Venice Geography

Venice occupies more than 100 small islands within the Venetian Lagoon, a shallow body of water separated from the open Adriatic Sea by a chain of barrier islands, including the Lido. The historic center is divided into six sestieri (districts) -- Cannaregio, Castello, San Marco, San Polo, Santa Croce, and Dorsoduro -- webbed together by roughly 400 bridges across some 150 canals.

The city itself has no natural bedrock foundation; its buildings rest on wooden piles driven deep into the lagoon's clay and mud, a technique used since Venice's earliest settlement. The lagoon's own ecology -- tidal flows, silt, and a network of channels kept navigable by centuries of dredging -- has shaped the city's growth as much as any architect has.