DK Travel : Venice

The uniquely romantic city of Venice was built entirely on water and has managed to survive into the 21st century without cars. Narrow alleyways and canals pass between sumptuous palaces and magnificent churches, colourful neighbourhood markets and quiet backwaters, unchanged for centuries. Few cities possess such an awesome line-up of sights for visitors.

For guided tours around Venice (see Guided Tours)

Festa di San Rocco

The feast day of St Roch, the French saint adopted by the confraternity for alleviating the 1576–7 plague, is celebrated each year at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco (see Scuola Grande di San Rocco). A mass and evening concert conclude the festivities.
Fiaschetteria Toscana

Historic locale with a courtyard and superb food. Filetto di rombo con carciofi (turbot fillet with artichokes) and tagliolini neri al ragù di astice (black cuttlefish pasta with lobster) stand out.
Fiddler’s Elbow Irish Pub

Marvellous, lively atmosphere and great Guinness, naturally. You can always count on action here – a concert of Irish music in the cosy square, a maxi screen for football games, while at Carnival and, of course, St Patrick’s Day, this is the place to be.
Films in English

The Giorgione cinema has English-language screenings one evening a week in winter. In late summer, the outdoor cinema in Campo San Polo means delights from the Venice Film Festival.
Fondamente della Misericordia and degli Ormesini

Parallel to the Strada Nova but worlds away from the tourist bustle, these adjoining quaysides have a real neighbourhood feel. There’s a good sprinkling of osterie (wine bars) alongside Mexican and Middle Eastern restaurants, a continuation of former trade links: the word “ormesini ” derives from a rich fabric traded through Hormuz, now in Iran, and imitated in Florence and Venice. Ormesini leads into Misericordia and to the towering red-brick Scuola Grande building. Currently closed for restructuring, it served as the city’s basketball team headquarters for many years.
Fondamente Nuove

This lagoon-side pavement, opposite the cemetery island of San Michele (see San Michele), is an important jumping-off point for ferries to the northern islands and sports one of the city’s rare petrol stations. The ample quaysides were not constructed and paved until the mid-1500s; until then the waterfront reached back to Titian’s garden (No. 5113, Calle Larga dei Botteri) allowing him unobstructed views of the Alps on a clear day, which delighted this native of Cadore.
Fondazione Querini Stampalia

This unmissable Renaissance palace was the bequest of Giovanni Querini in 1868, the last member of the illustrious dynasty, on the condition that the library be made available “particularly in the evenings for the convenience of scholars”. The immaculately restored palace-museum houses fascinating scenes of public and private life by Gabriel Bella and Pietro Longhi, as well as Carlo Scarpa’s Modernist creations.
Football

The home team Venezia plays at Sant’Elena stadium most Sundays.
Foresteria Valdese

A wonderful place to stay near Campo Santa Maria Formosa (see Campo Santa Maria Formosa), Palazzo Cavagnis is a guesthouse run by the Waldensian and Methodist community and has frescoed dormitories, nice rooms and apartments for families. Advance booking essential.
Francesco Guardi

A prolific landscape painter, Guardi (1712–93) successfully captured the light and atmosphere of Venice in decline.

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Hotel price categories

For a standard, double room per night (with breakfast if included), taxes and extra charges.
- under €100
- €100-€150
- €150-€250
- €250-€350
- over €350
Restaurant price categories

For a three-course meal for one with half a bottle of wine (or equivalent meal), taxes and extra charges.
- under €30
- €30-€40
- €40-€50
- €50-€60
- over €60