Don’t Ignore The Castello, Cannaregio, And San Croce Neighbourhoods In Venice

All ‘roads’ seem to lead to, or through, the San Marco neighbourhood of Venice. So, after you have given San Marco the attention it deserves, you can easily explore San Polo and the Dorsoduro together in a day. That leaves you with the Castello, Cannaregio, and San Croce still to explore, so here are some ideas for those neighbourhoods

1. An afternoon in the Castello neighbourhood

Riva degli Schiavino

We set out to explore the Castello neighbourhood after a morning’s tour of the Doge’s Palace and St Mark’s Basilica, walking west along the sweeping promenade of Riva degli Schiavino.

There is a lot to take in on the Riva degli Schiavino which is filled with tourists, seagulls, souvenir stalls, and vaporetto stations. However, the further west you walk away from St Mark’s Square, the quieter it gets. The promenade was named after traders from Dalmatia who moored their boats and barges here. It has always been a busy area for boats as shown in Canalettos drawings in the 1740s.

At the start of your walk along the Riva degli Schiavino, at the corner of the Doge’s Palace, you pass the Bridge of Sighs, then the famous Hotel Danieli, the leaning church of San Giorgio dei Greci (as seen above from the Ponte de la Pieta), and the Naval Museum.

Stop for lunch on Via Giuseppe Garibaldi

Via Giuseppe Garibaldi was formed by Napoleon in 1808 by filling in a canal. Today, it’s a wide, bustling street of perfectly acceptable cafes and restaurants. No need to book anywhere to eat on Via Giuseppe Garibaldi as there is plenty of choice – just pick somewhere you like the look of and which has room on the tables outside so you can sit and watch the world go by.

Castello is a true Venetian neighbourhood, with fewer bridges, children playing and washing strung out across the streets. Indeed, one of the side streets off Via Giuseppe Garibaldi had lots of lines of washing hanging out, providing good photo opportunities of a classic view.

Walk through Viale Garibaldi to the Giardini

From Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, take the short walk through Viale Garibaldi and spot the turtles in the water at the bottom of the fountain of Garibaldi. Viale Garibaldi is a shady tree lined walkway with a wonderful glass conservatory café filled with plants called Caffe La Serra along the way – it looked very appealing but also very busy.

Art Biennale at the Giardini or Arsenale

Venice hosts a biannual art exhibition called the Art Biennale, which is akin to an Olympics for Art! Countries are invited to submit exhibits based on a particular theme and the exhibits are displayed in 30 pavilions between April and November in the Giardini park and Arsenale of the Castello neighbourhood.

If it’s an Art Biennale year, then allow a couple of hours to explore the exhibits in the Giardini, gardens commissioned by Napoleon in 1807. Note – it can get very busy and so try to visit in the mid-afternoon, or very early to miss the bulk of the crowds. If you have time, then you can also visit the Biennale exhibits at the Arsenale and see where the ship building took place and visit the Naval Museum.

2. An evening walk in the Cannaregio neighbourhood

We only entered the Cannaregio neighbourhood on two occasions during our stay, once to take the vaporetto from Fondamente Nove to the Lagoon islands, when the Italian Alps were in full view in the distance, and once for an evening Ghost Walk, such as Venice: Mysterious Tales of Ghosts and Murders , booked through Get Your Guide.

For the ghost walk, we met our tour guide in Campo San Bartolomeo, just next to the Rialto bridge, which is still in the San Marco neighbourhood but is a popular meeting point for tours and locals. Campo San Bartolomeo is a long and narrow rectangle surrounded by shops and restaurants and featuring a statue of Venetian comedic playwright, Carlo Goldini, in the middle.

From here we walked north on the Salizada S Giovanni Gristomo into the Cannaregio neighbourhood, stopping for recommended gelato at Gelatotec Suso. Yes, the stracciatella was very good!

Find the secret view of the Rialto Bridge

Near the Burger King on Salizada S Giovanni Gristomo, find the entrance to Sotoportego del Remer and follow it to Corte del Remer which leads to the Grand Canal (you walk under the with Lion Morosini Palace). From the water’s edge, you will find one of the best, unobstructed views of the Rialto Bridge, without any tourists to jostle with.

This little area is also next to the ‘sinking house’ used in the final scenes of James Bond film Casino Royale (in real life it’s a narrow house with carmine red paint and white windows). You are directly opposite the Mercato di Rialto vaporetto stop at this point.

Look for Marco Polo’s house

Marco Polo’s house – original family home

Retrace your steps back to Salizada S Giovanni Gristomo and find the small arch on the other side of the lane to Corte Prima del Milion to see the house where Marco Polo was born. There is no plaque, but the large house to the right-hand side is apparently the Polo family house where Marco was born and lived before he made money from exploration – the house is thought to be too poor to commemorate given Marco’s achievements.

Marco Polo’s house – when the family had money

Next take the Sotoportego del Tetro to Sito della Casa di Marco Polo – the site where Marco Polo’s family lived after his return from travels, when the family had money. This time there is a plaque on the wall, but now the building is a theatre after the original house burnt down in a fire. This is the site where Marco Polo’s wife is thought to have drowned in the canal and her ghost can sometimes be heard singing (so they say)!

Find the macabre carvings on a church doorway

Your next stop is to find the Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Campo Santo Giovanni e Paolo. Our tour guide told us that the man who designed it slept on the steps until it was finished and during this time witness a murderer escaping a house opposite holding a heart in her hands. There are carvings related to this sighting in the marble surrounds of the doorway.

We only explored a very small portion of Cannaregio on our Ghost tour which was the east portion of the neighbourhood, next to San Marco and the Castello. Had we had more time to explore the neighbourhood we would have ventured further into Cannaregio to visit Tintoretto’s House, the Chiesa della Madonna dell’Orto and explore this old Jewish Ghetto area.

Also, the Fondamente Misericordio is one of the key places to watch the sunset in Venice and grab some food, or its neighbour Fondamente Ormesini.

3. Book dinner at La Zucca in the San Croce neighbourhood

We only spend an evening in the San Croce neighbourhood on our trip, which was primarily to seek out an aperitivo before heading to a fabulous restaurant called La Zucca (‘the Pumpkin’) for dinner. We followed a maze of tiny alleyways and canals from the Rialto Bridge through San Croce, which was delightful, and quiet.

La Zucca is located next to a pretty bridge over the canal – its atmosphere is cosy and the food truly delicious. It’s not a vegetarian restaurant, but La Zucca does have very good veggie and seasonal options. Note – you must book in advance to be sure of getting a table; people were being turned away all night because the restaurant was full.

From La Zucca you can catch the water bus from the San Stae station back to San Marco.

If you are in San Croce at lunchtime, then try Il Refolo for canal-side dining around the corner from La Zucca, off the pretty Campo San Giacomo dell’Orio.

You could then also check out the only modern bridge over the Grand Canal, Ponte della Constituzione. Not many things are new in Venice and so this is a novelty, even if a lot of the locals don’t like it!

Final thoughts…

We really enjoyed wandering around the different neighbourhoods of Venice, and only wish we had been able to spend more time doing so – we barely scratched the surface even though the neighbourhoods are not that big, they are just rich with sights and treasures.

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