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Grand Canal, Venice

Landmark

Grand Canal

Venice · Veneto

QUICK INFORMATION

CATEGORY
Landmark
COUNTRY
Italy
REGION
Venice · Veneto
DURATION
2 days

ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION

The Grand Canal is the main street of Venice — an inverted-S waterway nearly four kilometres long that divides the historic centre in two and carries the city’s traffic in place of a road. Along its banks stand more than 170 palaces, built between the 13th and 18th centuries by the patrician families who wanted their façades to face the water, since arrival in Venice was always by boat. The styles run from Venetian-Byzantine through Gothic to Renaissance and Baroque, and the only way to read them properly is from the deck of a vaporetto, the public water bus that runs the length of the canal, or from a gondola at the waterline.

HISTORY & BACKGROUND

The story behind it

The Grand Canal follows the course of an ancient river channel that wound through the lagoon’s islands before the city existed; the first settlements clustered along its banks. As Venice grew rich from trade, the leading families built palaces facing the water, each with a water gate on the canal and a land entrance on the opposite side. The Rialto Bridge, the oldest of the four crossings, was built in stone in 1591 to link the banking and market quarter to the rest of the city. The canal has been the city’s main thoroughfare, sewer and parade ground for a thousand years, and the regatta storica is still rowed down it each September.

WHAT TO SEE

What to see here

01

The Rialto Bridge — the stone arch bridge by Antonio da Ponte, the oldest of the canal’s four crossings, with shops on its span.

02

Ca’ d’Oro — the 15th-century Gothic palace on the north bank, once gilded on its façade, now a gallery.

03

Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana — the contemporary art venues at the canal’s mouth, restored by François Pinault.

04

The Fondaco dei Tedeschi near Rialto — the former German merchants’ warehouse, now a luxury store, with a rooftop view of the canal.

05

The four bridges — Rialto, the modern Calatrava Constitution Bridge, the Scalzi and the Accademia wooden bridge.

WHY IT MATTERS

Why it matters

The Grand Canal is Venice. The city has no roads and no cars, so this waterway is its main street, its parade route and its front door, and the palaces along it are the façades the republic wanted the world to see. Riding its length on a vaporetto at dusk, when the palaces light up and the water turns gold, is the single experience that most visitors remember — and the one that explains why Venice was built here at all.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Before you go

Access
Vaporetto lines 1 and 2 run the length of the canal; line 1 stops at every landing, line 2 is express. A gondola traghetto crosses the canal at a few points for a small fee.
Best Time
Late afternoon into dusk, when the light on the façades is at its best.
Tickets
A vaporetto pass is far better value than single tickets; buy at the ACTV landing stages.
Context
The canal runs from the railway station and the Piazzale Roma bus terminal to St Mark’s Basin at the Doge’s Palace.

MAP & LOCATION

Grand Canal

Grand Canal, Venice, Veneto, Italy

45.4408, 12.3258

Open in OpenStreetMap

MORE ATTRACTIONS

More to see in Venice

St Mark’s Basilica, Venice
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St Mark’s Basilica

The cathedral of Venice, begun in the 11th century on the model of Constantinople’s Church of the Holy Apostles — a Greek-cross plan crowned by five domes and sheathed in gold mosaics. The body of St Mark was smuggled from Alexandria in 828, and the church became the spiritual heart of the republic.

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Doge’s Palace, Venice
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Doge’s Palace

The seat of government of the Venetian republic — a Gothic palace beside St Mark’s holding the Great Council chamber, the prisons and the Bridge of Sighs, where the Doge, the Senate and the feared Council of Ten governed a thousand-year state.

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Rialto Bridge and Market, Venice
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Rialto Bridge and Market

The oldest of the Grand Canal’s four bridges, a single stone arch built in 1591, with shops on its span. Around it, the Rialto has been Venice’s commercial heart since the 11th century — the produce market, the fish market and the banking quarter.

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Bridge of Sighs, Venice
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Bridge of Sighs

The enclosed limestone bridge of 1600 by Antonio Contino that links the Doge’s Palace courts to the New Prisons across the canal, its barred windows giving prisoners their last view of Venice and the lagoon.

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THINGS TO DO

Things to do nearby

01

Ride the Grand Canal at dusk by vaporetto

02

Get lost in the back canals of Cannaregio and Dorsoduro

03

Visit the lagoon islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello

FOOD & DRINK

Where to eat nearby

01

Osteria alle Testiere — a tiny seafood osteria near St Mark’s, one of Venice’s best, book well ahead

02

Cantina Do Mori — the oldest bacaro in Venice, near the Rialto, for cicchetti and a glass of ombra

03

Osteria Anice Stellato — a canal-side trattoria in Cannaregio, honest Venetian cooking off the tourist track

04

All’Arco — a Rialto bacaro serving cicchetti to market workers and visitors from early morning

05

Vini da Gigio — a Cannaregio institution for Venetian classics and a serious wine list

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HOTELS & STAYS

Where to stay nearby

01

Ca’ Sagredo Hotel — a 15th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal, a Relais & Châteaux property

02

Hotel Danieli, Luxury Collection — a historic palace near St Mark’s, with lagoon views

03

Novecento Boutique Hotel — a small, quiet hotel near the Accademia in Dorsoduro

04

B&B Rota — a family-run guesthouse in Cannaregio, good value for a quiet base

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NEARBY DESTINATIONS

Continue the journey

Verona

Verona

Veneto

Florence

Florence

Tuscany

Cortina d’Ampezzo

Cortina d’Ampezzo

Veneto

INTERESTS

Explore by what you love

HistoryFood & WineSkiing

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