Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Some helpful street lingo:
Campo
means square,
campiello
is a small square,
calle
is a
street,
fondamenta
is the embankment along a canal or the lagoon,
rio
is a small canal,
rio
terà
is a street that was once a canal and has been filled in,
sotoportego
is a covered pas-
sageway, and
ponte
is a bridge. Don't get hung up on the exact spelling of street and square
names,whichmaysometimesappearintheVenetiandialectandothertimesinstandardItali-
an.
By Vaporetto
Venice's public transit system, run by a company called ACTV, is a fleet of motorized bus-
boats called
vaporetti
. They work like city buses except that they never get a flat, the stops
are docks, and if you get off between stops, you might drown.
Formosttravelers,onlytwovaporettolinesmatter:line#1andline#2.Theselinesleave
every 10 minutes or so and go up and down the Grand Canal, between the “mouth of the
fish” at one end and San Marco at the other. Line #1 is the slow boat, taking 45 minutes
and making every stop along the way. Line #2 is the fast boat that zips down the Grand
Canal in 25 minutes, stopping only at Tronchetto (parking lot), Piazzale Roma (bus station),
Ferrovia (train station), Rialto Bridge, San Tomà (Frari Church), San Samuele, Accademia
Bridge,SanMarco(westendofSt.Mark'sSquare),andSanZaccaria(eastendofSt.Mark's
Square).
Catching a vaporetto is very much like catching a city bus. You can buy either single-
ride tickets (valid for 1 hour) or passes (valid for a variety of durations, from 12 hours
to 7 days) from any ticket window or HelloVenezia office. HelloVenezia, run by ACTV,
is a string of shops selling tickets and passes at the same prices as ticket windows
Before you board, validate your ticket by holding it up to the small white machine on
the dock until you hear a pinging sound. The machine readout shows how long your ticket
is valid—and inspectors do come by now and then to check tickets. If you board without
a ticket (because ticket windows at odd hours or small stops may be closed), seek out the
conductor immediately to buy a single ticket on board (or risk a €50 fine). If you purchase
a vaporetto pass, you're supposed to touch the pass to the machine each time you board the
boat.
