Venice

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WorldMediterraneanItalyVenice to TriesteVenetian LagoonVenice
Venice
Port of Entry
45°26.340'N, 012°19.740'E Chart icon.png
lat=45.439 | lon=12.329 | zoom=13 | y
VeniceGeneral.jpg
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Venice - La Serenissima

The city of Venice has been the inspiration for poets, artists, musicians and travellers for nearly a thousand years. Today the city and the islands of its lagoon attract an astonishing 20 million visitors every year to marvel at Venice’s unique architecture, admire the rich artistic legacy of works by painters such as Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto and Canaletto, or sample the city’s 400-year old musical tradition with works by renowned composers such as Monteverdi, Gabrieli and Vivaldi. Of course, few of the 20 million visitors can experience Venice in the way that the cruising yachtsman can, for nothing beats the thrill of entering the lagoon of ‘La Serenissima’ in your own vessel, just as almost 20 generations of sailors have done since the return from his 20 years of exploration by Marco Polo around 1295 AD.

Charts

British Admiralty
1483 - Approaches to Chioggia, Malamocco, Venezia and Marghera
1449 - Porto Marghera and Porto di Malamocco
1442 - Venezia
1473 - Trieste and Chioggia
Italian
924
38
221
222
226
Electronic

Carta della Laguna di Venezia - Full-coverage Venetian lagoon-specific cartography, scale 1:25,000. App available for iPhone and iPad. There is also a printed version in book format with the same data.

Weather

During the summer months, the prevailing winds in the Adriatic are light to moderate coastal sea breezes. In spring and autumn, northerly winds are more frequent and can quickly rise to near gale force, especially in the northern Adriatic, where the much-feared “bora” is caused by high pressure over the mountains to the NE coupled with low pressure over southern Italy. Fortunately, the fiercest “bora” is normally to be expected in the winter months. Thunderstorms are occasionally experienced in spring and especially autumn and can be accompanied by violent winds of gale force and above. Luckily they are rarely long-lasting. Fog is a further hazard often encountered in the lagoon of Venice, especially in the early and late season.

Sources for weather information:

  • There is a continuous (computerized voice) weather forecast on VHF 68 - first in Italian and then followed with an English translation
  • The same forecast is given in Italian and English on VHF coastal stations following a notification on channel 16
  • Navtex weather forecasts covering the Adriatic are broadcast from stations at Roma, Trieste, Kerkyra (Greece) and Split (Croatia)

Passages

See Mediterranean.

Islands

There are a total of 117 small islands in the lagoon, some inhabited but many of them little more than extensive mudbanks. The principal inhabited islands are as follows:

Communication

Add here VHF channel for the coastguard, harbor masters. etc.

Also see World Cruiser's Nets.

Navigation

See Venetian Lagoon.

Entrance

Venice is a port of entry for Italy. For details see Entrance: Italy.

Berthing

The berthing options in Venice are too numerous to include in one section. The summary table below details the principal marinas and basins suitable for visiting yachts in and around the centre of Venice, together with the number of berths, maximum length accommodated and maximum depths at low water.

  No. of berth Max. length (metres) Max. depth (metres)
Venice - Central Venice - Central/wiki/Venice_-_Central Port of entry icon – port of entry |Harbour icon – harbour |
Marina Santelena Marina Santelena/wiki/Marina_Santelena Port of entry icon – port of entry |Marina icon – marina |
Diporto Velico Veneziano Diporto Velico Veneziano/wiki/Diporto_Velico_Veneziano Port of entry icon – port of entry |Marina icon – marina |
Vento di Venezia Vento di Venezia/wiki/Vento_di_Venezia Marina icon – marina |
Venezia San Giorgio Venezia San Giorgio/wiki/Venezia_San_Giorgio Marina icon – marina |
Venice Yacht Pier Venice Yacht Pier/wiki/Venice_Yacht_Pier Port of entry icon – port of entry |Marina icon – marina |

-
561
230
300
70
c. 2

-
40
15
25
15
100

-
???
4.5
3.0
2.4
9.0

For details of berthing opportunities elsewhere in the lagoon see the areas of Chioggia, Mestre, Cavallino-Treporti, Portegrandi, and Piave Vecchia.

Marinas & Yacht Clubs

See above or The Venetian Lagoon.

Anchorages

Whereas it is commonly said that port regulations forbid anchoring in the lagoon, owing to the large numbers of electrical and other cables crisscrossing the lagoon bed, the law itself Anchoring regulations states that anchoring is forbidden in the non-urban canals in the lagoon only if it is an impediment to navigation [Art. 53, (i)]. Anchoring remains forbidden in the urban, port, and maritime canals [Art. 53, (e) and (f)].

There are anchorages W of Poveglia Island and NE of Burano Island, as well as on Canale Gaggian (Di San Lorenzo). Depths well exceed 3m.

Amenities

See indiviual Ports & Marinas.

Provisioning

See indiviual Ports & Marinas.

Eating out

See indiviual Ports & Marinas.

Transportation

  • Marco Polo airport just N of Mestre has flights to most international destinations
  • Budget flights also from Treviso airport (30 km)
  • Airport buses and hydrofoil to Venice
  • Trains to Rome, Milan, Florence and Padua and several European capitals
  • Ferries to several destinations in Greek islands and Croatia
  • Vaporetti (water buses) serving Venice and outlying islands
  • Venice People Mover public transit system connecting Tronchetto and Piazzale Roma

Tourism

History

Venice was constructed on a series of marshy islands by refugees from the Barbarian invasions of the Italian peninsula in the 5th and 6th centuries AD, the ascendancy of Venice began in the 8th century, when the loose federation of island communities freed itself from the yoke of the Byzantine empire and initiated an explosion of commerce that was to transform it by the beginning of the 11th century into one of the most powerful trading centres and maritime powers in the Mediterranean. During the Crusades, Venice expanded its overseas territories until it dominated the trading routes throughout the Eastern Mediterranean via a series of fortified staging posts around the Adriatic and across the Aegean. At its zenith in the 15th and 16th centuries Venice was the most wealthy and glorious city in southern Europe, but a new power, the Ottoman empire, was rising in the East and by 1669, with the loss of its hold on Crete, Venice’s star was waning fast. The final seal on the city’s decline came in 1797 when the government of what was left of the Republic of Venice handed over control to Napoleon’s troops without a fight. But from the ashes of Venice’s imperial might, a new industry was born as early as the mid-18th century when wealthy and cultured travelers from all over the world began to descend on its dazzling array of treasures, which even Napoleon’s attentions had not succeeded in tarnishing.

Places to Visit

Such is the wealth of attractions in Venice that every visitor will arrive with a special list which grows by the day. Even after a month in the city, most keen tourists would leave with a number of things still undone. The ‘must see’ site would however, include the Grand Canal (preferably by water), lined with some of the most splendid palazzos reflecting Venice’s golden age; the Ponte Rialto (Rialto Bridge), probably the most photographed in the world; St Mark’s Square, with its intriguing bronze figures striking the hour in the 15th century belltower of Torre dell’Orologio and ferociously expensive cafes; the nearby St Mark’s Basilica with its stunning 11th-15th century mosaics; the famous Palazzo Ducale, the seat of the Doges (rulers) of Venice for nearly 400 years, with spectacular paintings by Tintoretto and Veronese and the much-imitated Bridge of Sighs; the church of Santa Maria della Salute with more wonderful paintings by Tintoretto and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco with some of the most breathtaking frescoes in the city. By waterbus essential additions to the itinerary would be the islands of San Giorgio Maggiore with its church (more Tintoretto masterpieces) and monastery gardens; Murano, Venice’s glass-making centre for nearly 1,000 years, with its Museo Vetrario (glass museum) and mosaic-laden church of SS Maria e Donato; Burano, famous for its gaily painted houses and lace-making industry, and Torcello, with its faded charm and impressive Byzantine cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, which boasts some of the finest Byzantine mosaics in existence.

Palazzo Ducale and St Mark's square
Torre dell’Orologio
Scuola Grande di San Rocco
Colourful Burano

Friends

Contact details of "Cruiser's Friends" that can be contacted for local information or assistance.

Forums

List links to discussion threads on partnering forums. (see link for requirements)

Links

References

See Italy.

Comments

We welcome users' contributions to the Wiki. Please click on Comments to view other users' comments, add your own personal experiences or recommend any changes to this page following your visit.

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Date of member's last visit to Venice and this page's details validated:



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Names: Athene of Lymington, Peregrinus


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