Giardini Pubblici

The largest park in Venice
Talk of the town: Napoleon ordered the flattening of four residential districts to make way for the park in 1807.

This vast public park to the east of the city is an antidote to crowded city life, especially in summer, and it's to here the locals escape at weekends to wind down. The Paradiso cafe-restaurant on the waterfront is a lovely spot at which to refuel, and there are playgrounds, lakes, fountains and sculptures dotted about the grounds.
The park is best known for a group of 30 pavilions, a stylistically-diverse collection of buildings each representing (and maintained by) a different country. You'll notice that the pavilions of the richer countries always seem well-cared for, whilst the poorer nations' buildings look a little rough around the edges.

Every other July to September the Giardini - and pavilions - host the vast, glamorous contemporary art showcase, the Venice Biennale. It's when the park really comes alive, and the sight of the mega-rich art aficionados who flock here is a spectacle in itself.