Venice, Dorsoduro Live Cam

The culinary tradition - The glory of the Venetian cuisine has a long historical tradition. San Marco's city, thanks to its relationships to the East, has been the first to introduce in Europe the rice, which constitutes the basis of many local recipes. The classic risi and bisi (rice and peas) had the honour to open in many occasions the Doge's dinners in the day of the patron feast. Now a dish that is cooked very often is the fish brackish-fragrant "risotto" with shrimps, small squids, peoci (mussels), cape (clams). The Venetian cuisine, beside the soups that is risi and zuca (rice and pumpkin) and the typical pasta and fasòi (noodles and beans), is based of course on sea products.

Fish fries are famous: you can buy them by fritolini (fried-food shops) along the calli and taste them just walking around the city. The bovoletti (little snails) with garlic, grançeole (spider-crab), sfogi (soles), gò (gobies), bacalà (stock-fish), basses, bosega (grey mullet), sardee in saor (pickled fried sardines) flavoured with onions and vinegar once preserved as a food supply for the long navigation and useful against the scorbutus, are only some of the exquisitenesses you can find in the lagoon city.

Salads are also typical. In autumn zuca baruca (roasted pumpkin) is delicious; coming from Chioggia market-gardens it was sold some decades ago by pedlars who brought it around on their heads on a wooden plank, moving in a funny way. For what concern Venetian cakes the queen of them is the fritola (pancake) fried in boiling oil. But among the other stand out the pinocada ( pine-nuts cake), galani (sweet fried dough), bubana (of thousands of tastes, prepared in a pudding form with pastry remainders and the baicolo, a small dry biscuit cooked twice.

Must-see palces in Venice

Basilica of St. Marco: Venice's cathedral and finest church is usually most visitors' first stop. It was originally intended to hous the body of St. Mark, the city's patron saint. Over nine centuries it was decorated and embellished with overwhelming Islamic, Byzantine and European art and architecture.

Campanile: This is Venice's tallest building, rising 326 feel above Piazza San Marco and offering a beautiful panorama over the city. On a clear day, the Dolomite mountains are visible in the distance. The original campanile collapsed in 1902, but was rebuilt in the ten years that followed.

Canal Grande: Venice's single best excursion isn't a walk, but a boat trip on one of the vaporetti which travel up and down the Grand Canal. Buy one of the many guides or maps dedicated solely to the canal to identify its most significant buildings. The boats make frequent stops if you want to see something on the way.

Collezione Guggenheim: Peggy Guggenheim's gallery is housed in an 18th century palazzo on the Grand Canal and has one of the world's most important collections of modern art. Rooms are arranged by style and contain all 20th century art's top names.

Palazzo Ducale: The Doge's Palace was the seat of power in Venice for almost a thousand years, but most of the present building dates back to the 15th century. To do the palace justice, try to arrive early to avoid the crowds, and plan on spending at least an entire morning. Pay particular attention to the main entrance (Porta della Carta) and courtyard; the staircase (Scala dei Giganti): the Anticollegio, with painings by Titian and Veronese; and the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, the council chamber, famous for Tintoretto's huge old painting, Paradiso.

Rialto Bridge: With its three pedestrian walkways and two rows of shops, it is one of the city's best-known landmarks. Built in the 16th century, it replaced a wooden bridge whose central portion could be raised to allow ships to pass through when it was once the only crossing of the Grand Canal.

St. Mark's Square: In and around Piazza San Marco you can wander between some of the city's most famous sights - the Basilica di San Marco, Campanile di San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, Museo Correr, and the "Bridge of Sighs" among others. You can shop for souvenirs, enjoy a pricey espresso, or stop to feed the pigeons when you're not enjoying the view.

Venice is a peculiar city. In the dictionary as synonyms for this term, one can find the following adjectives: singular, eccentric, strange and unique, that fit perfectly the meaning. It has always been a cosmopolitan, exotic city, a meeting point between East and West, crossroads of cultures and wares. What strikes of Venice, beside its particular urban development, is the mixing of rhythms and colours, which from San Marco and Palazzo Ducale spread throughout the centre, on the façades, on the bridges and in the canals.

Its architecture is different from the one of other cities, because is born from particular historical situations and needs, that have determined a special urban space, where the water is the main character. In this sense, Venice is neither a museum city nor a collection of famous artistic monuments, but a real water- city, in every aspect influenced by the presence of the sea, in that original environment that is the lagoon.