If you’re a resident, it’s free; but as a traveler you can still book city-wide wireless access via VeniceConnected.com, seven or more days in advance of your travel, for quite a reasonable fee.
Venice is extraordinarily proud of this avant-garde offering, which was inaugurated with appropriate fanfare last Friday, July 3. Although not available from every nook and calle, and it’s not designed to reach you inside your lodging, the coverage is still quite extensive: you’ll be able to access the network “VeniceConnected.com” from principal campi such as the Frari, Campo San Margherita, Santo Stefano and many more, along with popular areas such as the Rialto, certainly the Piazza San Marco, all along the Grand Canal from Piazzale Roma to the Punto della Dogana. There’s access along the Riva down to Sant’Elena; even Giudecca has coverage. If you find an area where you can’t hook up, you won’t have to go far to find one where you can.
Book in Advance
The wireless service is only available through VeniceConnected.com, and may be booked seven or more days in advance of your arrival.
You’ll book your Wi-Fi service (along with any others your require) for the days you plan to be in the city. Your userID and password will be e-mailed to you three days prior to your pickup/arrival date. Once in Venice and in an area with wireless service, just attempt to access the network from your smartphone or notebook. The login screen that will pop up automatically, you’ll enter the userID and password that was e-mailed to you, and off you’ll go.
The fees for the wireless access service in Venice are:
- €5 one day
- €8 two days (48 hours)
- €15 one week
All durations are from the date of your scheduled arrival/pickup, specified when you booked your service.
PLEASE NOTE:
Should you lose or misplace any written record of your ID and password, you are requested notify Venice Connected immediately either by calling +39 041 2424, or writing info@veniceconnected.com.
You may only book the Venice WiFi service through VeniceConnected.com (up to seven days in advance).
VeniceConnected makes no guarantee of bandwidth, and there are other disclaimers on the information page, which you find here (although it seems to be in need of updating).
Click on the map above (supplied by the Comune) to check coverage…although it could be a bit more distinct.
Good information. Thank you! 🙂
Hello, I haven’t seen another city yet where they want payment for wi-fi? Usually it’s an incentive to get more visitors.
Considering that Italy is on the low side of net penetration and net use among the EU countries, somehow this seems counter-productive.
They should probably put a big tethered balloon high over the Rialto bridge, studded with a lot of antennae to give the entire city cheap Wi-Fi coverage in one go?
(Optionally it could also mount surveillance CCTV cameras in orwellian style, so the many british visitors can feel more at home…)
Useful information, thanks. I don’t mind paying a reasonable price for a stable and fast wifi connection, more so if it’s available throughout the whole city (The veniceconnected.com website would deserve a bit of overhaul, though, since it is not very usable). In Prague the average price is cca 2 EUR per 1 hour in average “Internet cafe” which cannot compete with 15 EUR per week in Venice (last time I checked). Granted, there are some places which offer free wifi but they can be hard to find for non locals, especially in the city center.