How to get around
At a first glance, Venice may seem a kind of complicated labyrinth. Our information and hints will help you to move around easily.
The old city center is divided into six areas known as sestieri: Castello, Cannaregio, San Marco, Santa Croce, Dorsoduro, San Polo. Some islands are also part of the city - Giudecca and San Giorgio, that can be seen from Piazza San Marco, the islands of Murano, Burano, Torcello, and the Lido. These are home to Venice’s beaches and accessible by car if taking the ferry from the Tronchetto.
There are many water buses and motorboats to take you quickly to any place in Venice. The vaporetto lines 1 and 82 travel along the Grand Canal from Piazzale Roma to the Lido, allowing passengers to view the wonderful buildings that stand alongside the Canal until it reaches the San Marco Basilica, where it is possible to catch a glimpse of the wonderful, majestic Piazza San Marco.
An interesting way to cross the Grand Canal from one side to the other is by using the gondola ferry, that is cheap but very picturesque. These ferries can be found at various points on the Grand Canal:
- from Santa Maria del Giglio to the Salute and vice versa (until 1 pm)
- from Ca' Rezzonico to Palazzo Grassi and vice versa (until 1 pm)
- from Riva del Vin to the Town Hall and vice versa (until 1 pm)
- from the Rialto Market to Strada Nova and vice versa (up to 7.45 pm)
- from San Marcuola to Fontego dei Turchi and vice versa (until 1 pm)
- from the train station to San Simeone and Giuda and vice versa (until 1 pm)
Getting around the city on foot is however the most efficient and charming way of getting to know the city. The numbers of the streets in Venice starts with 1.
Here is a short glossary that will help you to understand the indications written on the street signs that you will find in the city:
- Calle
- the typical pedestrian street that can streta (narrow), wide or longa (lunga)
- Campo
- an open space that is known as a square in other towns. In Venice, however, there is only 1 square: San Marco
- Campiello
- a small square where there is no church
- Fondamenta
- a pedestrian path that runs alongside the canals and that can be of various sizes
- Ruga
- a variation of the French word “rue”, a busy road with a lot of houses and shops
- Rio
- a small internal canal. When the word “Rio” is followed by the word “terà” (filled in) it means that this is a road
- Salizada
- the largest roads, the first to have been asphalted
- Sotoportego
- this is a dialect term for the inside of a portico
