Venice

Venice is a coastal city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the region of Veneto, as well as the Metropolitan City of Venice. It is built on a group of 126 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are linked by 472 bridges. The islands are in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay lying between the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers (more exactly between the Brenta and the Sile). As of 2026, the city proper (municipality of Venice) has a population of 249,385, nearly 50,000 of whom live in the historical island city of Venice (centro storico), while most of the population resides on the mainland (terraferma), and about 25,000 live on other islands in the lagoon (estuario). Together with the cities of Padua and Treviso, Venice is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE), which is considered a statistical metropolitan area, with a total population of 2.6 million. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC. The city was the capital of the Republic of Venice for almost a millennium, from 810 to 1797.…

Venice is a coastal city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the region of Veneto, as well as the Metropolitan City of Venice. It is built on a group of 126 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are linked by 472 bridges. The islands are in the shallow Venetian Lagoon, an enclosed bay lying between the mouths of the Po and the Piave rivers (more exactly between the Brenta and the Sile). As of 2026, the city proper (municipality of Venice) has a population of 249,385, nearly 50,000 of whom live in the historical island city of Venice (centro storico), while most of the population resides on the mainland (terraferma), and about 25,000 live on other islands in the lagoon (estuario). Together with the cities of Padua and Treviso, Venice is included in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area (PATREVE), which is considered a statistical metropolitan area, with a total population of 2.6 million. The name is derived from the ancient Veneti people who inhabited the region by the 10th century BC. The city was the capital of the Republic of Venice for almost a millennium, from 810 to 1797. It was a major financial and maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as an important centre of commerce—especially silk, grain, and spice, and of art from the 13th century to the end of the 17th century. The then-city-state is considered to have been the first real international financial centre, emerging in the 9th century and reaching its greatest prominence in the 14th century. This made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. For centuries, Venice possessed numerous territories along the Adriatic Sea and within the Italian peninsula, leaving a significant impact on the architecture and culture that can still be seen today. The Venetian Arsenal is considered by several historians to be the first factory in history and was the base of Venice's naval power. The sovereignty of Venice came to an end in 1797, at the hands of Napoleon. Subsequently, in 1866, the city became part of the Kingdom of Italy. Venice has been known as "La Dominante" ("The Dominant" or "The Ruler"), "La Serenissima" ("The Most Serene"), "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals." The lagoon and the city within the lagoon were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, covering an area of . Venice is known for several important artistic movements – especially during the Italian Renaissance – and has played an important role in the history of instrumental and operatic music; it is the birthplace of Baroque music composers Tomaso Albinoni and Antonio Vivaldi. In the 21st century, Venice remains a very popular tourist destination and a major cultural centre, and has often been ranked one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It has been described by The Times as one of Europe's most romantic cities and by The New York Times as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man". However, the city faces challenges, including overtourism, pollution, tide peaks, and cruise ships sailing too close to buildings. Because Venice and its lagoon are under constant threat, Venice's UNESCO listing has been under constant examination.

Sport

The most famous Venetian sport is probably ("Venetian-style rowing"), also commonly called voga veneta. A technique invented in the Venetian Lagoon, Venetian rowing is unusual in that the rower(s), one or more, row standing, looking forward. Today, Voga alla Veneta is not only the way the gondoliers row tourists around Venice but also the way Venetians row for pleasure and sport. Many races called regata(e) happen throughout the year. The culminating event of the rowing season is the day of the "Regata Storica", which occurs on the first Sunday of September each year. The main football club in the city is Venezia FC, founded in 1907¹, which currently plays in the Serie A. Their ground, the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo, situated in Sant'Elena, is the second-oldest continually used stadium in Italy. The local basketball club is Reyer Venezia, founded in 1872¹ as the gymnastics club Società Sportiva Costantino Reyer, and in 1907 as the basketball club. Reyer currently plays in the Lega Basket Serie A. The men's team were the Italian champions in 1942, 1943, 2017 and 2019. Their arena is the Palasport Giuseppe Taliercio, situated in Mestre. Luigi Brugnaro is president of the club.

Twin towns – sister cities

Venice is twinned with: Bangkok, Thailand Dubrovnik, Croatia Hiroshima, Japan Huế, Vietnam Istanbul, Turkey Le Havre, France Palembang, Indonesia Saint Petersburg, Russia Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina Suzhou, China Tallinn, Estonia Yerevan, Armenia In 2013, Venice announced that it wants to end the sister city relationship with St. Petersburg in opposition to laws Russia had passed against homosexuals and those who support gay rights.

Cooperation agreements

In January 2000, the City of Venice and the Central Association of Cities and Communities of Greece (KEDKE) established, in pursuance to EC Regulation No. 2137/85, the Marco Polo System European Economic Interest Grouping (E.E.I.G.), to promote and realise European projects within transnational cultural and tourist fields, particularly in reference to the preservation and safeguarding of artistic and architectural heritage. In April 2001, the city signed an agreement with the office of cultural promotion and cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate efforts at promoting Italian culture abroad. Venice also has cooperation agreements with: Lübeck, Germany (1979) Nuremberg, Germany (1999) Qingdao, China (2001, Science and Technology Partnership) Thessaloniki, Greece (2003) Miami, United States (2020)

Places named after Venice

The name "Venezuela" is a Spanish diminutive of Venice (Veneziola). Many additional places around the world are named after Venice, such as: Venice, Los Angeles, home of Venice Beach Venice, Alberta, in Canada Venice, Florida, city in Sarasota County Venice, Louisiana Little Venice, London Venise-en-Québec, Québec

Academic

Brown, Horatio, Venice, chapter 8 of Cambridge Modern History vol. I The Renaissance (1902) Brown, Horatio, Calendar of State Papers (Venetian): 1581–1591, 1895; 1592–1603, 1897; 1603–1607, 1900; 1607–1610, 1904; 1610–1613, 1905 Brown, Horatio, Studies in the history of Venice (London, 1907) Chambers, D.S. (1970). The Imperial Age of Venice, 1380–1580. London: Thames & Hudson. Contarini, Gasparo (1599). The Commonwealth and Gouernment of Venice. Lewes Lewkenor, trsl. London: "Imprinted by I. Windet for E. Mattes." Da Canal, Martin, Les estoires de Venise (13th-century chronicle), translated by Laura Morreale. Padua, Unipress 2009. Drechsler, Wolfgang (2002). "Venice Misappropriated." Trames 6(2), pp. 192–201. Garrett, Martin, "Venice: a Cultural History" (2006). Revised edition of "Venice: a Cultural and Literary Companion" (2001). Grubb, James S. (1986). "When Myths Lose Power: Four Decades of Venetian Historiography." Journal of Modern History 58, pp. 43–94. Lane, Frederic Chapin. Venice: Maritime Republic (1973) ( ) Laven, Mary, "Virgins of Venice: Enclosed Lives and Broken Vows in the Renaissance Convent (2002). Madden, Thomas F. Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice Johns Hopkins University Press. Martin, John Jeffries and Dennis Romano (eds). Venice Reconsidered. The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State, 1297–1797. (2002) Johns Hopkins University Press. Muir, Edward (1981). Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice. Princeton UP. Rösch, Gerhard (2000). Venedig. Geschichte einer Seerepublik. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag.

Popular

Ackroyd, Peter, Venice: Pure City. London, Chatto & Windus, 2009. Brown, Horatio, Life on the Lagoons, 1884; revised ed. 1894; further eds. 1900, 1904, 1909. Cole, Toby. Venice: A Portable Reader, Lawrence Hill, 1979. (hardcover); (softcover). Gayford, Martin, Venice: City of Pictures. London and New York: Thames & Hudson, 2023. Honour, Hugh. The Companion Guide to Venice. 4th ed., 1997. Kaminski, Marion. Venice: Art & Architecture. 2005. Keates, Jonathan, The Siege of Venice. London: Chatto & Windus, 2005. Keates, Jonathan, La Serenissima: The Story of Venice. London: Head of Zeus, 2022. Madden, Thomas, Venice: A New History. New York: Viking, 2012. . McCarthy, Mary, Venice Observed (1956), Harvest/HBJ, 1963 edition: Morris, Jan (1993), Venice. 3rd revised edition. Faber & Faber, . Norwich, John Julius. ed. Venice: A Traveller's Companion. UK: Constable & Co. Ltd., 1990. Also published as A Traveller's Companion to Venice. Ruskin, John (1853), The Stones of Venice. Abridged edition Links, JG (Ed), Penguin Books, 2001. . di Robilant, Andrea (2004). A Venetian Affair. HarperCollins. Sethre, Janet, The Souls of Venice McFarland & Company, Inc., 2003. (softcover).

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