Much of the graceful city-centre area north of Corso Italia dates to the 18th-century reign of Empress Maria Theresa, including the photogenic Canal Grande . Reflecting centuries of religious tolerance, it's here you'll also find the mosaic-laden Serbian Orthodox Chiesa di Santo Spiridione (1868) juxtaposed with the neoclassical Catholic Chiesa di Sant'Antonio Taumaturgo (1842). On the Via Roma bridge stands a life-sized statue of James Joyce (Piazza Hortis is home to a similar bronze of Italo Svevo ).
