The Grand Canal

The Grand Canal is the great watery main street of Venice, a sweeping reverse-S winding through the heart of the city past more than a hundred palaces, churches and warehouses whose facades rise straight from the water. Gliding its length on the number-one vaporetto, or by gondola, is the definitive Venetian experience, crossed at its centre by the marble Rialto Bridge.

History

The canal probably follows the course of an old river, possibly a branch of the Brenta, and Adriatic Veneti lived beside it in stilt houses before Roman times, living from fishing and salt. In the early 9th century the doge moved his seat from Malamocco to the safer Rivoaltus, and trade followed into the deep canal, which was then wider and ran between small tidal islands joined by wooden bridges. Merchants built fondaco houses along it, warehouse and home in one, such as the 13th-century Fondaco dei Turchi, and the Venetian-Byzantine palaces of Ca' Farsetti, Ca' Loredan and Ca' da Mosto date from the 12th or 13th century. In 1181 Nicolò Barattieri built a pontoon bridge at Rialto, later replaced by a wooden bridge with shops, and until the 19th century the Rialto was the only bridge across the canal; three more cross it today, the newest, by Santiago Calatrava, from 2008 (Wikipedia, Grand Canal (Venice)).

The main sights

• The palace facades - the Gothic and Renaissance palaces rising from the water.
• The Rialto Bridge - the great marble bridge over the canal.
• The vaporetto ride - the water-bus journey along the whole canal.
• A gondola - the classic, if pricey, glide through the side canals.

When to go

Spring and autumn for milder weather; the canal is beautiful in any season, magical in the soft light of early morning and evening. Sunset along the canal is the golden hour.

Good to know

The vaporetto is the affordable way to see the canal; a gondola is expensive and touristy, though iconic. It is busy, so a seat at the front of the vaporetto takes patience. It is a journey and a view rather than a single ticketed sight.

Nearby

The Rialto market, St Mark's and the outer islands are all reached from the canal.