Campanile?

Look familiar? it should,
it's the "Campanile" in Venice, Italy...or is it?
The dimensions are right, the colors match, but it's not the original.
I actually took this shot in...Las Vegas.
(insert your favorite "GASP" sound here)

Now let's take a look at the whole shot:

Sure enough, there's the Mirage Hotel in the background, and when was the last time you saw the Rialto so close to Piazza San Marco?
(or so clean, for that matter)

If you've been reading the Gondola Blog for a while now,
you've seen the above photo before, in my post from earlier this year entitled "Nightfall in Las Vegas"

Here's a photo of the real thing:

This shot was originally used in the post "Campanile 2.0" from 2009.

Did you know that Venice's most famous belltower is actually not "the original" either? it's a second version.

Sean Antonioli took some great photos in and around Venezia when he lived there. Here's a link to a post called "Hazy Day in San Marco" featuring a unique view of the Campanile.

And if I'm rounding up photos of something in Venice,
I'd be remiss if I didn't include something from Nereo Zane - his photo in the post "Piazza from a Distance" is a great example of a good long-exposure, and will likely make you want to walk the fondamenta at night.