Cannaregio

The old gateway to Venice

Noteworthy for: The Cannaregio Canal was the city's main entrance before the road bridge was built.
Covering the northwest section of the city, including the main railway station at Santa Lucia, Cannaregio is Venice's second largest sestiere, and the place where you're most likely to escape the tourist swarms.

That's not to say there's nothing to see here - on the contrary, Cannaregio is home to the most evocative area in the city, the Ghetto, and a number of palazzi, including Ca' d'Oro and Palazzo Labia, as well as sublime paintings by Tintoretto at Madonna dell'Orto. But the streets are not all postcard-perfect, and most visitors hot-foot to San Marco as soon as they emerge from the station.
Sights aside, there are enclaves along the Grand Canal side which are well worth exploring, peppered with inviting shops, bars and restaurants and some of the city's loveliest squares, at their sedate best on a Sunday morning.