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No city stirs the imagination more than Venice. From the richly ornamented palaces emerging from the waters of the Grand Canal to the dazzling sites of Piazza San Marco, visitors and residents alike sense they are entering, as fourteenth-century poet Petrarch remarked, “another world.” During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Venice was celebrated as a model republic in an age of monarchs. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it became famous for its freewheeling lifestyle characterized by courtesans, casinos, and Carnival.

In this audio walking tour, you'll encounter no roads, no cars, no buses - just boats, canals, and the watery, magical atmosphere that is Venice. The amazing sites you'll hear about include the astounding Piazza San Marco, called "the drawing room of Europe"; the mosaics of the Byzantine Cathedral; the Bridge of Sighs; a Gondola depot; and the Doges' Palace, with its torture chambers dating from the Inquisition.