Cannaregio, Cicchetti Wine Bars and Lagoon Islands (Murano & Burano)

Walk ten minutes north from the crowds on the Strada Nova and you reach the wide, parallel canals of Cannaregio, the northernmost and most residential sestiere of Venice. Because its three long waterways run straight toward the northern lagoon rather than toward San Marco, tour groups rarely venture here, leaving the sunny pavement quays (fondamente) to locals walking dogs, rowing clubs practicing voga alla veneta and evening wine bars.

The Jewish Ghetto and Fondamenta della Misericordia

Established by decree of the Venetian Senate in 1516 on the site of a former copper foundry (geto in Venetian dialect, giving the world the word "ghetto"), the Venetian Ghetto sits on a small island enclosed by canals and reached through two low bridged archways. Because residents were locked inside at night and forbidden from expanding outward, families built upward, creating six- and seven-storey tenements that still ring the quiet, tree-shaded square of Campo del Ghetto Nuovo. Book a tour at the Jewish Museum of Venice to step inside the hidden, richly gilded upper-floor interiors of the Levantine, Spanish and Canton Synagogues.

Two bridges north run the parallel canalside walkways of Fondamenta della Misericordia and Fondamenta degli Ormesini, the best evening strip in Venice for a cicchetti and ombra crawl. Step up to the wooden glass counter of a bacaro, point to two or three small snacks on rounds of sliced baguette or grilled white polenta, and order an ombra (a small house glass of Veneto wine) or a Venetian spritz made with ruby-red Select aperitivo and a large green olive:

• Baccalà mantecato: dried Norwegian stockfish soaked and whipped with olive oil into a cloud-like white mousse.
• Sarde in saor: fried lagoon sardines marinated for at least a day with sweet slow-cooked white onions, pine nuts, raisins and vinegar.
• Polpette and crostini: hot crisp beef-or-tuna meatballs, baby octopus with garlic and parsley, and creamy gorgonzola with walnuts.

Lagoon island-hopping: Murano, Burano and Torcello on Line 12

On the northern edge of Cannaregio sits the dock of Fondamente Nove ("F.te Nove"), departure hub for ACTV Vaporetto Line 12 across the open northern lagoon (fully covered by your 24/48/72-hour ACTV pass):

1. Murano (10 minutes from F.te Nove): home to Venice's glassblowing furnaces since 1291, when the Republic moved the fire-prone kilns off the main islands. Skip high-pressure showroom tours near the Colonna dock and visit the Museo del Vetro (Glass Museum) in Palazzo Giustinian and the 12th-century mosaic floor of the Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato.
2. Torcello (30 minutes further on Line 12, changing to the Line 9 shuttle at Burano if needed): before exploring Burano, hop five minutes across the channel to grassy, nearly uninhabited Torcello, where Venice's earliest settlers built the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta in 639 AD, complete with an extraordinary Byzantine gold-ground Virgin and Last Judgement mosaic.
3. Burano: famous for handmade needle-lace and two-storey fishermen's cottages painted in saturated magenta, cobalt blue, emerald and saffron yellow so boats could find their dock through winter lagoon fog. Stay for a late lunch of creamy fish-broth risotto (risotto di gò) before taking Line 12 back at sunset.