Nueva Venecia rises like a mirage from the waters of Colombia’s largest inland lagoon, the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta. Perched on stilts and populated by fishermen, Nueva Venecia is one of the last remaining palafitic towns on the continent and one located at the heart of the magical and imaginary landscape of ‘Macondo’ – the towns and villages made famous by Colombia’s Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez in his masterpiece One Hundred years of Solitude. Like her Italian counterpart, Nueva Venecia is accessible only by boat; mostly wooden dugouts which connect this water world with the landlocked towns of Cantagallo and Soledad.
