Travel & Places
vaporetto
Computer-generated voice, not a recording. It may differ from the pronunciation guide.
The guide and IPA follow the Italian pronunciation; English speakers often relax the vowels.
In short
A vaporetto is a public water bus that runs scheduled routes along the canals and lagoon of Venice, Italy.
Think of it as Venice's everyday city bus, except it floats.
01 Meaning
What does vaporetto mean?
In Venice, where the main “streets” are canals, the vaporetto is the ordinary way to get around. It runs on fixed routes with stops, much like a bus line, and the service is run by ACTV, the city’s public transport operator.
Strictly speaking, the name belongs to the large, wide boats that work the slower routes, such as the lines along the Grand Canal. ACTV also runs smaller boats called motoscafi.
English accepts two plurals: vaporetti, the Italian form, and vaporettos.
02 Word origin
Where does it come from?
The word is Italian, built from vapore ("vapor, steam") and the diminutive ending -etto, so it began as "little steamer". Early Venetian water buses were steam-powered, and the name stayed even after the boats changed.
vapore-etto
"vapor, steam" + a suffix meaning "little"
03 In context
How to use it in a sentence
“We took the vaporetto across the Grand Canal just before sunset.”
“Two vaporetti were waiting at the stop, but only one went to the Lido.”
Sources and updates
- vaporetto, Treccani Vocabolario. Checked October 20, 2026.
- vaporetto - Origin and history, Online Etymology Dictionary. Checked October 20, 2026.
- vaporetto, Wiktionary. Checked October 19, 2026.
- Vaporetto, Wikipedia. Checked October 19, 2026.
Definitions and examples are written in our own words from the sources above. Published . Updated .