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and Cheryl Imboden'sVenice for Visitors veniceforvisitors.com |
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Accessible Venice(continued from page 1)
ABOVE: Ponte delle Guglie bridge. The steps on the right are half-height with rounded edges for easier negotiation by wheelchair travelers with companions. Step 3: Buy a vaporetto tourist ticket or a supply of "disabled tickets."ACTV, the Venice transportation authority, offers half-day, full-day, and multi-day tourist travel cards that allow unlimited travel on any of the city's water buses. You can buy these at the ACTV office in the Piazzale Roma or the vaporetto ticket booths near the railway station, the Fondamenta Nuove, the Piazza San Marco, and other locations. Another (and more expensive) option may be the Venice Connected pass, which offers an a la carte package of vaporetto transportation, public toilets, admission to municipal museums, optional roundtrip transportation on the Alilaguna airport boat, and other perks with a frustratingly complicated pricing scheme. Finally, passengers with wheelchairs can buy single-fare "disabled tickets" for €1,10 at ACTV ticket booths and Hellovenezia offices. Each ticket is valid for 75 minutes, and a companion travels free. Once you have a pass or a supply of tickets, you'll be able to get between the various yellow "accessibility zones" on the map by using the water buses. This strategy works especially well on the Grand Canal, the Canale della Giudecca, and the Lido, where the No. 1 and No. 2 (formerly 82) routes are wheelchair-accessible.
Tip:
Step 4: When in doubt, call ahead.Most churches are accessible once you get inside. The tricky part may be in getting up the steps, but this can be managed if you have a strong companion or aren't shy about bumming a lift from athletic tourists or locals. Other buildings, such as museums, may vary in accessibility. The most impressive rooms in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, for example, require climbing a long flight of marble stairs--unless you use the special wheelchair with motorized rubber treads, which lets you assault the staircase like an army tank. Your best bet is to phone before you go, so you can make other plans if the building requires a sturdy set of lungs and legs. More online information: If you're arriving by train, see the City of Venice's Informahandicap Venezia page, which has information on the Centres for Assistance to Disabled Travellers (CAD) in the Venice Santa Lucia and Venice Mestre railroad stations. The City of Venice also has helpful English-language accessible Venice pages with general advice, an accessibility map in PDF format, a selection of barrier-free itineraries, and other useful information. Another handy resource is the Venice page of Accessible Europe (see below), which--among other things--tells where to find accessible WCs and parking. Also see the Italy section of Accessible Travel: Countries in oury Europe Travel Planner. A guide service:Mike and Karen Henderson of The Venice Experience offer guided sightseeing tours, including itineraries for mobility-impaired travelers. Two agencies that specialize in accessible travel:Rebekah Serin of Regency San Marino SRL's Accessible Italy department writes:
Massimo Micotti's Accessible Italy has been serving disabled travelers since 1993. The company offers four-day packages in Venice, Florence, and Rome that include transfers and half a day of guided sightseeing. Signor Micotti's staff also operates Accessible Europe, which works with local travel agencies in more than a dozen European countries to provide accessible hotel accommodations, minitours, van rentals, and cruises. |
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The No. 1 boat is the
most useful, since it zigzags from one side of the Grand Canal to the other on its 20-stop
journey from the Piazzale Roma to the Lido. As the photo shows, this water bus can be
crowded during the tourist season, but the conductor will usually clear a path for you,
and the crew will help you on or off the boat quickly and without fuss.