The Italian region of Veneto stretches from the Dolomite Mountains to the Adriatic Sea. Venice, its capital, is famous for its canals, Gothic architecture and Carnival. Lake Garda and medieval Verona are jewels to explore.

Provinces of Veneto, italy

Guide to Property for Sale in Veneto

Veneto has a wide range of real estate for sale. Venice and Verona have all year round tourism which means your Italian property investment can earn attractive rental income. Properties in Venice, on the Grand Canal or an apartment near the Rialto Bridge, go for around 3,500 Euro per m2. In Verona's medieval centre prices are lower, around 2,300 Euro per m2. However, Veneto is not just Venice. If Investing in Lake Garda properties in towns such Peschiera del Garda will cost around 2,500 - 2,750 Euro per m2 and offer year round rental income. On the Venetian coast, Lido di Jesolo is a popular resort for apartments with sea views that sell for around 2,000 Euro per m2. Veneto has two airports: Venice and Treviso.    

Veneto is brimming with amazing towns awash with sumptuous art, colour and life; incredible food, lagoons and beaches, nature and wildlife oasis; can all be found in this wonderful Italian region which has, at its heart, the enchanting maritime town of Venice.

Veneto and Venice have excellent communication links and property is readably available. What could be better than having your own place in the most beautiful city on earth?

Overview of Veneto

Dolmites

Situated in Italy's northeast, Veneto extends from the Dolomites to the Adriatic Sea, by way of an expansive range of hills and a valley furrowed by rivers, canals and the Po River Delta. The typical scenery of Veneto's coast is the Venetian lagoon, and, right on this very lagoon stands perhaps the most unique city in the entire world - Venice, visited by millions of tourists every year. 

Veneto is circled in the north by alpine summits: Marmolada Monte Antealo, Tre Cime di Lavaredo and Monte Cristallo. The majority of Veneto is plain, with low some low hills in the middle. The coastline is low and with wide, sandy beaches.

The Po Delta

The Po Delta has its own distinctive, extraordinary and unique character. Created by the slow sedimentation of the river, and by the meanderings of its branches, but mainly by the extraordinarily and skilled intervention of man over centuries of water management and reclamation of the swampy land. One such intervention was the building of Porto Viro, this exceptional engineering feat diverted the river Po further to the east and prevented the silting up of the Venetian lagoon. The lagoons of the area are ideal breeding grounds for fish.

Between the Po di Levante River and the Brenta River there are two famous beach resorts: Rosolina Mare and Isola di Albarella.

Venetian Lagoon

Venice is surrounded by one of the most ecologically rich bodies of water in the Mediterranean: the Laguna Véneta, or Venetian Lagoon. The Laguna is a crescent-shaped body of water between the Italian mainland and the Adriatic sea. It lies within the arms of the Litorale Pellestrina, Litorale di Lido, and Litorale del Cavallino. These three strips of land are broken at only three entrances or porti along a length of some 30 miles (45 km), creating a marshy environment that is fed by rivers yet flushed by salt water from the Adriatic.

The laguna is home to a vast array of creatures: anemones, crabs, mussels, limpets, barnacles, cuttlefish, squid, oysters, shrimp, and fish that range from the tiny anchovy to eels and mullet to and sea bass.

Lake Garda - Eastern side

Lake Garda is blessed with more than 45 km of free beaches in some of the most evocative and celebrated scenery of whole Europe, including medieval towns, historical villas and ancient castles. It is enriched by its green hinterland with pastures and vineyards which produce wines known throughout the world such as Custoza and Bardolino.

Art and Culture of Veneto

Arena Verona Italy

Venice

St Mark's Basilica (Basilica di San Marco), the most famous of the churches of Venice and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. It lies on St Mark's Square, adjacent and connected to the Doge's Palace and has been the seat of the Patriarch of Venice since 1807.

The Rialto Bridge, one of the architectural icons of Venice, the oldest bridge across the Grand Canal, and probably the most famous in the city, built in the 16th century in the place of the ancient 12th century Ponte della Moneta. The present stone bridge, a single span designed by Antonio da Ponte, was finally completed in 1591. Two inclined ramps lead up to a central portico. On either side of the portico the covered ramps carry rows of shops. The engineering of the bridge was considered so audacious that architect Vincenzo Scamozzi predicted future ruin.

The Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri) over the Rio di Palazzo, in white limestone with windows with stone bars on the summit of the enclosed bridge, connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. The bridge was built in the 16th century and only given the name Bridge of Sighs in the 19th century, by Lord Byron, from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice out the window before being taken down to their cells.

The beautiful palaces: Doge's Palace, Palazzo Grassi, Ca' d'Oro, Ca' Rezzonico

La Fenice opera house

Verona

Arena, the famous Roman amphitheatre, where opera is now performed in the summer months. The shape recalls the Roman Coliseum, and it was built in the mid-1st century AD on a site which at the time was outside the city walls. The amphitheatre could host over 30,000 spectators. The round facade was originally in white and pink limestone from Valpolicella, but during the Middle Ages the Arena was used as a sort of quarry for other buildings. Its function as a theatre began again during the Renaissance.

Roman theatre, built in the 1st century BC and retrieved in the 18th century thanks to Andrea Monga, a wealthy Veronese who bought all the houses that in time had been built over the theatre, demolished them and saved the monument.

Roman monuments, such as the Arco dei Gavi (Gavi Arch), dedicated to the important Roman family of the Gavii, built in the 1st century AD, and famous for having the name of the builder (architect Lucius Vitruvius Cordone) engraved on it. It had been demolished by the French troops in 1805 and was rebuilt in 1932.

San Zeno Basilica, built with alternating layers of white stone and bricks, a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture, rebuilt in 1117 following an earthquake on the remains of an older church.

Famous for being the setting of Shakespeare’s "Romeo and Juliet." 

Natural History Museum, containing one of the most valuable collections of fossils and archaeological remains of Europe.

Towns in Veneto

Venice

Venice

The city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto, stretches across numerous small islands in a marshy lagoon along the Adriatic Sea. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (to the south) and the Piave (to the north) Rivers.

The Venetian Republic was a major sea power and a very important center of commerce (especially the spice trade) and art in the Renaissance, and was the native place of Marco Polo, painters Titian (1477–1576) and Canaletto (1697-1768), musician Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741).

The city is divided into the six traditional districts (sestieri) of Cannaregio, San Polo, Dorsoduro (including the Giudecca), Santa Croce, San Marco and Castello (including San Pietro di Castello and Santa Elena).

The buildings of Venice are constructed on closely spaced wood piles which penetrate alternating layers of clay and sand. The buildings are often threatened by flood tides pushing in from the Adriatic between autumn and early spring. Six hundred years ago, Venetians protected themselves from land-based attacks by diverting all the major rivers flowing into the lagoon and thus preventing sediment from filling the area around the city.

The Islands of Murano, renowned for its glass artists, and Burano, home of the Venetian lace.

Venice is also famous world-wide for its unique Carnival, and with its lagoon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Verona

Verona is an ancient town, capital of its province, situated in a loop of the Adige River near Lake Garda. Due to the nature of the Adige flow, Verona was flooded many times in history, on average every 70 years. In 1956 the Mori-Torbole tunnel (500 cubic metre of discharge from the Adige river to the Garda lake in case of flood danger) was built to avoid disasters of that kind. For its cultural and historical prominence, Verona is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Padova

Padova is the economic and communications hub of the Veneto region in northern Italy. It stands on the Bacchiglione river, 40km west of Venice and 29km southeast of Vicenza. Its agricultural setting is the Pianura Padana, the "Padovan plain," edged by the Euganaean Hills praised by Lucan and Martial, Petrarch and Ugo Foscolo. The city is picturesque, with a dense network of arcaded streets opening into large communal piazze, and many bridges crossing the various branches of the Bacchiglione, which once surrounded the ancient walls like a moat. Padova was where most of the action in Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew, took place. Padova has long been famous for its university, founded by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1238.

Treviso

Treviso is situated some 15 km south-west the right bank of the Piave river, on the plain between the Gulf of Venice and the Alps, at the confluence of the Sile with the Botteniga. The former flows partly round its walls, the latter through the town; and it has canal communication with the lagoons. It is an old town, with narrow irregular colonnaded streets and interesting old frescoed houses. In the past it was a crafts and agricultural center of ironworks, pottery, macaroni, cotton-spinning and rice-husking, paper, printing, brushes, brickyards. Presently it is the seat of the renowned Benetton company.

Lake Garda

The towns of Garda, Punta San Vigilio and Torri are the most beautiful spots of the middle lake. It is here that the scenery of the hinterland begins to change and the hills begin to make way for the rocky mountainous sides of the Pre-Alps. These tourist centres are also medieval towns and have castles, villas and monasteries such as The hermitage of the Camaldolesi friars.

Sports and Leisure in Veneto

Lido di Jesolo

Beaches

Between the Po di Levante River and the Brenta River there are two famous beach resorts: Rosolina Mare and Isola di Albarella.

Lido di Jesolo

A few kilometers from the enchanting city of Venice is the Lido di Jesolo, 15 kilometres of fine dolomite sand, and one of the three pieces of land that create the Venetian lagoon. It is an incredibly popular place to visit and excursions into the Pine woods is highly recommended.

Skiing

The Dolomites

The area comprises more than 430 lift facilities on 12 ski resorts. The 12 ski areas: Cortina d'Ampezzo, Plan de Corones, Alta Badia, Gardena Valley/Alpe di Siusi, Fassa Valley/Carezza, Arabba/Marmolada, Alta Pusteria, Fiemme Valley/Obereggen, San Martino di Castrozza/Passo Rolle, Isarco Valley, Tre Valli and Civetta.

Lake Garda

Motor-boating, water-skiing, wind-surfing and fishing are the most popular sports on the lake, while, for some years now, the hills have become much appreciated by those who love to enjoy their sport surrounded by greenery, and offer golf, horseback riding and mountain walking.

Golf

There are four major golf courses in the Veneto region.

The Carnival

When Carnival first began it was celebrated from December 26 and reached its climax the day before Ash Wednesday, also known as "Mardi Gras". During the period of Carnival it seems that every excess was permitted and the fact that everyone wore masks seemed to abolish all social division. The most common costume (the baùtta) was composed of a black silk hood, a lace cape, a voluminous cloak (the tabarro), and a three-cornered hat and a white mask that completely covered the wearer's face. This allowed revellers to go around the city incognito.

Since 1980 the celebration of Carnival in Venice has gained popularity. People come from the world over to attend private and public masked balls and masked revellers of all ages invade the campi where music and dancing continues nearly day and night. Theatrical performances and an array of ancient games are organized for the amusement of Venetians and visitors alike.

Food and Wines of Veneto

Venice like most of Italy has fantastic local cuisine and wonderful wines. Pasta, though is rivalled by rice as the staple. The seafood risottos with mussels, octopus and squid are exquisite. Polenta is another favourite and the world famous dessert Tiramisu originated here. Due to the Venetian sea faring tradition and the spice trade, you will even find spicy dishes here which is uncommon in Italy. The famous gastronomic products of the area are: wine, olive oil, asparagus, fish, chestnuts, cheese, honey, tortellini, truffles and pumpkins.

The region abounds with great red and white wines: Bardolino, Soave and Valpolicella which come from Verona, Merlot, Cabernet, Pinot Biano and Pinot Grigio. There are many good rose’ wines as well. The strong after dinner digestive known as Grappa is produced here around Bassano di Grappa.

The population is concentrated in the Southern part, and mostly employed in agriculture in many small farms, specialized in the cultivation of maize, barley, soy bean and sugar-beet, vineyards producing highly renowned wines, fruit and vegetables.

History of Veneto

Martime Republic of Venice

Very little is known of the earliest inhabitants of Veneto, called "Euganei", who were probably absorbed by the ancient Veneti, a peaceful tribe of farmers, who occupied the region starting from the 13th century BC and established important centers at Este, Padua and Adria. Unusually for an Italic people, the Veneti did not fight the Romans, but established an alliance with them against their common enemy, the Gauls. In 98 BC the Romans gave Veneto the status of Roman colony and a little later citizenship.

The region was among the first to be threatened by the barbarians, and the political centre was moved to the lagoon islands, easier to defend, and to Istria, under the protection of the Eastern Roman Empire. From that time onwards, a very profitable relationship developed between Venice and the East, while the rest of the region was occupied, as the greater part of Italy, by the Lombards and later by the Franks, who established a number of fiefdoms and helped the rise of the Lords of Este. Other great families rose to power in other cities: the Scaligeri in Verona and the Da Carrara in Ferrara.

Throughout the Middle Ages Venice rise to a dominant naval power of the Mediterranean  continued and the maritime state began to conquer the cities on the hinterland, establishing a strong state that was independent until 1797, when Napoleon crushed the free republic selling it to Austria with the shameful Campoformio Treaty. The Third War of Italian Independence (1866) resulted in Veneto finally being united to the Kingdom of Italy, but this only caused a massive exodus of its inhabitants towards the industrial centers in north-western Italy and to America.

During the First World War the region suffered greatly, being for long years frontline between Italy and Austria. Also the Second World War, especially after 1943, caused innumerable victims among the civilian populations because of the heavy allied bombings of Treviso and Verona and the bloody reprisals of the Germans against the Italian Resistance.

Geography of Veneto

Surface of 18,399 square kilometers

Coastline extending over 200 Km

Population of over 4.8 million

Bordered by  bordered to the east by Friuli Venezia Giulia, to the south by Emilia-Romagna, to the west by Lombardy and to the north by Trentino-Alto Adige. At its northernmost corner it borders also on Austria.

Provinces

Venice (regional capital), Belluno, Padua, Rovigo, Treviso, Verona and Vicenza.

Getting To Veneto

Airports

The Marco Polo airport, located about 13 km from Venice, is connected to the city by bus No. 5 (departures at intervals of every half hour), by airport shuttle (faster but more expensive, leaving every hour), and by taxi.

Road

On highways A4 from west or east, A13 until you reach Padova and then A4 from the South, or A27 from the North

Train

S.Lucia (Santa Lucia) is the name of Venice's Train Station. S.Lucia Train Station is located in the sestiere of Cannaregio.

Boat

The Cruise Ship terminal is located at the Port of Venice - Maritime Station in S.Marta. Cruise Ships offer free shuttle boat service from their dock to Piazza San Marco. The public transportation boats, called Vaporetto, ferry passengers up and down the Grand Canal.

Climate

The climate changes significantly from one area to another: while it is continental on the plains, it is milder along the Adriatic coast, around Lake Garda and in the hilly areas.