With its canals, historic bridges and gondolas, Venice is one of the world’s most recognisable cities.
Many cities, over the centuries, have tried to replicate some features of the Italian lagoon.
However, a few locations around the world have gone beyond taking inspiration from Venice and tried to replicate its historic centre, from its lavish architecture down to red and white poles used in the lagoon to provide information about a route or for mooring.
Three out of the most famous copycat attempts have been made by financial ventures, while one has become the area of a much bigger city.
Express.co.uk has taken a look at these replicas of Venice.Â
1) The Villaggio – Doha, Qatar
The Villaggio Mall offers a replica of Venice within the city of Doha, in Qatar – one of the world’s hottest countries.
This 1,350,000 square feet shopping centre was launched in 2006 and has both a name and interiors heavily inspired by Italy.
Its most peculiar feature is the nearly 500-foot-long indoor turquoise canal being regularly crossed by gondolas taking people in awe around the shopping centre.Â
(Image: Getty)
Rather than being lined with historic shops, houses and grocers, each side of the canal at the Villaggio is home to lavish shops, restaurants and cafes.Â
This replica of Venice is entirely indoors, in an air-conditioned area, and features an artificial sky.Â
(Image: Getty)
The artificial sky at the Villaggio has been praised by some of the shopping centre’s visitors.Â
Taking to the travel website Tripadvisor, one former visitor wrote: “This mall has the best artificial sky men ever made. The sky, the clouds, the river, are all beautifully made.”
Hailing the Village, a British tourist noted: “This mall has a water feature, that water feature is Venice, complete with gondolas. As I’ve said before, I am a bloke so shopping is not my thing but the shops seem to be the higher end with one area being very high end.
“The ceilings are painted as clouds and do have an effect of moving as you walk. All the shop’s upper facades are built to look like Venetian housing… That keeps this bloke entertained.”Â
(Image: Getty)
2) The Venetian Resort – Las Vegas, USA
The Venetian Resort is one of the most famous hotels on the Strip in Las Vegas.Â
One part of the world-famous resort has been dedicated to a shopping and dining area called The Grand Canal Shoppes – which has tried to replicate Venice in many aspects.
The Grand Canal Shoppes features cobblestone walkways, illuminated painted ceilings, a copy of the Rialto Bridge – one of Venice’s most photographed infrastructure – and canals through which gondoliers dressed just like their colleagues in the Italian lagoon take tourists.Â
(Image: Getty)
The Grand Canal Shoppes is one of the attractions many tourists heading to Las Vegas visit.
One of its visitors praised it on Tripadvisor, writing: “This place was beautiful and definitely a must see when in Vegas! This mall makes you think you’re in Italy with the beautiful scenery and river that runs below. Great variety of stores and restaurants as well.”
Another agreed the shopping centre did a good job of replicating Venice, as they wrote: “Walking through it does make you feel like you are in Venice at night. The canal and gondolas are quirky but lend to the authenticity.”Â
(Image: Getty)