Back in the fall of 2007, I didn’t pay much attention to the water fountains around Venice, except in the context of my project to preserve Venetian public art. But this summer, I’ve found them exceedingly useful as a way of beating the mid-day heat (which often reaches 30+ degrees C). If you know where to find them, or even if you don’t, you can avoid carrying a water bottle on your walks through Venice, refreshing yourself instead at each fountain you come across. The water’s clean – it’s the same stuff that comes out of the city’s taps.

These fountains are a great idea, serving a similar role to the one once played by the wells in Venice’s campi. They’re a place for Venetians and tourists to find refreshment, but they’re also used by merchants (for cleaning their produce), thirsty pets, and even pigeons, who drink from and take baths in their basins.

I thought it would be useful to distribute some information about the locations of Venice’s drinking fountains. Below is a map showing their locations (click for a full-size version). Note that these are only the 70 or so working fountains – there are others in Venice that once upon a time dispensed water, but no longer do today. And there may have been some changes since this dataset was last updated, but for the most part, I can personally confirm its reliability as of August 2009.



Here’s a table of their locations, to help you locate ones along your walking paths:

Cannaregio	Castello
Campo dei Gesuiti	Campo San Zaccaria
Rio Terà Barba Frutariol	Campo Santa Maria Formosa
Corte dei Pali Già Testori	Campiello de la Fraterna
Campo San Alvise	Salizada del Pignater
Campo San Geremia	Corte Nova
Calle Rielo	Corte de la Borsa
Calle delle Chioverette	Campo Santa Ternità
Campo del Gheto Novo	Campo Santa Giustina
Calle San Girolamo	Campo do Pozzi
Camplello de le Beccarie	Fondementa di Arsenalotti
	Campo de la Tana
Dorsoduro & Giudecca	Calle del Squero
Rio Terà di Saloni	Via Garibaldi
Rio Terà dei Catecumeni	Fondamenta di Quintavale
Campiello Barbaro	Corte de le Case Nove
Campiello agli Incurabili	Viale IV Novembre
Corte del Sabion	Viale Trento 1
Piscina Sant’Agnese	Viale Trento 2
Fondamenta della Toletta
Calle de l’Avogaria	San Marco
Campo Santa Margherita	Santa Maria del Giglio
Calle de la Madona	Corte Moretta
Zattere al Ponte Longo	Corte de l’Albero
Calle del Basegò	Fondamenta de le Acque
Fondamenta dei Cereri
Calle Larga Foscari	San Polo
Campo del Redentore	Campiello San Rocco
Campiello de la Croce	Campiello de le Chiovere
Fondamenta San Giacomo	Calle dei Nomboli
Corte Ferrando	Campo San Polo
Campo San Cosmo	Campo San Giacometto
Calle del Teatro in Saca	Campo Rialto Novo
	Campo de le Beccarie
Santa Croce	Calle de la Scrimia
Campiello Mosca	Carampane
Campo San Giacomo del Orio	Campo de la Pescheria
Campiello del Piovan
Corte del Cazza
Campiello del Cristo
Campazzo Tre Ponti
Rio Terà dei Pensieri

If I can figure out a way, I’d like to make a Google Earth file that contains this data as well. Even more useful would be a set of points to upload to a personal GPS unit, which would allow you to quickly locate the water fountain nearest your location. Maybe when I have more time…

[Update: I did get around to making some files that can be loaded into Google Earth or a GPS unit. See this post for the links and more information about Venice in Google Earth.]