Laguna di Venezia
The Venice Lagoon is the largest lagoon in the Mediterranean, a unique ecosystem recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site tog...
Updated 11 July 2026 · Sources: Redazione editoriale Trovido - conoscenza consolidata sul territorio · UNESCO World Heritage Centre - Venice and its Lagoon
Laguna di Venezia
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The story
The story of Laguna di Venezia
The Lagoon, a UNESCO Ecosystem
The Venice Lagoon covers roughly 550 square kilometres between the mouths of the Sile and Brenta rivers, making it the largest wetland in the Mediterranean. Since 1987, Venice and its lagoon have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a recognition that protects not only the monuments but the entire watery landscape: salt marshes covered in halophyte vegetation, mudflats that resurface at low tide, and tidal creeks winding like veins through the channels. This fragile mosaic hosts colonies of herons, egrets and flamingos, and is governed by a centuries-old hydraulic balance between rivers, sea and the artificial channels dug by the Venetians to keep the city from silting up. Exploring the lagoon by boat, away from the tourist routes, means discovering a landscape that shifts with the tide, made of silence, light and a biodiversity found nowhere else in the world.
Venice and St Mark's Square
The heart of Venice is St Mark's Square, once called by Napoleon 'the finest drawing room in Europe.' Facing onto it are St Mark's Basilica, a Byzantine masterpiece with golden domes and mosaic-covered atrium, and the Doge's Palace, seat of power of the Serenissima for centuries, linked to the New Prisons by the famous Bridge of Sighs. The Grand Canal, an almost four-kilometre waterway, cuts through the city lined with Gothic and Renaissance palaces, while the Rialto Bridge has been the meeting point of trade and beauty since the Middle Ages. Every corner of Venice tells the story of a maritime republic that for a thousand years dominated trade between East and West, leaving behind an unrivalled artistic heritage.
The Sestieri and Life on the Water
Venice is divided into six sestieri - San Marco, Cannaregio, Castello, Dorsoduro, San Polo and Santa Croce - each with its own character, best discovered on foot through narrow calli, campielli and small bridges away from the busiest routes. Cannaregio holds the ancient Jewish Ghetto, Dorsoduro is home to the Accademia Galleries and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and Castello opens onto the historic Arsenale, once the heart of the Serenissima's shipbuilding. Daily life still runs on water: vaporetti replace buses, gondolas and rowing boats weave through the rii, and voga alla veneta rowing is passed down through generations. Every two years the city comes alive with the Art and Architecture Biennale, while in February Carnival fills the calli and campi with masks, costumes and festivities rooted in the 18th century.
Murano, the Island of Glass
A few minutes by vaporetto from Venice, Murano is world-famous for the art of blown glass, a tradition dating back to 1291, when the furnaces were moved here from the city to reduce the risk of fire. Master glassblowers still work in full view of visitors, shaping goblets, chandeliers and sculptures using secret techniques handed down over centuries. The Glass Museum, housed in Palazzo Giustinian, tells this thousand-year story through pieces ranging from Roman times to contemporary creations. Murano also holds architectural gems such as the Basilica of Santi Maria e Donato, with its splendid mosaic floor, and a main canal lined with colourful palaces that recalls, on a smaller scale, Venice itself.
Burano, Lace and Coloured Houses
Burano is the most photographed island in the lagoon thanks to its brightly painted houses, a tradition that, according to legend, helped fishermen recognize their homes when returning from the sea in the fog. The island is equally famous for needle lace, a refined textile art born in the 16th century and still practised today by a handful of lace-makers. The Lace Museum, in the former Lace School, displays extraordinary pieces and tells the story of a craft that sustained the island's economy for centuries. Wandering Burano's calli, among hanging laundry and colourful boats moored along the small canals, offers an intimate, picturesque atmosphere far removed from the rhythms of nearby Venice.
Torcello, the Mother Island
Now almost uninhabited, Torcello was the lagoon's first settlement and for centuries outshone Venice itself in importance, before being abandoned due to silting and malaria. It remains one of the most evocative places in the entire lagoon: the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, founded in the 7th century, holds some of Italy's oldest and most precious Byzantine mosaics, including an extraordinary Last Judgement and a Madonna enthroned on a gold background. Beside it stands the small church of Santa Fosca, an example of Venetian Byzantine architecture, while the so-called 'Throne of Attila,' an ancient stone seat, fuels local legends. Walking among Torcello's fields and silent canals means immersing yourself in the oldest, original Venice.
Chioggia, the Little Venice
At the southern tip of the lagoon, Chioggia is a fishing town that has kept its popular character intact, earning it the nickname 'Little Venice' for its urban layout crossed by canals, the Corso del Popolo running through it like a spine, and the small bridges linking its districts. Its fish market, among the most important on the Adriatic, is a daily spectacle of colours and voices, supplied by a still very active fishing fleet. The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, rebuilt to a design by Baldassarre Longhena, dominates the historic centre, while the houses lining the canals tell the story of a real, lived-in town where tourism has not yet erased its maritime, working-class soul.
The Lido and the Film Festival
The Lido di Venezia is the long sandbar separating the lagoon from the open sea, famous for its Art Nouveau bathing establishments from the early 20th century and its sandy beach, an oasis quite different from the rest of the lagoon city. Since 1932 it has hosted the Venice International Film Festival, the oldest film festival in the world, which every September turns the island into an international stage with the red carpet of the Palazzo del Cinema. The Lido is also the only part of the lagoon where cars circulate, and it can be explored by bicycle among period villas and historic hotels such as the Excelsior. From here, connections run to Pellestrina and the open sea, in a fascinating contrast between beach life and lagoon atmosphere.
Coastlines, Pellestrina and the Murazzi
Cavallino-Treporti, north of the lagoon, is the quintessential seaside destination with its long sandy shores, some of Europe's most renowned campsites and traditional fish farms. To the south, the slender island of Pellestrina lives off traditional fishing and lace-making, with fishing villages as brightly coloured as Burano's but far less touristy. Along the outer coast run the murazzi, imposing sea walls of Istrian stone blocks built by the Republic of Venice in the 18th century to protect the lagoon from Adriatic storms: an extraordinary feat of hydraulic engineering for its time, still largely functioning today and walkable or cyclable between cliff and open sea.
High Water and the MOSE System
High water (acqua alta) is a natural phenomenon linked to tides, sirocco winds and the lagoon's shape, periodically flooding St Mark's Square and the city's lowest areas, offering an unusual sight with raised walkways. To protect Venice from the most extreme events, the MOSE (Experimental Electromechanical Module) was built, a system of 78 mobile floodgates installed at the three inlets - Lido, Malamocco and Chioggia - able to rise from the seabed and temporarily seal off the lagoon from the Adriatic during exceptional tides. Operational since 2020, MOSE is one of the most complex hydraulic engineering works in the world and a symbol of the age-old struggle between Venice and the water that made it unique, and vulnerable, at once.
Flavours of the Lagoon
Lagoon cuisine is born of the sea and the islands' vegetable gardens: from the famous cicchetti - small bites enjoyed standing at a bacaro with a glass of wine - to sarde in saor and fried moeche, the tiny soft-shell crabs typical of the moulting season. The Rialto and Chioggia fish markets supply kitchens daily with cuttlefish, mantis shrimp, sea bass and clams, stars of dishes such as squid-ink risotto and spaghetti alle vongole. Sweets are not lacking either, like bussolai buranelli, traditional biscuits from the lace island, best paired with a glass of sweet wine. Every bacaro, every shop, every market tells of the deep bond between the lagoon and its table, made of simplicity and authentic flavours.
Unmissable Experiences
- Ammirare l'alba su Piazza San Marco prima dell'arrivo dei turisti
- Watch sunrise over St Mark's Square before the crowds arrive
- Admirar el amanecer en la Plaza de San Marcos antes de que lleguen los turistas
- Admirer le lever du soleil sur la place Saint-Marc avant l'arrivée des touristes
- Den Sonnenaufgang über dem Markusplatz bewundern, bevor die Touristen eintreffen
- Admirar o nascer do sol na Praça de São Marcos antes da chegada dos turistas
- 在游客到来之前，欣赏圣马可广场的日出
- 観光客が到着する前に、サン・マルコ広場の日の出を眺める
- مشاهدة شروق الشمس فوق ساحة سان ماركو قبل وصول السياح
- पर्यटकों के आने से पहले सैन मार्को स्क्वायर पर सूर्योदय देखें
- Полюбоваться рассветом над площадью Сан-Марко до прибытия туристов
- Θαυμάστε την ανατολή του ηλίου στην Πλατεία του Αγίου Μάρκου πριν φτάσουν οι τουρίστες
- Admironi lindjen e diellit mbi Sheshin e Shën Markut para se të mbërrijnë turistët
To see
What to see in Laguna di Venezia
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