Venice > Mestre-Marghera > Photos > Piazza Ferretto

Piazza Ferretto

From: Introducing Mestre-Marghera

The Piazza Ferretto is Mestre's counterpart to the Piazza San Marco in Venice, minus the pigeons and tour groups. Paul Lasley of Ontravel.com has spent several months in Mestre and Marghera over the past few years, and he tells us that "Sunday evenings in the piazza are magical."

The Piazza Ferretto is in the heart of Mestre's area pedonale, or pedestrian zone, where the "No Bicycling" sign is largely ignored.

Here, you can see café and restaurant tables set up in front of the Hotel Al Vivit. The building dates back to the 18th Century, and the three-star hotel has been catering to guests since 1911. (See our Mestre hotels: Central page for a link.)

Another café, the Bar Stendardo, offers service at outdoor tables facing the Piazza Ferretto in good weather.

The ornate-looking façade in the corner of the square belongs to the Cinema Excelsior, one of several movie theatres in downtown Mestre. The historic theatre is now a mini-multiplex, showing three movies at a time.

(Warning: In Italy, movies are normally dubbed in Italian, so don't be surprised if Kate Winslet sounds like a latter-day Sophia Loren.)

Next page: Duomo (Cathedral)

About the author:

Durant Imboden has written about Venice, Italy since 1996. He covered Venice and European travel at About.com for 4-1/2 years before launching Europe for Visitors (including Venice for Visitors) with Cheryl Imboden in 2001.

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