Italy · Veneto · Venice
Santa Croce, Venice — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Santa Croce is the northwestern sestiere of Venice, the first the city meets on the way in from the mainland. Cars stop here. Piazzale Roma sits at its edge, and behind that gateway the quarter settles into quiet campi and the Baroque palazzo of Ca' Pesaro on the Grand Canal.
About Santa Croce
Where to stay in Santa Croce
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Santa Croce suits a visitor who values an easy arrival. Piazzale Roma and the train station across the canal put the mainland within reach, yet the inner lanes stay calm. Rooms cost less. San Marco is a walk or a short vaporetto ride away.
About Santa Croce
What are the main landmarks in Santa Croce?
Ca' Pesaro, a grand Baroque palazzo on the Grand Canal, holds the city's modern art and oriental collections. Traders built nearby. The Fondaco dei Turchi, once the Turkish merchants' house, now keeps the natural history museum, and the old church of San Giacomo dell'Orio anchors a leafy campo at the sestiere's heart.
What is the history of Santa Croce?
Santa Croce took its name from a church, long demolished, that stood near the present Piazzale Roma. Gardens once filled it. For centuries it was a quiet quarter of orchards and monasteries on the city's western fringe, until the causeway from the mainland and later the car terminal at Piazzale Roma made it Venice's front door.
Where is Santa Croce?
Santa Croce sits at the northwestern corner of Venice, where the causeway and the Ponte della Costituzione bring road and rail across the water. It faces the station. The Grand Canal bounds it to the south and east, San Polo adjoins it, and Cannaregio lies across the canal.
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Updated July 2026