The Quiet Side of Venice

Photo of Fondamenta Case Nuove at sunset.

The center of Venice, around San Marco and the Rialto bridge, is so crowded and noisy that it’s easy to forget that Venice has quiet streets. On our last night we walked around the Sestria Cannaregio. Venice is divided into six (= “sei” in Italian) sestrias and Cannaregio is one of the quietest. It is near the Santa Lucia train station, around the Jewish Ghetto. You can actually hear birds singing, instead of suitcase wheels rumbling over concrete. By the way, did you know that the population of the historic section of Venice (without Mestre and the other mainland areas) is approximately 60,000? And that they receive over 7 million visitors a year?

In the late afternoon we stopped for beer at a cafe on Rio di San Girolamo. We were the only customers for a while, until two Italian women met, kissed each other on the cheek, sat down, and ordered some wine.

Our waiter was amused when I asked if I could take his picture.

No gondolas, just the small private boats that function as cars in this city.