DK Travel : Venice : Places of interest

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Laboratorio Blu Bookshop

Just off the main Cannaregio canal is this delightful bookshop dedicated to youngsters. One stand is packed with illustrated children’s books in English, audio cassettes and games. Kids love crawling into the cubby hole to enjoy their purchases.
Lazzaretto Nuovo

Across the water from Sant’ Erasmo, up until the 1700s this island served as a quarantine station for merchant ships entering the lagoon and suspected of carrying the plague, together with members of the population under observation. The long building housed up to 10,000 people during the 1576 pestilence, while cargoes were fumigated with rosemary and juniper in temporary shelters. Later converted into a military stronghold, it now swarms with archaeology enthusiasts intent on unearthing its secrets and students attending summer camps.
Lido: beach side

Manicured sand raked daily and neat rows of multicoloured bathing cabins and beach umbrellas sum up the Lido from June to September, made famous in Thomas Mann’s novel Death in Venice (see Thomas Mann). Venetians spend their summers socializing in style here. Things liven up considerably for the 10-day International Film Festival in September (see Films in English), when the shady streets are filled with film buffs and critics on bicycles.
Lido: Malamocco

About midway along the Lido is the pretty, quiet village of Malamocco and it’s now hard to imagine that it used to be the most important lagoon settlement soon after Roman times and the main port for Padua. A storm and giant waves washed away the entire town in 1106, later rebuilt in the vicinity on a smaller scale. It is appreciated for its 15th-century buildings, peaceful nature and rustic trattorias.
Lido: San Nicolò

The northern end of the Lido littoral, a key point in the Republic’s defence, used to be equipped with impressive naval fortifications and chains would be laid across the lagoon mouth as a deterrent to invaders. The historic Sensa celebration (see La Sensa) is held offshore from the church of San Nicolò, founded in 1044 and a former Benedictine monastery, now a study centre. One visitable site is the 1386 Jewish cemetery. Alternatively, take a 35-minute mini-cruise on the car ferry between Tronchetto car park and San Nicolò. Its high decks give great views all over Venice.
Mazzorbo

This pretty island of cats exudes a tranquil air as locals tend their vineyards or artichoke fields. Wicker cages for fattening up moleche (soft-shelled crabs) hang on racks over the water and the produce can be sampled in the low-key trattorias. Amid the scattering of houses are bold modern council blocks painted in pastel hues. Mazzorbo has its own boat stop but is also joined to Burano by a timber footbridge.
Mercerie

The expensive elegance of Venice is most evident on this main thoroughfare linking Rialto and Piazza San Marco. Mercerie means haberdasher’s, although these days it is the realm of the designer fashion outlets who are able to afford the sky-high rents. Just below the ornate Torre dell’ Orologio archway is a sculpted female figure commemorating a housewife who lived here rentfree as a reward for inadvertently knocking a mortar into the street, killing a revolutionary leader and thus halting the short-lived Baiamonte Tiepolo revolt in 1310.
Murano

Long synonymous with glassmaking, Murano developed blowing and fusion techniques to extraordinary heights in the 1500s, and so closely guarded were the trade secrets that skilled craftsmen could migrate only under pain of death. Though Venice’s glass monopoly lasted only until the 17th century, its fame lives on. A visit to the Glass Museum with its 4,000 exhibits is a must (see Museo dell’Arte Vetrario). Don’t be put off by the reps who invite tourists to see a furnace and showroom; it’s a unique opportunity to watch the glassblowers at work and is free of charge. However, if you accept a free boat trip from San Marco to a glass factory, you’re expected to make your own way back by vaporetto if you don’t buy anything. Glassmaking aside, Murano is a lovely place to wander around, with canals, alleyways and friendly islanders.
Museo Civico di Storia Naturale

Gigantic ferns, weird fish and an ancestor of the crocodile, all in fossilized form from the Eocene era, 50 million years ago are treasures hailing from Bolca in the Lessini foothills. They testify to the tropical shallows that spread across the area prior to the formation of the Alps.
Museo di Storia Naturale

The star of the marvellous natural history museum is a 3.6-m (12-ft) tall and 7-m (23-ft) long skeleton of the dinosaur Ouranosauris nigeriensis , discovered in the Sahara Desert by the explorer Giancarlo Ligabue. Don’t miss the new acquarium.