Venice

Venice is considered a safe city. You have to take the habitual travellers' precautions however. Keep your valuable items like wallet and passport close to you because there are pickpockets, especially in more crowded parts of the city. In addition, make sure you get receipts for all of your purchases in order to fight tax evasion. Italian law requires customers to retain receipts and you could in theory be stopped by the Financial Police and asked to show receipts for your purchases.In case of need, you can dial free of charge on any phone 112 no area code needed to contact Carabinieri or 113 no area code needed to contact the Police.

Venice has begun to install septic tanks in buildings, but much of the city has not yet been upgraded and releases untreated sewage directly into the canals. Avoid bathing yourself, touching the water, immersing feet, etc. in the canals looking for refreshment in hot season.Also, at night there is a risk of falling into the water, as there are many alleys which end in the water but have little or no lighting. In the warmest months, these conditions can generate sometimes foul odors. Choose other times to visit if they might ruin what should be a highly-enjoyable visit.

Beware where you put your feet: pet owners are not often polite and leave everything their friends by-produce on the ground this may apply to humans too. Small, dark, back alleys are often similar to mine fields.

You can reach the emergency medical service dialing free of charge on any phone 118 no area code needed - conversation will be recorded to have assistance and an ambulance sent to you.

Chemists' shops Italian: Farmacie are all around the town. They are open 24hrs. a day / 7 days a week on a rotational basis: outside the shop there's always the list of operating ones with time-table, address and phone number.If you need a special-treatment drug you might be asked to book it in advance if it's not of so common use. Please, note that the commercial name or brand of your prescription might differ from your country of origin. Make sure before leaving your country of origin that you can have all you need even in the EU.

cope

The unfortunate side-effect of the quaint back-alleys which make Venice such a delight to visit is that it is remarkably easy to get lost. Even maps provided by hotels are frequently inaccurate, and the maze-like structure of the city can become very confusing indeed. The tight cluster of little islands that comprise Venice is completely surrounded by the Lagoon, so it is not possble, no matter how lost you become, to leave Venice on foot. Sooner or later you will come upon a piazza that you can locate on your map.

One tip: as you cross bridges, note the house numbers before and after. A small change probably means you are on the same island/district and have crossed a "new" canal. A major change means you are now on another island. Most maps clump islands together into their voting districts, there are many more islands than districts.

One piece of assistance is to look for directional signs. These will be marked "Per" and then with the name of a prominent location or bridge in the city, complete with an arrow pointing in the relevant direction. Hence, to get to the Rialto bridge, the signs to follow are marked "Per Rialto". Those to St Mark's Square read "Per S Marco", and those to the train station "Per Ferrovia" there are some others as well. Having oriented yourself to the nearest landmark, direction-finding can thus become slightly easier.

Remember, though, that the signs to read are the official ones. Graffiti will occasionally give other directions, frequently incorrect ones.

That said, some argue that getting lost in Venice is part of the experience of the city. The number of photogenic canals, hidden restaurants and shops where glass blowing is done almost guarantees that there is no such thing as a "dull neighbourhood". Additionally, the public transport means that it is relatively easy to arrive at the intended destination even after one has emerged from the web of alleys in a totally unexpected place.

internet

Venice has several internet cafes, but they are much more expensive than the rest of Europe with prices for an hour of access around €6. Wi-fi is only available at some of them. There's a wonderful pub, Cafe Blue in Dorsoduro, which has free password-protected wi-fi. Buy a spritz and a panini and go to town.At the Telecom Italia Future Centre in Campo San Salvatore San Marco you can browse for free for one hour, once registered with your ID card.

If you buy any of the VeniceCard (http://veniceconnected.com/) products transportation and museum entrance in various combinations of 24 or more hours' duration, it will automatically include, either at no additional charge or for an extra €3 depending on the season, the access codes for the municipal wireless network. There are currently two areas covered by the hotspots: one is the San Marco Square and the other San Giuliano Park which is actually on the mainland, to the north of the bridge entrance.

To use an Internet cafe, buy a mobile SIM card or get a contract for an Internet connection. Personal identification is needed by law in Italy. Internet cafes will not let you use computers without a passport or national ID card.

Calle Delle BottegheSan Marco 2970 Venezia.A very pretty art gallery type internet cafe with a book shop. It is on the expensive side with €3 for 15mins but you can just go in and play chess with a glass of wine.