Venedig Audioguides

Venice was built across 118 small islands in a lagoon at the top of the Adriatic, connected by 400 bridges over 177 canals, and there is no other city like it on earth. The original settlers fled mainland invasions in the 5th and 6th centuries and found security on the mudflats that no army on horseback could cross. From that unlikely foundation they built a maritime republic that controlled trade between Europe and Asia for five centuries, and the wealth they accumulated is visible in every stone of the Grand Canal: the Ca' d'Oro, the Palazzo Grimani, the Ca' Rezzonico, each one a statement of what a merchant family could do when the trade routes ran through their city.

The Piazza San Marco is the center of everything and has been since the 9th century, when the basilica was first built to house the relics of St.

Mark, smuggled from Alexandria in a basket of pork. The current basilica dates mostly from the 11th century and its exterior mosaics and Byzantine domes are the product of four centuries of continuous embellishment. The Doge's Palace beside it was the seat of government for a republic that lasted a thousand years. The Rialto Bridge, built in 1591 from a design by Antonio da Ponte after Michelangelo and Palladio both lost the competition, spans the Grand Canal at its narrowest point and has anchored Venice's commercial life since the 12th century.