Venice Railroad Station

Venezia Santa Lucia

ABOVE: Venice's Santa Lucia Railway Station is near the foot of the Grand Canal, just behind the Ferrovia vaporetto station.

Venice Santa Lucia Railroad Station and Scalzi Church First things first: The term "Venice Railroad Station" is a misnomer, because the municipality of Venice has two major stations: Venezia Mestre station on the Italian mainland, and Venezia Santa Lucia station in the city's historic center (which is 6 km or 4 miles offshore in the Venetian Lagoon).

Venezia Mestre railroad station Mestre is a through station where trains stop briefly on their way from Austria and Slovenia to Bologna and Florence. Some trains cross the causeway from Mestre to the Santa Lucia station; others require passengers to disembark in Mestre and catch a local train into the historic center. It's wise to check your train's timetable before departing for Venice, just so you'll know where to get off the train.

From Mestre, a brick-and-stone causeway named the Ponte della Libertà, or "Bridge of Liberty," crosses the Venetian Lagoon to central Venice.

Trains dead-end in the Stazione Ferroviaria Santa Lucia, a stark white building from the mid-1950s that looks out of place in a city where most buildings are hundreds of years old. The station's façade is decorated with the logo of the FS, or Ferrovie dello Stato, a.k.a. Italian State Railways.