The city of Venice (Venezia to the Italians) stretches across numerous small islands in a lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. It has a population of about 272,000. Lord Byron called Venice "a fairy city of the heart" and it has earned the nickname La Serenissima, "The Most Serene." Venice is a unique cityscape of well-worn buildings that seem to float on water and marble steps that descend into lapping waters. Inhabited since the 6th century AD, Venice became a major sea power during the Crusades and a center of commerce and art during the Renaissance. Positioned at the crossroads of the Byzantine and Roman worlds, Venice acquired a unique heritage of art, architecture, and culture. Today, the hordes of traders and merchants that swarmed Venice have been replaced by tourists, but there is so much to see here that you can still have the "real Venice" all to yourself in the many charming alleys, churches, bridges and piazzas hiding just off the beaten track. And even San Marco is quiet if you get up early enough!