The ‘Backstreets’ of Venice

The big sights of Venice are familiar: the San Marco Basilica, the Palace of the Doges, the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal.

But Venice, for all its picture-book views and worries about huge cruise ships and crowds that overwhelm local life, is still also a city of byways and backwater canals, where life can take a slower pace, especially if you wander early or late.

On our last visit, we stayed in an apartment on a small street off a small square in the Cannaregio district. When I say a small street, that’s quite literal. Here it is; in the right-hand view you can see our apartment door.

And yet, wide enough for early-morning rumbling traffic of goods on carts and the collection of rubbish—although we were warned to look both ways before stepping out. At one end, it opens directly on the Rio della Misericordia, and at the other, it’s that tiny space behind the vendors and to the left of the old Teatro Italia.

At night, from across the Misericordia canal, this was our view of ‘home’ although we had to walk a couple of blocks to a bridge to get there.

The smaller canals allow those with boats (that is, locals such as this crew of construction workers) to move quickly from one area to another where walking would not only be slower, but involve walking up an over numerous small bridges, all arched to allow boats below.

Looking down the canals, you can see the water doors that were once the main, and in some cases only, entrances to homes and businesses; while some face canal on one side and a square or alley on the other, some do not.

A look at historic maps of Venice would tell you that there were once even more canals; over the centuries some filled in by sedimentation and others were filled on purpose, becoming ‘dry rivers,’ such as this one along the way from Cannaregio to San Marco.

Even along the Grand Canal, literally in the shadow of the Rialto Bridge, there’s everyday commerce, with shipping and deliveries and a daily fruit and veg market. And there’s garbage to be hauled off, and even a UPS boat to bring the latest packages from Amazon…

Not that traffic can’t get a bit busy at times…

But even on a day when things are bustling in the tourist-friendly center, the streets of the Castello district can be surprisingly empty—especially when many are taking mid-day rests. There are even places where cats can nap!

Along this small waterway, one side is lined with the forbidding Arsenale, the home of Venice’s one-time military might and its manufacturing of boats and weaponry.

Along the north side of the city, facing the lagoon and the cemetery island of San Michele, are these work-a-day structures. When you have streets and cars, you have mechanics to fix them—and that’s also true when you have canals and boats. And it’s where you can gas up, too!

While there are many maps of Venice to be had, free or fancy, in the end my favorite way to see Venice was to wander, knowing there would always be something to see, and that sooner or later, you’ll come to somewhere, and to the someone who can point the way.