Founded 1500 years ago on a cluster of mudflats in the centre of the lagoon, Venice rose to become Europe’s main trading post between the West and the East, and at its height controlled an empire that extended from the Dolomites to Cyprus.

The melancholic air of the place is in part a product of the discrepancy between the grandeur of its history and what the city has become.

Rialto dictated the value of commodities all over the continent; in the dockyards of the Arsenale the workforce was so vast that a warship could be built and fitted out in a single day; and the Piazza San Marco was thronged with people here to set up deals or report to the Republic’s government.

Nowadays it’s no longer a buzzing metropolis but rather the embodiment of a fabulous past, dependent for its survival largely on the people who come to marvel at its relics.

The monuments which draw the largest crowds are the Basilica di San Marco – the mausoleum of the city’s patron saint – and the Palazzo Ducale or Doge’s In the heyday of the Venetian Republic, some 200,000 people lived in Venice, three times its present population.

Merchants from Europe and western Asia maintained warehouses here; transactions in the banks and bazaars of the Contents Introduction INTRODUCTION Palace.

Certainly these are the most imposing structures in the city, but a rollcall of the churches worth visiting would feature more than a dozen names.

Many of the city’s treasures remain in the churches for which they were created, but a sizeable number have been removed to one or other of Venice’s museums, with the Accademia holding the lion’s share.

This cultural heritage is a source of endless fascination, but you should also discard your itineraries for a day and just wander – the anonymous parts of Venice reveal as much of the city as its wellknown attractions.