Every design for Venezia

Venice stands on a cluster of 126 islands in a shallow lagoon between the mouths of the Po and the Piave, cut through by canals and stitched together by 472 bridges, so that almost every errand involves water. Only a small share of its people live in the historic island city; most Venetians live on the mainland at Mestre, and others on the outer islands of the lagoon.

Ask a Venetian what home feels like and you may hear about the bora blowing in winter, fog over the canals, the tide rising into the calli on an acqua alta morning, a summer storm rolling over the lagoon. This is the city of masks and music, where Vivaldi and Albinoni were born, where the Arsenale di Venezia once built the fleets of a republic, and where the film festival still brings the world's cinema every year.

And then there is the Basilica di San Marco, with the Campanile di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale beside it, the corner of Venice everyone recognises. Wearing it is a small way of keeping the lagoon with you, wherever you happen to live now.