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(see Torcello).

A haven for artists, brightly painted houses, fish and lace-making are the pride of Burano. The islanders cherish an old legend about a faithful sailor who resisted the Sirens’ call and was rewarded with a magnificent veil of magical foam for his bride, later worked into lace, a trade that brought worldwide fame and fortune to the isolated fisherfolk. These days, although old women still strain their eyes with patient stitches, many articles are in fact imported from abroad. The island’s dramatically leaning bell tower is visible from afar.

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.

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.

A short distance from Burano, this attractive island of cypress trees is home to a Franciscan monastery. According to legend it was founded by St Francis in person, on his way back from preaching missions in Egypt and Palestine in 1220. In May, clad in their brown habits and sandals, the monks attend the Vogalonga in their heavy-duty boat, to the delight of the Venetians (see Vogalonga).

San Michele became the city cemetery in 1826, in the wake of a hygienic Napoleonic decree that the dead should be buried far from the dwellings of the living. Entry to the cemetery is via a lovely Gothic portal surmounted by St Michael at odds with a dragon, and through the monk’s colonnaded cloister. But don’t neglect to visit the pretty marble-façaded church next door, designed by Mauro Coducci in 1469. On All Souls’ Day (2 November), the place is crowded with relatives paying a visit to their dear departed. However unless you’re a famous resident like Ezra Pound, Stravinsky or Diaghilev, your bones are dug up after 10 years and placed in an urn to make room for someone else.

Unflattering jokes circulate about the inhabitants of Sant’ Erasmo, with reference to in-breeding. However, no one would dare to question their ability to produce delicious asparagus and artichokes which prosper on the sandy soil and are a mainstay of Rialto Market. Just over 4 km (2.5 miles) long and 1 km (0.5 miles) at the broadest point, Sant’ Erasmo offers a tranquil countryside, praised enthusiastically by the Romans who built sumptuous villas here. A couple of rickety old motor cars occasionally bump along the lanes, but bicycles and boats are still the main form of transport.

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.

Inhabited by religious communities for more than 600 years, the “charterhouse” island went the way of many of its neighbours under occupation by French, Austrian and Italian forces, though currently as the property of the City Council, is slowly being cleaned up as a public park. Though there is no public boat service, it can be seen from vaporetto lines as they circle eastern Castello. Also clearly visible from the LidoPunta Sabbioni ferry are the impressive fortified ramparts of Sanmicheli’s 16th-century Forte di Sant’Andrea, which faced any hostile vessels that dared to enter the lagoon unbidden.

This locality clings to the promontory extending westward from the mainland – a continuous string of beach resorts equipped with spacious camp sites. Alongside sleepy backwaters and canals is Punta Sabbioni (“big sandy point”) a busy bus-ferry terminal that bustles with summer holiday-makers. It came into being as sand accumulated behind the 1,100-m (3,600-ft) breakwater erected to protect the port mouth and littoral, and offers lovely seaside strolls.