The Grand Canal in Gondola.

The Grand Canal in Gondola. @itravelinitaly_com The Grand Canal is the main waterway that crosses Venice. Most likely it was the bed of a river that carried its water to the sea. It follows a sinuous path, like an inverted S, inside the city center, dividing it into two large areas, each consisting of three Sestieri, as the neighborhoods of Venice are called; those on the right bank are called de citra, those on the left bank de ultra. Its waters are reflected in the most prestigious palaces, for the position of which the Venetians competed for the best locations, entrusting the most famous architects of the various eras with the task of designing and building the tallest, the most cheeky, the most beautiful, the most, stylistically speaking, modern for the various eras in which they were built. In 1495 the French ambassador Filippo de Commynes arrived in Venice along the Grand Canal in Gondola, in his account of a visit to the city he wrote: It is the most beautiful street th