10 Fun facts that will make you love Venice

It you didn’t already, here are 10 Fun facts that will make you love Venice, the city of lovers, gondolas, pizza and sun.

Of course, Venice is much more than that, as anyone who has spent more than 10 minutes in town will tell you. The old dukedom has something special, unique about it. One thing you will notice is the absence of honking cars, as the narrow alleyways and canals can often only be negotiated on foot – or… by gondola, respectively.

Ciao! This is such a sweet Italian word, and you will hear it a lot during your “viaggio Italiano”. But did you ever wonder about its origins? Well, it turns out it comes from Venice. Centuries ago, people used to greet each other with, “s-ciavo vostro” (your slave, your servant). It later became abbreviated.

Venice has around 150 canals and around 400 gondoliers. They dress in campy, striped shirts and caps and usually pass on the art of navigating the small vessels from father to son. Until recently, this craft used to be male-only; but in 2010, Venice finally got its first woman gondolier.

Also, if you were looking into the option of becoming a gondolier, think thoroughly about this career choice: only 3-4 licenses are issued per year and extensive training is required, as well as passing a difficult exam.

As for the personalities that called Venice their home, we must include famous explorer Marco Polo, the notorious lover Giacomo Casanova and genius composer Antonio Vivaldi. It does seem that human genius does respond to the beauty of the surroundings.

Everybody knows that masks were used as a disguise during carnivals. But fewer may be aware that in fact in the past people would go about wearing masks all the time. Laws had to be finally instilled, for security reasons.

Much of the UNESCO World Heritage part of Venice cannot be negotiated by car, but the region is quite vast, so Venice car rental remains a valid option for transport during your holiday.