"Different lagoon poles for different purpose" Top 5 Page for this destination Venice Transportation Tip by Trekki

The driving rules in the lagoon are pretty much the same as within the city limits, but I found that some drivers (mostly motor taxis) kind of set out a bit faster, once they have reached open waters. There is speed limit, however, but not everyone accepts this. The lagoon is laid out with water streets, to avoid chaos and also to keep the boat traffic (thus water stirring and increased oxygen level) a bit more in order. And also, of course, as the lagoon is shallow (otherwise it would not be a lagoon), the water streets are the ones where navigation is safe and where no one would risk to end up on a sand bank.
The water “roads” are marked with poles, and if you look close, you’ll see that these poles are different in size and number. The poles margining the navigable water are small and grouped as 3, the briccole (one is a briccola); photo 4. In addition to the briccole, but in a more “disorganised” way, mede (one is meda), single poles of different size, also mark the course of navigable water (photo 5). In addition, briccole do also have a number, which stands for the "street". All these water ways are given in the navigation charts for the lagoon.
Where two or more main water channels meet, it is recognisable by the dame (one is a dama), 4 poles, the one in the middle being bigger/higher (photo 1 and 2).
In cases where bigger water streets cross, a whole bunch of poles is put together, as in photo 3. This one was taken at Venezia’s northeastern side.
On these first two photos, also the international designations for positioning: port (red) and starboard (green).

Mode: AROUND
Type: Ship/Boat