Nestled in the Venetian Lagoon—a shallow saltwater expanse covering 550 square kilometres—the city is a marvel of human ingenuity, with no roads or cars, only a sprawling network of waterways that define its daily life and allure. The Grand Canal, Venice’s central waterway, stretches 3.8 kilometres in a serpentine path through the city’s core, lined with architectural gems like the Gothic Ca’ d’Oro, with its ornate tracery, and the Baroque Ca’ Rezzonico, home to an 18th-century museum.