In the name of who enlightens the minds

“The city of canals”

VENICE, the “city of canals”, is world-famous for its canals. It is built on an archipelago[1] of 118 islands formed by about 150 canals in a shallow[2] lagoon. The islands on which the city is built are connected by about 400 bridges. In the old center, the canals serve the function of roads, and every from of transport is on water or on foot. In the 19th century a causeway to the mainland brought a railway station to Venice, and automobile causeway and parking lot was added in the 20th century.  Beyond these land entrance at the northern edge[3] of the city, transportation within the city remains, as it was in centuries past, entirely on water or on foot. Venice is Europe’s largest urban carfree area, unique in Europe in remaining a sizable functioning city in the 21th century entirely without motorcars or trucks. The classical Venetian boat is the gondola, although it is now mostly used for tourists. Most Venetians now travel by motorized waterbuses “Vaporetto” which ply[4] regular routes along the major canals and between the city’s islands. The city  also has many private boats. The only unmotorized gondola still in common use by Venetians are the traghetti, foot passenger ferries[5] crossing the grand canal at certain without bridges.


[1] Area with many small islands

[2] Not deep

[3] Place where s.th. begins or ends

[4] Travel regularly for hire

[5] Boat that carries people and things across a narrow piece of water