ABOVE: Look for the tiny yellow Venice Luggage Deposit logo at the entrance on Calle Larga Malvasia, which is only a few minutes on foot from the Piazza San Marco or the Rialto Bridge. (The building number is Castello 5496.)

Venice has a good supply of left-luggage offices, with locations at Marco Polo airport, at the Santa Lucia and Mestre train stations, in the Piazzale Roma (the city's bus and taxi gateway), and the cruise port. Until recently, however, finding a place to dump your bags in the heart of the historic center wasn't easy, unless you were checking in or out of a hotel.

Now there's a new, independently-managed Venice Luggage Deposit office in Castello, roughly midway between the Rialto Bridge, the Piazza San Marco, and the Campo Santa Maria Formosa. It's open 7 days a week from 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the price per calendar day is  €6 for the first bag and  €5 for each additional piece.

Storage rules are fairly simple: You can't check flammable objects, jewelry or other precious objects, money, business documents, or bags with smelly contents. You can check suitcases, backpacks, baskets, and other luggage up to a maximum weight of 25 Kg or 55 lb. per item.

For more information, including maps that show how to reach Venice Luggage Deposit from the Rialto Bridge and the Piazza San Marco, see:

Veniceluggagedeposit.com

(The site is in Italian, but you can convert it to your favorite language with Google Translate.)

BELOW: The office's interior before the crowds arrived on opening day.