Venice Travel Forum

Hello,
I am going to stay in Verina, and take a day trip to Venice to see Scuola St. Rocco. Could you please advise how to walk from the train station to Campo San Rocco?

You need a streetmap. Really.

Venice is a warren of alleyways, sottoportegos, little campos and canals. Trying to give you written directions would be a nightmare, I think!

You'll be able to get a streetmap at the station, or you could look online (though most maps are neither very detailed nor downloadable).

J is right that the online maps of Venice don't seem to be as detailed as other towns - even that of www.viamichelin.com which shows quite detailed street maps in most places.

Well, you can look at viamichelin.com and try it out...
1. go to www.viamichelin.com
2. under Driving Directions, enter "Fondamenta Santa Lucia Venezia" and Venice as the starting point (this is the waterfront in front of the Santa Lucia train station), and "Campo San Rocco" (and Venice) as the destination.
3. BE SURE TO HIT "OPTIONS" before you search, because you'll want to mark the "on foot" option.
4. Then hit Search, and you should be shown a route that's about 0.9 kilometers, so really not so far.

Having said that, not only is J right that Venice is full of places that you can see "but you can't get there from here", but that is indeed much of the charm of the place, wandering around the narrow lanes (no cars!), crossing canals and little bridges, and suddenly finding yourself at a dead-end facing an unbridged canal or wall of a building.

So do as she suggests and grab a map at the station, get familiar with some of the major street names on the walk, and go have fun!

Bill

Make sure you have a gelato (or several) too! :-)

Everybody above has given you good advice. If you still want walking directions they are as follows:
As you leave the station there is a bridge in front of you called the Ponte Scalzi. Cross this bridge then turn right onto the Fondamente(the Grand Canal will now be on your right hand side). Take the 4th turning on your left(Calle del Traghetto Santa Lucia). Cross the first bridge you come to then the pathway becomes Calle Mezo. Keep going until you cam to a junction. Turn left onto Calle de le Chiovere. This street has a left and right bend in it - keep going and Campo
San Rocco is straight in front of you.
This walk will take you about 15 minutes.

But as you asked (and because I'm bored, and have a map of Venice in front of me):

Over the Canal Grande on the bridge opposite the station.

Turn right.

Third on the left (if you come to C. Bergameschi you've gone too far).

Straight on.

Over the canal.

Left onto Fondamenta di Sacchere.

First left onto Calle Sacchere, leading to Calle Delle Chovere.

Turn right at end of C. D. Chovere, then first left.

Straight on into Campo S. Rocco.

You need a map. Really.

Oooooo.........now you've got three lots of directions! :-)

In the michelin maps website there is an option (click options on the origonal input page underneath the destination window) which will provide journey details for travelling on foot!

This has proved to be fairly accurate for me when visiting Venice.....or any other destination for that matter giving directions, distance and journey times.

Billy

LOL, i always pass there when i head to Rialto from the station.

I can add that, once you cross the big bridge in front ( a little left) of the station Campo San Rocco is along a trail marked by the infamous yellow sign pointing to Rialto.

Easy? No way, because there at least 3 or more paths marked rialto from across the Canal Grande..
I can find it if i am there, but no way i would try to explain here. It would be inpossible.

Ciao
Francesco

P.S. One of the most effective rules to save yourself while in Venice, and you are someway close to a major spot... in doubt, follow the flow of the people walking without esitation.. No joke. It works most of the time.

Anyway, the best online map service i know for Venice is this:

http://maps.venicexplorer.net/venice-mapquest/index.php?hlangs=en&s=v&p1_id=1213&p1_db=esercizi&src_module=culti&action=search&luogo_id=&categoria_id=&nome=san%20rocco&nearest_categoria_id=&nearest_categoria_howmany=

No walking direction, though.. but if you can enlarge end print the map, learn what is a canal (that you would try to avoid) and what is walkable... You'll be fine

And while you're "in the neighborhood" very close to San Rocco is the Frari Church (Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari), well worth a visit for the fabulous Titian "Assumption of the Virgin" and Donatello's somewhat spooky "St. John the Baptist" amongst other beauties. And great gelato at Millefoglia on Salizzada San Rocco, the little street running between the two. If you have time you could walk to the San Toma vaparetto stop and catch the #82 back up to the train station and get a taste of the Grand Canal and its palazzi.

Agree the Frari is well worth taking the time to visit.

http://www.chorusvenezia.org/eng/page.asp?id_page=51

Although I can give you no directions, what I always do when I'm going to travel is go to Google Earth, type in my destinations and then draw in a path and print it off! Easy as pie, plus looking at Google Earth really helps me get my bearings for when i actually arrive.
Google Earth and VT are my travel life savers!
Kel

Going to San Rocco to see the big pictures? Check out Sartre's essay "Prisoner of Venice" on Tintoretto (if you haven't already read it), published in the anthology "Situations". And don't overlook the comparatively smaller Annunciation by Titian, in my view the best picture there.