(CNN) — If there’s one factor we find out about Venice, it is that it is distinctive. What different metropolis is constructed on water, or full of its signature flamboyant structure?
It seems, fairly a number of.
The Republic of Venice — or the Most Serene Republic of Venice, to provide it its full identify — existed for 1,100 years, from 697 CE to 1797 CE, when Napoleon conquered town.
It’s an astonishing size of time for a interval when upheavals, coups and conquerings had been common occasions.
And because it gained in energy, it constructed a pseudo empire alongside the Adriatic — not a lot on the Italian aspect, however on the jap coast, in international locations similar to modern-day Slovenia, Croatia, Albania and Greece. Its tentacles even stretched so far as Crete and Cyprus.
As one finish of the Silk Road buying and selling route, the city-state was one of the vital cosmopolitan in Europe, taking inspiration for its frothy structure and glittering interiors from all around the globe. And it took that outré look with it, to the cities it dominated and allied with.
That implies that the jap aspect of the Adriatic was as soon as suffering from mini Venices — not crisscrossed with canals, however with the lion of St Mark, Venice’s emblem, sculpted onto metropolis partitions; elaborate wells in Venetian-style campi (squares); and people famously flamboyant buildings, with porticoes, frilly-edged home windows, and, in every single place, campanili (belltowers) trying just like the one in St Mark’s Square.
Today, many of those mini Venices stay. Here are a number of the most atmospheric.
Piran, Slovenia
Pretty Piran may double as a Venetian waterfront.
Jure Makovec/AFP through Getty Images
Calling to you from sea and land alike, the belltower of fairly Piran is a lifeless ringer for the well-known campanile of St Mark’s Square.
This is Venice, if Venice had been a village. Part of the Venetian Republic from 1283 to 1797, when the Austrians took over, it was a semi-autonomous city. Not that it is caught prior to now — it is regarded as the primary city within the former Yugoslavia to elect a Black mayor, Ghanaian-born Peter Bossman, who was elected in 2010.
Sure, there aren’t any canals, and the little fishing boats moored within the middle of city are a far cry from the ferries and cruise ships in Venice, however this little oasis of calm on the Adriatic has frothy Venetian-style buildings on Tartini Square, together with the 15th-century pink, Gothic “Venetian House,” and a lion of St Mark in town corridor. That campanile? It belongs to the cathedral of St George, perched excessive on the rocks.
Istria — this large, wedge-shaped peninsula on the northern finish of the Adriatic — is suffering from Venetian cities. Today, it is largely a part of Croatia, with a sliver on the prime based mostly in Slovenia. Take a coastal roadtrip and you may see Venetian-style campanile after campanile.
Izola, close by, may be very comparable.
Koper, Slovenia
The Da Pontejev fountain is a reproduction of Venice’s Rialto Bridge.
Alamy
Found the Rialto Bridge in Venice too crowded? Hop two hours east and throughout the Slovenian border to Koper, the place town’s Da Ponte fountain (Da Pontejev vodnjak) is a copy of Venice’s most well-known bridge. The mini Rialto, commissioned in 1666, is only one of many Venetian parts — this was as soon as the capital of Venetian Istria. In reality, it sits nearly immediately reverse Venice, with the Adriatic in between.
The Praetorian Palace was impressed by the Doge’s Palace.
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The cream-colored, turreted Praetorian Palace has a grand outside staircase that reminds you of the Doge’s Palace, and the Cathedral of the Assumption has a Venetian belltower, a Venice-cast bell and a piece by Carpaccio, considered one of Venice’s best Renaissance artists.
Grado, Italy
Built on a sequence of islands inside a lagoon, Grado has so much in frequent with Venice.
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Cantilevered over an island-filled lagoon on a sandbar of its personal, Grado appears acquainted. In reality, this, in neighboring area Friuli Venezia Giulia, 90 minutes northeast of La Serenissima, is named the “mother of Venice,” being based in Roman instances however residence to refugees fleeing from the mainland within the fifth and sixth centuries — like Venice.
The bishops of close by Aquileia moved their HQ right here, allying themselves first with the Byzantines after which with Venice. That’s why you may see the Campo dei Patriarchi — as in Venice, a sq. known as a campo not a piazza — with its church buildings that resemble these on Venice’s Torcello island, a Venetian-style belltower, and lengthy swathes of sand, just like the Venice Lido.
Corfu Town, Greece
Corfu Town is likely one of the most elegant settlements left by the Venetians.
Paul Panayiotou/Corbis Documentary RF/Getty Images
At the mouth of the Adriatic, the Ionian islands had been a key a part of the Venetian territories, and the UNESCO-protected Corfu Town is likely one of the greatest examples of the Republic’s affect.
The French wrested management in 1797 when the Republic fell, however beforehand, the Venetians had constructed no fewer than three fortresses, which nonetheless exist — as do the numerous pastel-colored, Neoclassical palazzos and stately loggias that line it.
Other Venetian settlements in Greece embrace Nafplio, on the Peloponnese; Cycladic island Syros; and Crete, the place a Venetian lighthouse nonetheless looms over the harbor at Chania.
Svetvincenat, Croatia
The predominant sq. of Svetnincenat, Croatia, is a lifeless ringer for a Venetian campo.
Istria Tourist Board
First issues first: this is not on the water. Yet, half an hour due north of Pula, and deep contained in the Istrian peninsula, this beautiful village nonetheless exudes Venetian type.
But the sight that’ll whisk you straight over to La Serenissima is the principle sq.. Istria’s best instance of Renaissance city planning, its church and belltower overlook neat homes, a loggia, and a typical Venetian effectively. Wondering what residential Venice seemed like within the 1500s? This is it.
Chioggia, Italy
Chioggia sits on the southern finish of the Venice lagoon.
Raquel Maria Carbonell Pagola/LightRocket/Getty Images
When the crowds get too massive in Venice, take the vaporetto to the Lido island and hop on the quantity 11 ferry, which can cleave by means of the lagoon, ending at Chioggia — perched on 5 islands, on the southern finish of the Venetian lagoon.
Much of this fishing city will appear acquainted: the gorgeous canals, straddled by historic bridges; the grand palazzos; the art-stuffed church buildings; and the shimmering lagoon views with the Dolomites within the background.
Unlike Venice, although, automobiles are allowed into Chioggia, so the principle road is a busy street, and a few of these cutesy bridges have automobiles driving over them.
It’s additionally a significant fishing city nonetheless, and you may see the large boats parked up beneath the church of St Dominic, in addition to folks artwork by stated fishermen within the church itself.
Rovinj, Croatia
You cannot cycle in Venice, however you possibly can in Rovinj.
Croatia National Tourist Board
Another mini Venice on the Adriatic, Rovinj could also be a well-liked vacation spot, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a tranquil retreat in comparison with the mom metropolis. Today a part of Croatia, this fishing city on the Istrian peninsula was shuttled between the Byzantines, Dubrovnik and Aquileia (one other city linked to Venice) earlier than ceding to La Serenissima in 1283, in return for his or her safety.
Does the belltower of St Euphemia cathedral look acquainted? That’s as a result of it was modeled on St Mark’s. The slim, eye-catching chimneys additionally date from Venetian rule.
Today, as soon as you’ve got taken within the lions of St Mark dotted around city, take a stroll alongside the seafront. You’ll wind previous thick pine timber to the startlingly fashionable Hotel Lone, which appears — maybe fittingly for its Venice hyperlinks — like a large cruise ship overlooking the Adriatic.
Muggia, Italy
Muggia is within the Italian area of Friuli Venezia Giulia, bordering Slovenia.
TURISMO FVG
Wedged deep within the Adriatic’s “armpit,” two hours east of Venice on the border of Slovenia, fairly little Muggia is one other villagey Venice. Its stout belltower dominates the city, which entered into the Venetian Republic in 1420 — you may get a fairly view from the port, the place small yachts dock.
You’ll discover the lion of St Mark in town corridor’s lemon façade, the bone-white cathedral (sculpted like flower petals) is early Venetian Gothic, and the Renaissance-era properties of Calle Oberdan are Venetian in type (although not set on a canal). The dialect, conventional costumes and signature dishes are additionally Venetian — though right this moment that is a part of Friuli Venezia Giulia.
Korčula, Croatia
Locals say that well-known Venetian Marco Polo was born on Korčula, Croatia.
Ivo Biočina/Croatian National Tourist Board
Explorer Marco Polo is synonymous with Venice, however what Venetians will not let you know is that he was truly born on the island of Curzola, because it was referred to as, or Korčula, in modern-day Croatia, around 400 miles southeast of La Serenissima. Or a minimum of, that is what the Croatians say — Venetians name it faux information. His precise birthplace remains to be disputed.
Today, you possibly can go to what Korčula locals say is his birthplace (or a later home constructed over stated birthplace), or hit the 15th-century St Mark’s Cathedral, which not solely is known as after Venice’s patron saint, however incorporates two works by celebrity Renaissance painter, Tintoretto.
The Venetian lion on the Korčula metropolis partitions.
Ivo Biočina/Croatian National Tourist Board
Under communist rule put up WWII, a lot of the Venetian heritage — just like the lions of St Mark that had been dotted around the island — was destroyed. However, the Italian affect lingers on: town partitions are Venetian, a lion guards the doorway gate, and phrases of Venetian dialect spatter the locals’ chatter.
The Venetian partitions and fortifications survived communist rule.
Libor Sojka/CTK/AP
Nicosia, Cyprus
Nicosia’s Venetian partitions are nonetheless standing, although town is split.
Savvas Njovu Christides/iStockphoto/Getty Images
The Republic of Venice dominated the Mediterranean so far as Cyprus — the truth is, each September 5 to today, Venice celebrates the second queen Caterina Cornaro handed over the island to the Venetians with a watery parade down the Grand Canal.
There are Venetian ruins and partitions in Famagusta, in Northern Cyprus — the de facto state within the north of the island, which is barely acknowledged by Turkey. But maybe probably the most spectacular mark they left on the island had been the star-shaped partitions of capital metropolis, Nicosia.
Today, Nicosia is cut up in half — the border between the Republic of Cyprus and Northern Cyprus cuts straight by means of it — however the partitions, designed in 1567 by Giulio Savorgnan and Francesco Barbaro, stay.
Looking like a star, a comet, a solar, or perhaps a Covid-19 cell, relying on the way you view it, the advanced is greatest admired from above.
Editors’ be aware: This story has been up to date to replicate the disputed origins of Marco Polo.
