The European Space Agency (ESA) published an image showing Italy’s beautiful Venice from space, April 2019 vs April 2020. The 2020 version shows the Grand Canal of Venice and Giudecca Canal (Venetian: Canal de ła Zueca) are empty of boats.

The Canale Grande, “Grand Canal” and Giudecca Canal also look much clearer in the 2020 photo, even from space.

Venice from Space

Venice from Space, 2019-2020
Venice from Space, 2019 vs 2020. The Grand Canal and the Giudecca Channel appear almost empty compared to last year, and traffic from Venice to the island of Murano appears to be non-existent. Two large cruise ships can be seen in the U-shaped Port of Venice in 2019, west of the city, while this year the port appears empty. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the streets and canals of Venice remain almost empty, with only police officers patrolling the streets and waterways. Image: “Deserted Venetian lagoon” on the European Space Agency (ESA) website CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Galata Bridge, Istanbul

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Space Station Flight Over Venice. February 14, 2017

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Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency shared this photograph from the International Space Station on Feb. 14, 2017, writing, “Venice, city of gondoliers and the lovers they carry along the canals. Happy Valentine’s Day!”

The reversed-S shaped water line in the middle of Venice is the Grand Canal (Italian: Canal Grande). One end of the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Lucia railway station and the other end leads into the basin at San Marco; in between, it makes a large reverse-S shape through the central districts (sestieri) of Venice. It is 3.8 km long, and 30 to 90 m wide, with an average depth of five meters (16.5 ft).

Venice, Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge
The Grand Canal from the Rialto Bridge (Italian: Ponte Rialto). Public transport over the canal grande is provided by water buses (Italian: vaporetti) and private water taxis, and many tourists explore the canal by gondola. I took this photo back in March 2009.
M. Özgür Nevres
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