From the Piazza the bulk of the pedestrian traffic flows north to the Rialto along the Mercerie , the most aggressive shopping mall in Venice and the part of the city which comes closest to being devoid of magic. Apart from the church of San Giuliano - one of Venice’s lesser eccentricities - only the stately San Salvador provides a diversion from the spotlights and price tags until you come to the Campo San Bartolomeo , the forecourt of the Rialto bridge and the locals’ favoured spot for an after-work drink and chat. Another square that’s lively at the end of the day is the Campo San Luca , within a minute’s stroll of the bar at Al Volto , the best-stocked enoteca in town. Secreted in the folds of the alleyways are the old Armenian quarter and the spiralling Scala del Bovolo - featured on a thousand postcards, but actually seen by a minority of visitors. And slotted away in a tiny square close to the Canal Grande you’ll find the most delicate of Venice’s museum buildings - the Palazzo Pésaro degli Orfei, home of the Museo Fortuny .

Leaving the Piazza by the west side , through the colonnade of the Ala Napoleonica, you enter another major shopping district, but one that presents a contrast to the frenetic Mercerie: here the clientele is drawn predominantly from the city’s well-heeled or from the four-star tourists staying in the hotels that overlook the end of the Canal Grande - though in recent years it’s also become a favourite pitch for African street traders, whose presence has not been entirely welcomed by local shop-owners. To a high proportion of visitors, this part of the city is just the route to the Accademia - many pass through with their noses buried in their maps, and hardly break step before they reach the bridge over the Canal Grande. It’s true that none of the first-division attractions is here and that much of the northern part of the area offers little but the pleasure of wandering through its alleyways, but there are things to see apart from the latest creations from Milan and Paris - the extraordinary Baroque facades of Santa Maria del Giglio and San Moisè , for instance, or the graceful Santo Stefano , which rises at the end of one of the largest and most captivating squares in Venice. Two of the city’s great artistic venues lie within this district: La Fenice , at the moment a building site in the wake of the fire that wrecked the opera house in 1996; and the Palazzo Grassi , an exhibition centre with the highest production values in Italy.