Venice is divided into six sestiere whose origin is as old as the city of Venice itself. As far as we know, they have always been there.
Venice was an independent state for almost a millennium, but it might note have been. It all hinged on a single battle fought in the Venetian lagoon in 810.
There are statues, reliefs and paintings of a winged lion all over Venice. The lion is the symbol of the Evangelist St. Mark
Santa Claus is dead, and his bones are buried on both Bari and Venice. Most of him rests in Bari in Puglia, the rest in Venice on the Lido.