History Main / CityofCanals

* There was a Venice-y city called Aquroya in [[Anime/FullMetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]] of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', which was sinking so fast they didn't expect it to be there in five years' time.

* A significant amount of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' takes place in Venice, which had catacombs underneath it.

* The island Water 7 in ''Manga/OnePiece'' is modeled after Venice, down to the canals and festival costumes. But [[UpToEleven exaggerated]].

* Many, if not [[UpToEleven most]] cities of [[UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands the Netherlands]] - of course, since this is the country that most major European rivers end in, and it lies mostly below Sea Level. To note just some of the better-known cities: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam Amsterdam]] (where Film/{{Amsterdamned}} takes place; and like noted above, this city has the nickname of "Venice of the North"); [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utrecht Utrecht]] (where most of the before-mentioned Film/{{Amsterdamned}} was actually shot); [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delft Delft]] (from Film/GirlWithAPearlEarring) and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiden Leiden]] (from Film/SoldierOfOrange).

* The "Sad Country" in ''LightNovel/KinosJourney'' seems to consist of a city like this.
* Ginko of ''Manga/{{Mushishi}}'' visits one in the story "Hidden Cove."

* The Asturian capital in ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'' is also depicted like this.

* ''Fanfic/TheSunSoul'' does this with [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Cerulean City]]. It isn't a huge plot device or anything, but it's obvious the author has some kind of love for SceneryPorn.

* Two ''Film/JamesBond'' films: ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'' and ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006''. The latter actually had Bond make a building sink by shooting at the buoys.
* Theed from ''Franchise/StarWars''.

* A significant amount of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' takes place in Venice.
** Which had catacombs underneath it.
* Venice plays a large role in ''Film/TheTalentedMrRipley''.
* ''Film/DontLookNow'', which made a point of making Venice look, well, a bit crap.

* The film ''Film/TheTourist'', starring Creator/AngelinaJolie and Creator/JohnnyDepp, is set primarily in Venice.

* A high speed boat chase happens in one of these in ''Film/TheProtector''.

* Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/MerovingenNights'': The eponymous city of this shared-world anthology series.

* Creator/GeorgeRRMartin's ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The Free City of Braavos is loosely based on Venice.
* Creator/KaiMeyer's ''Literature/DarkReflectionsTrilogy'' is partly set in an alternate Venice.

** Canals are also used as a sort of highway system in the ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy''. The city of Urteau in ''Literature/TheHeroOfAges'' '''had''' canals, but they dried up and they have street slots now. * Kai Meyer's ''Dark Reflections'' trilogy is partly set in an alternate Venice.

* Subverted in an episode of ''The Detectives'' where Bob and Dave are in Amsterdam (which also has a lot of canals) but ''[[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} think]]'' they're in Venice.

* A high speed boat chase happens in one of these in Film/TheProtector.

* The rat undercity in ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway''.

* The rat undercity in ''WesternAnimation/FlushedAway''.

* In Creator/WilliamTimlin's 1932 ScienceFantasy novel ''Literature/TheShipThatSailedToMars'', the Martian Fairy City is built up around a system of canals -- the titular sailing ship that crosses the distance between Earth and Mars even touches down in one of the canals when it arrived on the red planet. Timlin's depiction played off the idea that Mars was covered with a network of alien-constructed waterways, which enjoyed much popularity in the early part of the 1900's. From the text:

* Creator/FedericoAndahazi's ''Literature/ElConquistador'': Like in real life, Tenochtitlán, the capital of the Mexica empire, uses waterways for navigation.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's Literature/TheWateryPlace": When the strange-talking foreigners said they were from "the watery place", Sheriff Cameron figured they were talking about {{UsefulNotes/Venice}}. (He had misheard them, because they said {{UsefulNotes/Venus}}.)

* ''VideoGame/Lineage2'' has [[UnfortunateNames Heine]]. Given that it's a water-themed city, there are naturally a lot of [[MakingASplash elves]] and [[BubblegloopSwamp swampy grindzones]] nearby.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Drowntown}}'', London has become one, although not intentionally — parts of the city have flooded due to ClimateChange, but the city is still fully inhabited.

->''"It's glorious! The streets are paved with water! You could ride a walrus to work!"''
-->-- '''Homer Simpson''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* ''VideoGame/MetalSlug'': the second mission from the first game takes place on Ronbertburg City, named after the real-life German city of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rothenburg_ob_der_Tauber Rothenburg]] and based on various European metropolises like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg Hamburg]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam Amsterdam]]. The later part of the cities has you traveling over canals via "building-bridges" - bridges that contain buildings beneath them and can be adequately habitable for residence. Most of them are destroyed by rebels aiming for you.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Drowntown}}'', London has become one, although not intentionally — parts of the city have flooded due to GlobalWarming, but the city is still fully inhabited.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
** Glantri City in the TabletopGame/{{Mystara}} setting.
** The TabletopGame/{{Eberron}} setting has something similar in Zarash'ak, the major city in the Shadow Marches. It's a collection of buildings and plazas built on stilts over a swamp and frequently connected by bridges. Unlike most cities of this sort, the Marchers don't use the canals to move around as much due to occasional [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile hostile]] [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent wildlife]].
* Marienburg, in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'', is based pretty closely on the real-world Amsterdam.
** The High Elf city of Tor Elyr in Ulthuan is also criss-crossed by minor river tributaries and canals.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'''s version of Hamburg is not only called "Venice of the North", it actually is one due to massive flooding in the early 21st century submerging large parts of the city, creating a maze of canals.
* Practically every Martian city in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' is built around at least one giant canal and a few smaller ones that bring melt water down from the ice caps in the flow season.
* Vodacce in ''TabletopGame/SeventhSea'', FantasyCounterpartCulture version of Venice.
* Duskwall, the primary setting of ''TabletopGame/BladesInTheDark'', stands on the delta of Dosk River and so is crisscrossed by canals both natural and artificial, to the point where you can reach more places by boat than by carriage. The Gondolier Guild is a major power player in the city, and the Whitecrown island creates a natural haven for ships in the North Hook Channel, making Duskwall a perfect sea port, much like Venice's famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_Lagoon Lagoon]]. WordOfGod is that the city is basically a hybrid of Venice, VictorianLondon, and Prague.

* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' prequel, ''ComicBook/LabyrinthCoronation'' starts with
a human baby Jareth being kidnapped from Venice and brought to the Labyrinth. Jareth's predecessor, The Owl King has the Labyrinth as a City Of Canals.

* ''Film/{{Labyrinth}} prequel, ''ComicBook/LabyrinthCoronation'' starts with

* The city of Tenochtitlán, both in real life and in Federico Andahazi's ''Literature/ElConquistador''.
* The eponymous city of Creator/CJCherryh's ''Literature/MerovingenNights'' shared-world anthology series.
* The city of New Venice in Creator/PeterFHamilton's sci fi ''Literature/CommonwealthSaga'' is a city of canals built by a property developer and is based on the original Venice.
* Creator/MichaelEnde's ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'' features a city that, while not technically a City of Canals, is surely an extension of this trope and must be inspired by Venice... it's a city of floating silver filigree palaces on a lake of tears.
* The first part of Mary Hoffman's ''Literature/{{Stravaganza}}'' series is set in an AlternateUniverse Renaissance version of Venice called Bellezza, presided over [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask by their beloved and masked Duchessa.]]
* Laketown in ''Literature/TheHobbit''
* Illian in Creator/RobertJordan's ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'', although since corpses and human refuse are often dumped in some of the lower city's canals, they stink something awful.
* Creator/TanithLee's ''City of Venus''.
* Camorr in ''[[Literature/GentlemanBastard The Lies of Locke Lamora]]'' by Scott Lynch.
* Braavos in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''.
* The city of Urteau in ''[[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy The Hero Of Ages]]'' '''had''' canals, but they dried up and they have street slots now. Canals are also used as a sort of highway system in the ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy''.
* Kai Meyer's ''Dark Reflections'' trilogy is partly set in an alternate Venice.
* One of the cities in the ''Fabled Lands'' series was very heavily based on Venice, being a major trading port with a Mediterranean climate and lots of canals.
* Kurjain, the capital city of Bethiya, in ''Literature/TheAssassinsOfTamurin''
* La Serenissima (an [[IstanbulNotConstantinople actual nickname of Venice]], sometimes called "The Serene Republic") in the ''Literature/KushielsLegacy'' books.
* Alastair Reynolds' short story "Zima Blue" has a planet with "one hundred and seventy first known duplicate of Venice, and one of only three Venices rendered entirely in white marble."
* Cornelia Funke's ''The Thief Lord'' is set in Venice.
* Waterfall City in {{Literature/Dinotopia}}.
* Utyrak, on the planet Salavat in the Breen Condederacy, in the ''Literature/StarTrekTyphonPact'' novel ''Zero-Sum Game''. Like all Breen cities it's underground, built on a subterranean canal network.
* Zarzaparilla Street in ''Literature/{{Palimpsest}}'' is a milky river covered in coats that must be navigated by gondola.
* In Stephen Hunt's ''Literature/JackelianSeries'', Hermetica City on Jago has a canal network, complete with gondolas and cargo barges. In this case, some of the canals are ''boiling hot'', Jago being a geothermally-active island which humans originally settled as a refuge during an Ice Age.
* In ''Literature/Birthright2017'', the city of Sangam, being built on the islands of a river delta, has an extensive series of canals. Most of them appear to be completely natural rather than man-made, complete with mangrove trees growing out of the water and along the banks.
* In Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities" there are numerous fictional cities full of canals.

** ''[[VideoGame/SonicRusSeries Sonic Rush Adventure]]'' uses this theme in Pirates' Island. Much of the stage takes place underwater, within the canals, and while the city has been long abandoned except for dolphins, the mechanisms to move the water around are still functioning and very dangerous to travel through.

** Treno from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'' has canals across its water lower reaches. At one point Dagger's team has to use a gondola to sneak into a place that has an item they need to save Blank.

* ''Film/BabePigInTheCity'' takes place in a mashuptropolis that, among other, weirder things, has Venice-style canals in place of streets.

-->'''[[Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue Humphrey Lyttleton]]''': Birmingham, known as the "Venice of the North", by people who haven't been to Venice.[[note]]And people who don't know that Birmingham is in UsefulNotes/TheMidlands, not OopNorth.[[/note]]