Pictures, photos & Images of Venice. See pictures of one of the most romantic cities in the world. Venice should be anyones top 10 places to visit as it is truly unique and every bit as exciting as the images that have made it famous. Venice stretches across 117 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. Venice has a population of 272,000 inhabitants including those that live on other islands in the lagoon. The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. Until Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Venice it was the capital of a great Empire that spread as far as Constantinople, present day Istanbul. The power of Venice should not be under estimated. In the mid dle ages Venice rivalled any Empire in the Mediterranean and Venetian cities dot the sea routes to the lucrative trading markets in Constantinople. Venice was innovative, independent and ruthless nurturing great artists and architects making it a powerhouse of the Baroque. The splendid palaces that line the Grand Canal in Venice are covered in architectural treasures looted from Constantinople and the architecture of St Marc's Basilica rivals the great churches of Byzantium.

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