Seeing Venice

STREETS COVERED WITH WATER STOP PLEASE ADVISE STOP

So Robert Benchley cabled home to his New York publisher in the 1930s. An awareness of Venice’s obvious difference is only the beginning of understanding how this city is made.

How would you build a city on a sheet of water? The Venetians started with a collection of tiny islands, the Realtine archipelago, including the sites of San Marco, the Rialto, and San Pietro di Castello. Over the centuries, they gradually filled up the spaces in between; the quartiere Sant’Elena, on the eastern tip of the city, is one of the newer additions.

On a good map, you can see how the city is split into roughly uniform ‘blocks’ divided by the canals. On each of these is one or perhaps two squares (campi) containing the parish churches. This is the basic unit of Venice: in each campo you will see a well, often beautifully made from architectural fragments.