In the historic center of Venice there is a ban on bathing in the city canals.
If you want to swim, you have to take the vaporetto and go to the Lido of Venice which is a bathing area where you can swim or sunbathe.
Why diving is forbidden
You risk infections and health problems. The water of the canals of Venice is brackish water, a mix of fresh and salt water. Due to sewage from homes, pollution from motor boats, the presence of pantegane (rats) it is neither clean nor suitable for swimming.
Would you ever put your feet in water with residues of diesel oil, excrement and more?
It’s dangerous. Motor boats, water buses (our public water transport) move through the canals as if they were roads, diving into the water means risking being caught under a boat. It’s a bit like starting to walk along an high traffic road.

People who dive in the summer
During the summer there are people who dive into the canal, it is a behavior to be discouraged.
It is dangerous for health, and for those who may travel in vehicles such as taxis, gondolas or vaporettos, as the means to avoid people diving for fun are obliged to make improvised maneuvers.
We Venetians do not dive into the water of the canals of Venice, it is one of the first things they teach us as children, I strongly advise against doing it.
Ambra -Hotel San Salvador Team-