Venice

Venice (at best when cruise ships are in town) - One of the most celebrated and most popular tourist destinations in the world (and very much suffering from “overtourism” as a result), Venice in north-eastern Italy is very much a mainstream attraction – but it, too, has its dark elements warranting an entry on this website. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: Venice, to most people, needs little introduction. It’s one of the world’s most fabled places … and quite rightly so, as it is absolutely unique. Its looks and original atmosphere are hard to beat, and the same goes for the extraordinary location in the middle of a large shallow lagoon. It’s an ancient place probably founded sometime in the middle of the first millennium A.D. and by the Middle Ages had become a major independent state built on trade. At one point its merchant empire reached all along the Istrian and Dalmatian coast and as far as Cyprus . But its core had always been the historic city state built on islands and stilts in a lagoon on the north Adriatic coast. The city was ruled not by any dynastic royalty but by an elected leader referred to as “doge” (a word that is apparently related to “ Duce ” if only etymologically). The merchants of Venice (inspiring Shakespeare to write a play with that title; see here ) also included Jews, and indeed Venice gave the word ‘ ghetto ’ to the world, as an area within the city into which the Jews were confined. Other dark aspects of the early history of Venice were its role in the crusades and in the slave trade.