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Take an opera cruise from Venice
Dipping in the doo-doo

No bicycling in Venice: an update

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ABOVE: A bicyclist poses as a passerby takes his photo on a footbridge.

Back in 2010, we wrote a Stupid Tourist Tricks post titled "Bicycling in Venice" that showed visitors taking two-wheelers into Venice's historic center. Bicycling in the city center was illegal then, and it still is--although you might never guess it from the number of clueless or rebellious tourists who can be seen with bikes near Venice's railroad station and Piazzale Roma.

To be fair, the prohibition against bicycles may not be obvious to visitors who haven't done their research, and not all offenders are tourists. (A few years ago, we often saw a local man arrive by bicycle at his workplace near the Campo Santa Margherita in Venice's Dorsoduro district.) 

A suggestion to Venice's authorities: Place "No bicycles allowed in Venice" signs near the exits from the Piazzale Roma and the Santa Lucia Railroad Station, and make it more obvious where visitors can park their bikes. That way, bicyclists wouldn't have an excuse for bringing their biciclette into the city center.

More photos:

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ABOVE: A pair of bicyclists enter Venice's Santa Lucia Railroad Station from the pedestrian zone.

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ABOVE: Another bicycling couple roll their bikes across the Calatrava Bridge between the railroad station and the Piazzale Roma.

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ABOVE: A visitor hauls his bike over the Scalzi Bridge near the railroad station.

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ABOVE: A man explores the city center on what appears to be a folding unicycle with training wheels.

Comments

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kate

getting to Venice would cost me a lot so if I can't ride there at all or if I can only ride in a few selected areas, I'll just skip it and go to some bike-friendly place.

If you're bent on biking, you'll have to pick a different place....That's part of the charm of Venice - no bikes, no cars, no horses and carts, no scooters, etc...We loved it!

Ricardo Esparza

Most of the people in the pictures above are walking their bicycles not riding them. It may just be that some of these people are just walking their bikes to their hotels are places of work to store them. I hear bike theft is a big problem there so you can't expect people to leave them outside.

Claus Andersen

The city of idiotic rules, made by a corrupt mayor.

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