While St. Mark’s Square, the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica are the jewels in the crown of this pearl of the Adriatic, a walk of a few minutes will take you to the silence of side canals where peeling shuttered windows dream of past glories of the Republic. Or a sleek black gondola rocks gently at its mooring post.

This quintessentially Venetian form of transport is always black, in deference to a law of 1562 that attempted to prohibit the extravagances of boat owners. This extraordinarily beautiful vessel is actually asymmetrical to compensate for the rowing by the gondolier at the stern. If travel by a gondola is wanted, then the best way is to use the ferry across the Grand Canal for a handful of small change.

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