on polls hammered into the bottom of the lagoon and used as foundation (fondamenta) for the houses. A wide natural bank is called riva like Riva-degli-Schiavoni stretching from Piazza San Marco towards Arsenal, then changing its name into Riva Cà di Dio, then Riva di Sette Martiri but always staying riva.

Fumaioli – Venetian chimneys traditionally having a very peculiar shape of an overturned cone. This unusual shape slowed down and cooled the emissions preventing sparks from jumping out onto the roofs (many of them covered with straw) causing fires. Another paradox of Venice: the city built basically on the water, surrounded by water, having water flowing through it has always suffered from fires. Densely built houses were excellent for keeping the heat away (sort of giant city-wide air-conditioning) but also made fire spread very quickly.

Another type of chimney unique to Venice was a sort of ‘forked’ chimney.

Until now there are around 7 thousand fireplaces in Venice (from over 10 thousand in XVI)

Gondola (stress on the first syllable, by the way) – probably the most famous type of boat in the world. Consists of 280 details made of different species of wood, is asymmetric (which makes it easy to use only one paddle), almost 11 meters long, almost one and a half meters wide, weighs over half a ton (about 700 kgs) and takes around a year to hand-make. Originally used purely practically to get around various parts of the city where there were more canals and less bridges, nowadays it is a tourist entertainment and therefore from 10,000 in XVIII century there are only about 500 of them left.

Hard to believe but gondolas are still done by hand and still in Venice (not everything is outsourced to China these days!). You can see one of the remaining shops called squero next to Campo San Trovaso.

All gondolas are black and there is an abundance of versions why it is so. Official: the gondolas were ordered to be painted black according to the law of The Most Serene Republic of the year 1633. Tragic: in commemoration of the plague that took lives of one third of the population. Practical: to make gondolas watertight they had to be coated with resin which is – as we know – black. Story with malversation has two versions within itself. According to one of them someone fell in love with a young unmarried girl and came to visit her during the night on a black gondola which forced her father seek help from the authorities. According to the other version the same black gondola came to visit a married woman and her husband was the one seeking justice. Either way the plaintiff (be it the worried father or deceived husband) turned to the authorities asking for help in finding that black gondola. To his surprise the next day the law came out ordering all gondolas to be painted black. Looks like he chose the right person to complain to. And, finally, romantic: a young couple in love were kissing on the banks of the lagoon and were they so tender and passionate that even the moon from the sky did not want to disturb them. So it slid from the sky into the waters of the lagoon and turned black in order not to disturb the lovers with its light.

Gondolier – the captain of gondola. They hang all day long in their designated spots (the union of gondoliers makes sure no one cross into others’ territory) and sometimes lazily shout ‘Gondola! Gondola!’.

But as soon as you made a deal with them they will change just like a slot machine after you drop a coin it: they will start moving, talking in main European languages, posing for the pictures and – some say – signing. By the way, despite the popular misconception singing is not included in the price and should be negotiated separately but in all these years we never heard any gondolier singing so it must be pretty steep. Gondolas seats six so you might split the costs.

You can learn to manipulate a gondola but cannot become a gondolier, you must be born one. There are only 450 gondoliers and most of them inherited the job (and the spot in the corporation). Even if the place is secured a gondolier must still undergo 9 months courses and pass exams not only on paddling but also on foreign languages and history of Venice.

How about those who were not born gondoliers? Well, they can still train and queue up waiting that maybe one of the current gondoliers does not have a male heir or the heir is not willing to take up on the offer. In the meanwhile they practice paddling traghetto (more on traghetto below).

Indirizzo – Venetian address. Venice – as you already know from your first day in Venice – is divided into six districts called sestiere (more on sestiere below). And not only each of them has its own numbering system, also not the buildings themselves are numbered but each entrance into the building (and sometimes even windows!).

Sometimes there are even two numbers per window...

With a total of 4 numbers per building:

So if the official address is San Marco 3447 it does not mean that the building is located on Piazza San Marco, instead it means it is in sestiere San Marco and the name of the street is absent (this is how you are supposed to write it on the envelope with the addition of postal code and the word Venezia). Unofficially, sometimes the name of the street is added, but since there are many streets with the same name (remember, the city developed as a group of separate islands), then the name of the next bridge, campo or parocchia (parish) is added. Still, in most cases to find the exact location you will have to walk and look at the building numbers which could be fun as you can stumble upon something interesting. But it is not so much fun when you have to do it with the suitcase in your hand. So if you are staying in the heart of Venice do not embark on a journey without having precise directions or having a very detailed map.

Venetian street names – unlike most other European cities – are not called in the honor of famous people: doges, admirals, travelers or musicians. All the other names (Via Garibaldi or Campo Nazario Sauro) are exception that only confirm the rule as they date to the late XIX century or even after World War II. Venetian street names do not promote any specific personality, they further confirm the fact that here the Republic always comes before the individuals. The streets are instead named after crafts that were practiced in the area, foods, traditions or even some criminal events (wonder what happened on Corte del Diavolo (Devil's courtyard) or Calle dei Morti – the Street of Dead).

See more about Ponte delle Tette (Bridge of Breasts) and Traghetto del Buso (The Crossing of the Hole) in carampani section.

Merceria – purely Venetian word meaning a specially build merchant street with the stores on the ground floor (called pian terreno) and living rooms on the upper floors. The entire district between San Marco Square and Rialto Bridge is called Mercerie.

Nizioleti (literally meaning ‘little bedsheet’) – Venetian street signs written on white placards. The nizioleti are pretty ancient and thus need to be renovated every once in a while. Very often the workers are not proficient in Venetian dialect and they re-write the street names in a standard Italian way. So at times the same calle can have a little different name on its ends (see also indirizzo). So, for example, campo San Biagio, campo San Blasio and campo San Biasio are all the same campo and on various maps and written on the walls you can encounter any of these names. Take it as a part of local traditions.

Venetians also use nizioleti to herd the crowds – who wants hordes of tourists wandering in your backyard? – all streets or streets or campos where you can potentially go wrong have been thoughtfully equipped with the nizioletti pointing either at San Marco and Rialto or ‘Alla Ferrovia’ (to railway station) or to Piazzale Roma (bus station and parking). This way they subtly guide the tourists to follow a couple of beaten tracks to and from the two main attractions.

Osteria a small tavern, similar to trattoria and very much like bàcaro (see above) only in bacaro you have to stand while in osteria you can sit down. Awhile back the name served as a sure indicator: ristorante is something posh, expensive, with white tablecloth, often oriented to inexperienced tourists and same often inedible while osteria was something for locals: tables covered with oilcloth or even paper, cheaper and tasty. Nowadays some expensive restaurants resorted to a ruse and started calling themselves osteria to attract those tourists who decided to fight globalism and eat local way so be vigilant.

Palazzo (plural will be palazzi) pretty straightforwardly means ‘palace’. Contrary to popular believes that there are many palazzi in Venice there are not that many – Palazzo Ducale (Doge’s Palace) being the most famous. Many other palaces are called casa (which with time got reduced to simple Ca) with the family name added to it – Ca’ Rezzonico, for example. Some were named after its most distinct feature, like Ca’d’Oro – Golden Palace. Palazzi constitute a considerable part of Venetian buildings. Classical palazzo has the front access door giving to the canal and the back door to a calle or campo, tradition dating back to times when most Venetians sailed not walked. Nowadays the access to many palazzo open to the public happens from the back door making some Venetians bitterly joke that Venice turned its back to tourists. On the ground floor there was a long vestibule going through the entire building with warehouses on both sides, offices where the deals were made and archives were kept (these turned into rich libraries with time). On the main floor piano nobile there is huge hall portego giving to both sides of the palazzo – it is easily identifiable from the outside by a big number of windows. This is where the family usually received the guests and so it usually is richly decorated. The family usually lived on the next floor while the servants occupied the attic. What differs palazzo from a regular house is the presence of balconies, carved windows on the second and (if the family had enough money) even third floor, private dock and – surrounded by a wall – garden with fountains and peacocks.

Obelisks on certain palazzi indicate that the owner of the building had served as an admiral with the Venetian fleet.

Private dock – one of the mandatory accessories of a palazzo.

Venice was so rich that even after all wars, fires, floods and looting, the palazzo are still packed with paintings and sculptures.

Paline – wooden polls that (together with bricole) serve to mark safe navigation paths and also to tie boats. While bricole are three polls tied together, paline are standalone polls.

The most famous ones are obviously the ones on the Grand Canal painted in red-and-white or green-and-white stripes and having special cone-shaped knobs. All of them are numbered.

Paline and bricole are made of a special species of acacia robina that is very resistant to rotting. Nevertheless, they still rot away and need to be replaced pretty much every twenty years.

Ponte – bridge. Out of 446 Venetian bridges only 4 cross the Grand Canal (two of them as well as the causeway connecting Venice to mainland built by foreigners). Most bridges are made of stone, but there are also cast-iron and wooden ones.

Altogether they have around 10,000 steps and passing them has turned into a sport (the completion is held in March). The steps are a pretty recent invention as in the Middle Ages they were used not only for people but also for horses and so were flat. In Venice you can also encounter many private bridges called pontezelo used to enter the houses.

Old times most bridges did not have railings and you can still encounter some around Venice

Probably this is how the bridges looked back then

Pozzo, Venetian wells, even though not anymore functional, can still be found in the middle of almost every campo. Another Venetian paradox: the city built on in the middle of water had no access to fresh water. Back in the days Venetians decided not to build aqueduct as they were worried that their eternal enemies Turks would poison it. Instead they opted to collect rainwater in 5-6 meters deep cistern filled with river sand that served as filter and each campo contains on of these cisterns. In the 1960’s the wells were sealed on request of local Public Health authorities.

The pozzi that you can see now are medieval works of art, in earlier times Venetians simply used hollowed out capitals of Roman columns.

Every pozzo had a special indentation designed to provide water for the cats who were considered sort of ‘holy cows’ as they chased rats  who brought devastating plague epidemics to the city.

Rio terrà is another type of Venetian street, the one that used to be a canal that was later filled.

Since the very foundation of Venice the canals were very seldom filled, just the opposite, digging of the new canals was seen as priority as they served as a road system, a way of eliminating rubbish within the city and waterway in and out of the lagoon. Before 1600 only 5 canals were filled – some because of the stretches of dead water or for such a special reason as building of San Marco. It all changed after the fall of the Republic in 1797 when the new authorities started to modernize the city making it more similar to its other counterparts: it was Napoleon who built the first ballroom, organized the first museum (before that all the art was inside the churches and palaces) and the first public garden. As walking was more customary than sailing, filling of the canals was started as well with about 20% of the canal system being filled. The practice was continued by Italians even after French and Italian occupants left.

On a short run it seemed like a good and cost-efficient idea (it is indeed cheaper to fill a canal once than to upkeep it). Plus filling the canals gave jobs to people protesting in front of Town Hall and thus took off the social edge. But now there are talks about ‘unfilling’ some of the waterways which would facilitate the flow of water but also provide very much needed mooring places (posti barca), of which there is now a chronic shortage. And what modern city does not have problems with parking spots?

Risso is a metal sign on the gondola bow. It has an S-shape that imitates the curve of the Grand Canal intersected by 7 bars: 6 from one side stand for the six sestieri of Venice the only bar on the opposite side stands for Guidecca island.

This historical element has adorned gondolas since ancient times when the gondolas were the only means of transportation on the Grand Canal. Now, with all the vaporetti (more on this below) and motor boats gondoliers are being pushed into smaller and smaller canals with smaller and smaller bridges. And if the gondolier himself can duck easily, the risso will stick out so some crafty gondoliers cut their risso. After the first gondolas without risso appeared on the ‘streets’ of Venice, the Corporation of Gondoliers was furious and ordered to reinstate the historical element with the only compromise allowing to install a mechanism hiding the risso during the passing of the bridge.

A little curl on the gondola aft is called dolphin.

Only once a year you can see Venice just like Canaletto depicted it: on the first Sunday of September when the Historical Regatta takes place all motorized boats are prohibited…

Sestiere, a district of Venice represents a rare case of etymological precision deriving from the word ‘six’ as the city is divided into six parts. In this regard it is much more accurate than the term ‘quarter’ (as in ‘residential quarter’) deriving from the fact that a Roman city was actually divided into four ‘quarters’ created by the intersection of north-south and east-west roads (the cardo and decumanus). For Venetians it is very important in which sestiere he was born and lives, and the name of sestiere is the only name that (along with the entrance number) comprises a Venetian address (there is no street name). As each sestiere has its own numeration system the numbers repeat in different districts making it not easy to find a particular place (see more in indirizzo section).

Sottoportego or sotoportego as Venetians unlike other Italians do not like double consonants (with plural sotoporteghi and the accent on the third ‘O’) is a covered passage under the main floor (portego) can be seen anywhere in Venice and seems pretty sinister at first, but do not worry, it is not New York and even these dark passages are perfectly safe any time of the day.

Sotoportego is another evidence of the supremacy of the needs of the Republic over those of an individual: if it was needed that the new passage were created where someone’s house stood, one room was simply removed and sotoportego was created.

Now you can use some sotoporteghi as a picnic spot.

Traghetto – the most archaic and most real type of transport in Venice: crossing of the Grand Canal on a simplified gondola. Unlike touristic gondolas – polished and decorated, with plush red seats – those used for traghetto are simple and shabby. No plush seats here: it is customary to stand during the crossing. And even though you can seat, the gondoliers will give you the look and will definitely figure out you are a tourist. Locals, even old ladies bringing fresh fish from Rialto market, bravely stand looking at the opposite side. It is cheaper and we suspect that locals do not pay at all so you can try making a face like you belong.  

Vaporetto, literally meaning ‘little steamboat’ is the only type of public transport in Venice linking different parts of the city and the islands of the lagoon. It is a sort of water tram having seats both indoors and on the open deck in the forward and aft. Even though the forward seats are the best for photographers, bear in mind that you cannot stand there (for one simple reason that you will obstruct the view for the Captain).

During peak hours so many people squeeze in that the crew have to throw mooring ropes literally from in between, on top of and under passengers. The driving style is very hot tempered: the boats take off abruptly, mercilessly bang against the berth simultaneously squeaking and creaking with every maneuver. Despite the reckless driving and complete disregard to waves and winds the transportation remains slow. There are basically two main routes: around the island and cutting through the island by the Grand Canal. Can you imagine leaving only a ring road and one inner road in any other city and let all the people reach all the destination by these two roads? Plus Grand Canal has so many stops on both sides that you do not win much time.

The first vaporetto started circulating the Grand Canal in 1881 (on the occasion of Geographic Conference) and – even no longer powered by vapor – circulate the city until now. Even though those who have no trouble walking can get anywhere in the city by foot, it is still good to take vaporetto #1 slowly sailing the Grand Canal that will give you the chance to see Venice with its churches and palaces the way it was intended – from the water.

There even is a special Vaporetto Del Arte that takes you along the Grand Canal. The downside? Higher price. The upside: you will have a map and audio guide in major European languages explaining what exactly you are sailings past.

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