http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34628464

Katherine Hepburn fell in shooting the movie Summertime.

Lord Byron famously swam the Grand Canal.

It's rare, but it does happen on occassion. Unless you are walking perilously close the edge or backing up towards a canal without looking behind you, it's unlikely it will happen.

and Katherine Hepburn supposedly suffered from some sort of infection problem for many years after she fell in.

Thanks, everyone. It sounds like the canals are not deep really. Just icky? I can handle ick. I can't handle drowning! (I'm sure DH would jump in to save me, though!)

B.

Pretty unlikely you would fall in, unless you had too much vino! When you walk on sidewalks, do you ever fall onto the street?

Dear nb:

My sister and I did a bar and cichetti tour in Venice. We then proceeded to drink even more wine after the tour with the group of 4 others. We were very HAPPY, trying to find our way back to our hotel. My sister kept asking "How do you know where you're going?" I said I didn't really but just kept going in the direction of San Marco. Luckily we found our hotel and didn't fall in a canal. The only bad thing was the hangover the next day in Florence at the Uffizi and Accademia.

Have fun and don't drink too much wine!!

Michelle

I was recently visiting Capri. I was walking around and saw a small stairway going upwards in between two houses. I started backing up, trying to see where it led to. I backed into a low stone wall, lost my balance and came periously close to tumbling down into a fair sized ditch. This was a 9 am in the morning but I fear my DH (who was not my travel companion on this trip) would have suspected too much wine! There are many amazing sites in Venice that one MIGHT back up to see better so be careful! and have a great trip. SueC1

Yes - it is perfectly possible to fall into a canal. It generally happens either to people who are reeling drunk or not looking where they're going. And yes - it could be quite disgusting - and I suppose if the canal were esp deep and there was no one nearby you might drown.

Similarly, in New York if you walk along the edge of the curb and don;t look where you're going - or back up without looking - you could fall into the street and be run down by a cab. And, if there were no one nearby you could bleed to death in the road.

I would guess the chances of each happening are about equivalent.

nbBrown-not to put a downer on your trip, but do not think that people have not drowned in the Grand Canal, or that the jam-packed water traffic on the Grand Canal is not a huge problem for the city of Venice-it is, and powerful vested interests are intent on keeping the status quo.

Here are three articles in the past year from the Guardian that you might want to read on the subject:

www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-29-2004-58579.asp

www.buzzle.com/editorials/9-14-2004-59308.asp

www.buzzle.com/editorials/2-14-2005-65709.asp

Last summer in Venice, a gondola capsized and a year old Dutch baby was saved from drowning in the nick of time. According to the article, 7 people have drowned in the Grand Canal since 1992.

Vaporettos all have life jackets, and I believe gondolas do as well, somewhere in their compartments-but no one is required to wear a life jacket while on the water boats, or on gondolas, of course.

Since I was on an Alilaguna vaporetto in Venice a few months ago that was nearly hit twice in dense fog on the way to the airport, I have given some thought to this; had we actually been hit and in the water, I would have had a life vest, but it wouldn't have done me much good since the water temp. was probably around 30-40 degrees or so-I would have had hypothermia and gone into shock in minutes. It was very scary when it happened, and it happened oh so quickly. The lesson to be learned from this is not to go out on the lagoon in a vaporetto when you see that there is dense fog, which typically occurs very early in the morning, and burns itself off later-regardless of whether the vaporetto goes out in it or not.

I do think you're right to think about these things, particularly since you're not a swimmer, and the water traffic during the summer season in Venice is far worse than in the winter.

I remember reading that a film director either jumped or was pushed into a canal after finishing up a movie. He swallowed some water and died soon after of cholera.

TJ-I believe that was in Rome, and the Tiber River, before it was cleaned up.

>...7 people have drowned in the Grand Canal since 1992.<

How many people have visited Venice in those 13 years - 90,000,000?

The number of visitors to Venice is totally not the point, Ira. The point is, accidents happen, the overly congeested waterways of Venice is a HUGE problem for the city, and people who don't swim need to be cognizant of these facts.

Actually, Ira, it would be closer to between 144,000,000 and 180,000,000.

We did see someone fall in the canal during our trip to Venice in Jan 2004. Or rather, we didn't see how she ended up in the canal but we saw her being pulled out of the water by several helpful people. It was quite a shock!

The poet Percy Shelley drowned boating off the coast of Venice.

There's a classic funny thread called something about "Do I need a lifejacket in a gondola?"

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=2&tid=34476606

Now I want to know how many people have fallen off the Leaning Tower of Pisa?

Suitcases fall into the canals also. While in Rome two years ago, we met a guy whose luggage got lost while enroute to Rome.

9 days later it appeared at the hotel in Rome, wet and smelly. It had somehow fallen into a canal in Venice. How it got to Venice no one knows.

A trip to a laundry solved the problem.

rkkwan,

I would bet people have fallen off the Leaning Tower. In 1972 when I first climbed the tower, there were very few rails and none at all on the lower levels. I remember having a serious case of vertigo at the top and feeling the one little rail would be of little use if I fell as I would easily slip under it. I was pleasantly surprised when I returned last year to find the tower with much better safety railings.

I guess we could add "how many people have fallen out of the London Eye?" to our list of potential travel disasters.
Or "how many people have toppled off the Eiffel Tower?"

I think this is a reasonable concern. I marveled when I was in Venice at the total nonchalance of parents with their toddlers. I would have had my boys' hands in mine at all times, but these parents allowed their children to go off on their own--perilously close to the edge of the cement. There are no retaining barriers; the Italians believe that common sense should dictate caution and laugh at the profusion of American caution signs ("hot drink", "watch your step" etc). Still, a little caution is not a bad thing...

You absolutely can fall into a canal in Venice. I fell into the Grand Canal by the steps at the Rialto bridge by stepping down one step too close to the water in order to get a better photo. The tide was out, and that step LOOKED pretty dry, but had a slick of algae on it that couldn't be seen easily in the dark. Fortunately I didn't get the whole ducking - only to mid-thigh - but I did see a young lady a few days later assisted by a boatman come dripping from head to toe from a smaller canal. I think it's pretty common to fish tourists out of canals. This shouldn't deter anyone from going though! Venice is absolutely gorgeous. Just stay away from edges

They also do in Donna Leon's wonderful mysteries set in Venice!

The poet Percy Shelley drowned boating off the coast of Venice.>

Shelley drowned sailing between Livorno and Lerici which are on the Ligurian Sea [the west coast of Italy] whereas Venice is on the Adriatic which is on the east.

BTW i have some photos of Venice we took 30 odd years ago on our first trip to venice showing the grand canal in July - it is virtually empty compared to the scenes we see today.

Most streets don't just end in a canal (and most canals have walls between them & the pavement), but 'ours' does. We have seen a tourist walk in to the canal at the end of our street - 3 young women exploring, too intent on talking to each other to look where they were going, and splash! That was when we found out how deep it is normally - she was wet up to the knees - although neither of us thought to check whether it was high or low tide then (I'd assume low).

The small canals are shallower, though - I believe the Grand Canal is normally 3m at its deepest point, and obviously the parts where cruise ships plough through have been dredged much deeper.

On a more serious note, after a Padua lawyer was found drowned at Sant'Elena a couple of months ago, a report in one of the local papers mentioned that nobody thinks people drown in the lagoon, but it averages 5 a year. Some may be drunk, I suppose, but a surprising number of locals can't swim - as was the case with this guy. And of course, canals have sheer sides & are difficult to climb out of.

Just watch where you are going (also advisable due to dog mess) and you'll be fine.

I guess we could add "how many people have fallen out of the London Eye?" to our list of potential travel disasters.

They'd have to break the glass or through the door first

obviously the parts where cruise ships plough through have been dredged much deeper.

They need to stop dredging, cruise ships in Venice are an abomination

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/17/venice-risk-cruise-ships
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theclothespinlady/5886115170/

I'm sure falling in is fairly common - and I have never noticed walks along the sides of canals.

The risks are:

If you're drunk

If you don;t pay attention (yes, the steps and edges of the canals are often covered with algae and can very slippery)

If you can't see the ground right next to the canal clearly - assume that it's slippery and don't hang around right on the edge.

And while it is true that many of the canals are shallow - if it's slippery enough it's possible to drown - and definitely swallow a lot of fairly toxic water.

But, the real question is - do you often off sidewalks and into the street? If not, I believe you are overthinking this.

though this is an old thread, a few years AGO, a foderite fell into the wATER.

And as the local (i.e. Venice) paper reported after the latest instance a couple of months ago, there are an average of 5 drownings a year in the lagoon. But generally not tourists.

Alan, you don't need to tell me about the horror of cruise ships in the lagoon! Talks drag on about possibl;e solutions, but in the meantime the comune gets E30,000,000 from the cruise lines. The current mayor has now however come out in favour of them going to Marghera.