Regione Veneto
FAQ's
- Are there special rules/laws to follow in Venice?
- Where are the Tourist Information and Tourist Welcome Offices in Venice?
- How can I move about Venice?
- Can I book a guided tour?
- Where can I buy waterbus, bus and tram tickets?
- Can I take my dog on the waterbus?
- Can I use a bike, skates or push scooter in Venice?
- I would like to come to Venice with my watercraft: what rules must I follow?
- Where can I go to the beach in Venice?
- Where can I camp in Venice?
- Can I feed the pigeons?
Urban Police Regulations include many specific rules/laws to respect in all the city and especially in St. Mark’s area.
It is forbidden to:
- lie down on public territory and/or even sit or stand at any time in order to consume food or drink
- litter
- dive or bathe in streams, canals and/or the St. Mark’s Basin
- ride – or lead by hand – a bike or use other unofficial means of transport
- be involved in dangerous or harassing activities
- undress in public
- walk around with a nude chest or in swimwear.
An administrative fine from €25.00 to €500.00 (according to art. 7 bis of Italian Legislative Decree no. 267 of 18th August 2000) is liable.
Please remember that you are not allowed to buy from illegal street pedlars. The liable fine for the purchase of counterfeit goods ranges from 100 to 7,000 euros. Moreover according to art. 17 of Italian Law 99/2009 the purchased items will be confiscated.
Use this link IAT offices to find info points in the city where you can ask for any local or regional tourist information.
If you fill in the online form you can ask for information ahead of time, even at home while you are organizing your tr
Venice city centre can be easily visited on foot. Please keep to the right, and walk continuously when on bridges, in order to allow a continual flow of pedestrian traffic.
You can also use public transport and gondolas on the Canal Grande to get from one side to the other.
Only trust qualified tour leaders and tour guides, who are able to transmit the culture and the thousand-year-old history of Venice. How to recognize them? Qualified tourist guides have passed qualifying exams and have a special ID card which must be exposed.
ACTV Public Transport Tickets can be bought online or from ACTV ticket offices, Ve.La. points, IAT Information Offices and authorized points displaying the ACTV sticker (bars, tobacconist and newsagents'). Tickets must always be validated at the appropriate validating machines.
If you are without a ticket, immediately notify the sailor on board, or the bus driver and buy your ticket at a higher price, in order to avoid a fine.
Whoever travels with public transport services, whether land or navigation lines – must possess a valid ticket. The passenger must carry the ticket and show it to personnel, when requested. Passengers travelling on the aforementioned services are forbidden to:
- get on and get off when the transport means is moving;
- obstruct passage ways or stand without permission in determined points of the transport means that are not reserved for standing (Urban Police Regulations).
Yes, but it must be on a leash and have a muzzle. Other smaller animals must be transported in the appropriate animal cage (art. 6 ACTV General Transport Conditions).
Please come equipped with a “pooper scooper”. Fines can be very high (see Art. 34 Failure to clean area soiled by animals – €300.00 €500.00 fine – from “Management regulations for urban refuse, territorial cleaning and such” according to Italian Legislative Decree no. 152/2006, as amended by Italian Legislative Decree no. 205/2010).
It is forbidden to use a bike, or hand-lead one, use skates, a push scooter, or play with a ball in any park/grassy area or square. You are liable for fines! (Art. 28 bis of the Urban Police Regulations).
However you can use a bike on some lagoon islands (Lido, Pellestrina and Sant'Erasmo), and of course on the mainland at Mestre and Marghera.
We suggest you park your bike at the Mestre Bikepark near the train station (parking space for 807 bicycles).
In Venice you cannot circulate in urban canals, because of restrictions imposed according to their structure (some are quite narrow) and municipal regulations.
Only pleasure craft owned by Island or City Centre residents can travel about the internal canals, those with special berthing permission in the City Centre or Giudecca waterfront or those inferior to 5 tonnes.
However you can move about as you please in St. Mark’s Basin towards the Lido and in the Lagoon, if you respect following practical rules:
The most popular beaches are at the Lido, Pellestrina and Punta Sabbioni. They are easily reached by public transportation means and by ferry-boat if you want to go by car or bike from Tronchetto.
Remember that in Venice “It is forbidden for both males and females, to walk in city streets, stand at any time in public places and establishments, travel with public or private means while bare-chested or wearing swimwear.” (Urban Police Regulations).
There are no camping sites in Venice, only at the Lido. You can find many seaside equipped campsites at Punta Sabbioni (Cavallino, Ca' Savio); on the mainland, in the metropolitan area, there are many campsites with easy travel connections to the city centre. Unauthorized camping is punishable according to Urban Police Regulations.
No it is forbidden, as is also forbidden to buy grain or similar bird food from pedlars.
According to art. 24 of Council Regulations for Veterinary Urban Hygiene and Animal Welfare, in order to avoid problems of hygiene due to the excessive proliferation of pigeons, doves and other birds, “it is forbidden to give food or leave, scatter and abandon food wastes on alleys, in squares or other public places, in streams and canals throughout the City of Venice.”