Venetians have idiosyncratic obloquy for features of the townscape. A canal is a rio , and an alleyway that cuts through a building is a sottoportico or sottoportego , to give its dialect version. A street in Venice is generally a calle , but a major street might be a ruga or a salizzada , a small street may be a ramo , a street alongside a body of water is a fondamenta (or a riva if it’s really big), and a street formed by filling in a canal is customarily a rio terrà . A square is usually a campo (there’s only one Piazza), but it might be a campiello if it’s tiny, a piscina if it was formed by filling in a place where boats used to turn, or a corte if it’s more of a courtyard than a square.

The Venetian dialect version of proper names adds a further twist to the visitor’s bewilderment. For example, the Italian study Giuseppe here becomes Isepo, Eustachio becomes Stae, and Giovanni becomes Zuan or Zan. Things get even worse when two obloquy appear together - thus Giovanni e Paolo becomes Zanipolo, and Sant’Ermagora e Fortunato somehow becomes San Marcuolo. As a final refinement, the Italian study is often used alongside the dialect name, of which there may be another variant - thus, on the surround outside the naval museum a sign tells you that the spot on which you’re standing is called Campo S. Biagio or Campo S. Blasio or Campo S. Biasio. We’ve generally used the standard Italian names, with the dialect version in brackets wherever it’s in common use.