P285 - Italy - Rio di San Nicolo in Venezia

Rio di San Nicolo, Venezia, Italy ( UNESCO WHS )

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 (census estimate January 1, 2004). Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area (population 1,600,000). The city historically was an independent nation. Venice has been known as the "La Dominante", "Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Bridges", and "The City of Light". Luigi Barzini, writing in The New York Times, described it as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man".

The city stretches across 118 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of the whole Comune of Venezia; around 62,000 in the historic city of Venice (Centro storico); 176,000 in Terraferma (the Mainland), mostly in the large frazione of Mestre and Marghera; and 31,000 live on other islands in the lagoon.

The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century.

威尼斯是意大利東北部的城市，也是威尼托的首府。人口約271,251人（2004年1月1日）。威尼斯與帕多瓦組成大帕多瓦-威尼斯地區（人口約1,600,000人）。別名「亞得里亞海的女王」、「水都」、「橋之城」及「光之城」，堪稱世界最美麗的城市之一。威尼斯市區涵蓋意大利東北部亞得里亞海沿岸的威尼斯潟湖的118個島嶼和鄰近一個半島。這個鹹水潟湖分佈在波河與皮亞韋河之間的海岸線。

威尼斯曾經是威尼斯共和國的中心，十字軍進行十字軍東征時也曾在這裡集結，而且也是13世紀至17世紀末一個非常重要的商業（尤其是香料貿易、糧食與毛皮貿易）與藝術重鎮。後來因為土耳其人對地中海東邊的控制促使歐洲國家尋找其他航線的慾望，威尼斯因此失去了大部分的重要性與影響力。

References sources : wikipedia