Venice: Pride of Italy

Venice, Italy is a city unlike any other in the world! Built directly on canals, Venice is truly a port city. Serving as a critical element in the shipping world and home to explorers such as the famous Marco Polo, visitors of all ages will fall in love with the beauty and history of this famous Italian city.

If you are interested in visiting a unique section of Italy, look no further than the fantastic Northern Italian city of Venice. Just like any other section of the country, Venice has a distinct style in art, architecture, food, and people. Since it was so prevalent in the shipping routes, Venice has a unique Turkish flair, incorporating Byzantine designs into architecture and coating every available surface with gold.

The most popular tourist spot in Venice is St. Mark's Basilica or San Marco as popularly known. This is a must see for you. San Marco was restored in the Jubilee year of 2000 and is now a sight to behold, with all the gold, mosaics and carvings. Do not miss the four horses that stand guard over the basilica. These horses have a piece of history attached to it. Napoleon took these four equines after one of his victories, and these were returned to the basilica in 1815.

The basilica is situated in the equally famous area called the piazza. This piazza has an abundance of pigeons, and to protect tourists from these, arcades along the square have lined up on either side. Other places of attraction are the Doge's palace and the shops in the square.

Although Venice is a city of bridges that cross over the lagoons and canals, the most famous by far is the “Bridge of Sighs.” Located near the Piazza San Marco, this beautiful bridge can be viewed easily from the Grand Canal. The name of this 17th Century bridge comes from prisoners who would pass through the beautiful bridge on the way to their cells.

Rialto Bridge is another famous bridge in Venice, which straddles the Grand Canal. There are shops on both sides of this famous bridge, where a wide variety of Venetian goods are sold. A lovely legend is associated with this bridge that states that couples who kiss while riding under the bridge on the city's classic gondolas will remain in love forever.

Gondolas have been a major attraction of this famous city for a long long time. Take a ride on these long black boats. What is unique about this experience is that these stripe shirted gondoliers use only a pole for navigation and have the knowledge of the city's canal system on their fingertips. If you tip and tip well, they would most definitely oblige you with a song.

Murano is a tiny island just minutes from the Piazza San Marco where the most famous item Murano Glass is made in Venice. It has some of the most famous glass companies in the world. You can visit the factories and see how these masters of glass blow and shape molten glass into magnificent creations.

Article Source: http://www.sportsarticlelibrary.com

Ingrid Ingra is the chief editor for F italy, the #1 source on the internet for information about italy, For questions or comments about this article visit: www.finitaly.com/articles
Click here for other unique italy articles.

Please Rate this Article

Not yet Rated