Castello - the largest, quietest sestiere in Venice

Together with Cannaregio, Castello is the largest of Venice's six sestieri, and it wears two very different faces. Along the Riva degli Schiavoni, the long waterfront facing the Bacino di San Marco, stand the city's most expensive hotels, gazing out over the constant traffic of the basin; this is also where boats leave for the Lido, San Giorgio and the smaller islands. Step behind that elegant curtain, however, and Castello is a decidedly working-class quarter: wander beyond Viale Garibaldi through the little calli and you will pop out into campielli where you have to slalom between lines of laundry strung from window to window. In the far-flung corner of Sant'Elena there are lawns and quiet lanes, children playing and mothers chatting on benches - and hardly a shop in sight.

In a nutshell: Castello is Venice's largest sestiere, and it wears two very different faces. The Riva degli Schiavoni is the grand waterfront - the Hotel Danieli, Vivaldi's La Pietà and the Greek church - while behind it lies a working-class quarter of laundry lines and quiet campielli. The churches are exceptional, from the vast San Zanipolo to Bellini's San Zaccaria, and the Arsenale is the shipyard that armed an empire. At the tail of the fish, Via Garibaldi and Sant'Elena are the real, lived-in Venice, and the Giardini and Biennale add the city's only park and its great art show. Two quieter treasures - the Scuola Dalmata and the Querini Stampalia - and a full eating list round it out.