The Grand Canal is Venice's main artery — a broad, S-shaped waterway that cuts through the heart of the city for roughly 3.8 kilometres, flanked on both sides by an almost unbroken procession of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque palaces. This was never just a pretty backdrop; for centuries it was the commercial spine of the Venetian Republic, where merchant galleys unloaded silks and spices from the East, and the city's noble families competed in stone to outshine one another. The result is arguably the finest collection of medieval and Renaissance civic architecture in the world, and it's all viewed from the water, which makes it feel nothing like visiting a museum.
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