Current Time in Venice, Italy

Venice is one of the most extraordinary and celebrated cities in the world — a metropolis built on 118 small islands in a saltwater lagoon at the northern end of the Adriatic Sea in northeastern Italy. With a resident population of approximately 260,000 in the greater metropolitan area (though only around 50,000 in the historic island city itself), Venice is the capital of the Veneto region and a place of unparalleled visual beauty, historical importance, and cultural achievement. Its entire urban fabric — streets replaced by canals, bridges connecting islands, centuries of architectural magnificence reflected in the still waters of the lagoon — constitutes a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of humanity's supreme achievements in urban civilization.

Venice was founded, according to tradition, on March 25, 421 AD, when inhabitants of the Roman cities of the Venetian mainland fled to the protective islands of the lagoon to escape invading barbarian tribes. Over the following centuries, the scattered island communities gradually consolidated into the Republic of Venice — the Serenissima, the Most Serene Republic — which would become one of the most powerful and longest-lived states in European history, maintaining its independence from 697 to 1797. At its height, Venice controlled trading routes throughout the eastern Mediterranean and into Asia, and its merchant fleet was the most powerful in the world. The wealth generated by this maritime empire funded the extraordinary building program that produced the city we see today.

The Piazza San Marco, the only space officially designated a piazza in Venice (all others are campi), is the heart of the city and one of the most magnificent public spaces in Europe. The Basilica di San Marco, begun in 1063 to house the relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist — appropriated from Alexandria in 828 — is a Byzantine masterpiece whose five domes, marble facades, and golden mosaics represent an almost bewildering accumulation of artistic splendor, incorporating spoils brought from Constantinople and elsewhere in the medieval Mediterranean. The Doge's Palace, a Gothic masterpiece of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in pink and white marble, served as the seat of Venetian government and contains magnificent state rooms decorated by Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese. The Clock Tower, the Campanile, and the two columns on the waterfront bearing the winged lion of Saint Mark and the statue of Saint Theodore complete this ensemble of civic and religious power.

Venice's artistic heritage is among the richest of any city in the world. The Venetian school of painting, developed from the late fifteenth century onward by Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, and later Tiepolo and Canaletto, represents one of the greatest continuous artistic traditions in Western art. The Gallerie dell'Accademia, the Museo Correr, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Ca' d'Oro, and the Palazzo Grassi house collections that would make any city famous. The Ca' Pesaro, Museo Fortuny, and dozens of other palazzo-museums add further depth. The Biennale di Venezia, the world's oldest international art exhibition established in 1895, continues to bring the world's most significant contemporary art and architecture to the city each year.

Murano, an island within the Venetian lagoon famous since the thirteenth century for the extraordinary quality of its glassblowing tradition, continues to produce exceptional glass works in both traditional and contemporary styles. Burano, another lagoon island, is known for its brightly painted fishermen's houses and its tradition of Venetian needle lace. The Lido, the long barrier island that separates the lagoon from the Adriatic, hosts the Venice Film Festival, the world's oldest film festival, established in 1932.

Venice faces significant challenges from rising sea levels and the impact of mass tourism, and various measures have been taken to manage visitor flows and protect the city's fabric. The MOSE system of mobile flood barriers is now operational and has been deployed to protect the city from exceptional high water. Venice is connected to the mainland by rail and road via the Liberty Bridge and served by Marco Polo International Airport on the lagoon shore. Arriving in Venice by train or water — stepping off the vaporetto into the spectacle of the Grand Canal — remains one of the great arrival experiences in the world.