The end of Venice that few visitors reach: the old cathedral on its own island, a Salesian parish church, Napoleon's public gardens and the 1920s residential quarter of Sant'Elena with its pinewood and stadium.
Best time: Late afternoon; the gardens and pinewood are for an unhurried walk, and the Biennale pavilions are open only in exhibition season
The route, stop by stop
- 1San Pietro di Castello
On its own island at the far north-east of the city, this was Venice's cathedral until 1807, when Napoleon moved the patriarch's seat to San Marco. The church was begun around 822; the bell tower is by Mauro Codussi. Its parish was home to the Castellani, the faction that fought the Nicolotti of the west end with bare fists on the bridges. Part of Chorus Venezia. 20 min.
- 2Chiesa di San Giuseppe di Castello (Sant'Isepo)
Built from 1512 on reclaimed marsh islands for Augustinian nuns; a parish since 1923, run by the Salesians since 1966. A neighbourhood church most visitors never find, by the back of the Giardini. Part of Chorus Venezia. 10 min.
- 3Giardini Napoleonici (public gardens)
The largest green space in the historic centre, laid out by Giannantonio Selva in 1808-1812 after Napoleon ordered Venice to have public gardens; four churches and convents were demolished for it and the bricks paved Via Garibaldi. About 42,000 m2 went to the Biennale pavilions; 18,000 m2 stay a free public garden with benches. 20 min.
- 4Parco delle Rimembranze (Sant'Elena pinewood)
Known to Venetians as the pineta di Sant'Elena, it almost continues the Biennale gardens along the water. Sant'Elena itself was built on land reclaimed in the 1920s from a military training ground; it also holds the Penzo football stadium, two marinas and the Morosini naval school. 20 min.
- 5Sant'Elena
Once on a separate island at the city's eastern tip: a chapel from 1028, rebuilt by Olivetan monks in 1439. On Ascension Day the patriarch came here by gondola to bless the water used for the Marriage with the Sea. Deconsecrated in 1810 and used as a store, it was reconsecrated after the 1920s reclamation. 15 min. Vaporetto 1 or 4.1/4.2 from Sant'Elena back to town.
More walks in Venice
- Rialto market and bacaro crawl (food grazing walk)
- Dorsoduro: gondola yard, tramezzini and student squares
- Cannaregio evening: Ghetto to the Misericordia canals
- Castello: Arsenale, Via Garibaldi and the local east end
- San Marco classics without the queues
- Northern lagoon island hop: San Michele, Murano, Burano, Mazzorbo, Torcello
- Cannaregio's lagoon edge: Tintoretto's parish to Fondamente Nove
- Giudecca end to end: the Zitelle to the Stucky mill
- Dorsoduro's west end: the Nicolotti parish, Veronese and the bridge of fists
- Sant'Erasmo and Vignole: the lagoon's vegetable garden by boat and bike