Morning Light in the Campo Santa Maria Formosa Venice

Venice is one of the few cities in the world that can truly be described as unique.  Behind the well-known area of St. Marks Square and the Doge’s Palace are to be found a world of pretty and often confusing narrow cobbled alleyways leading to little picturesque bridges that span the many canals winding their way through the ancient city.  These tiny waterways are the main transport routes through the city and as they wind their way through Venice their green waters reflect the colours of this ancient city – reflections that shatter and regroup as the gondolas and market boats pass silently by.  Here on the Rio Santa Maria Formosa in the Saint Marco District the faded ochres and pinks of the old buildings are captured in a shaft of sunlight as a gondolier waits for his passenger to embark

Since the 12^th Century, Venice has been divided into six sestieri or districts – each with their own characteristics and charm and all looked by the more than 400 bridges that span the canals winding through the city.  Morning sunshine floods the pavements alongside the Rio di Saint Formosa in the sestieri of Castello.  This walkway leads into the Campo Santa Maria Formosa one of the larger of the cities squares or campi.  Every sestieri has its own central square, and Campo Santa Maria Formosa has been the focus of daily life for generations of families living in the Castello.  Morning sunshine sparkles in the waters of the narrow canal and warms the old stonework of the surrounding buildings and the awning of the little shop selling brightly coloured masks.