Wenecja is a village located in the region of Pałuki, in the district of Żnin, quite close to three lakes, namely Lake Skrzyneckie, Lake Biskupińskie, and Lake Weneckie. The village is located along the Piast Trail, which is a tourist route going through the provinces of Pomorze, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, and Wielkopolska.
Wenecja is also one of the stops along Żnińska Kolej Powiatowa (narrow-gauge railway line), which is now considered a tourist attraction. During the holiday season, you can go by the narrow-gauge railway from Żnin, through Wenecja and Biskupin, all the way to the village of Gąsawa. Next to the railway station, there is the Museum of Narrow-Gauge Railway with both indoor and outdoor exhibition of old cars and engines.
Back in the 14th Century, the village was owned by Miłołaj Nałęcz, who named it after Venice in Italy, where finished his studies. He was the originator of building the first private castle in Poland, which was located in a strategic place to protect the borderline of the Polish Catholic Church against the aggression of the Teutonic Order. After signing a truce with the Teutonic Order, the castle lost its original function and was partially demolished, slowly turning into a ruin, over the years. Today, you can also see what is left of its courtyard and fragments of the defensive walls, including an exhibition of mediaeval siege machines close to the ruins of the castle.The ruins also gave rise to a legend of the Bloody Devil of Wenecja, i.e. Mikołaj Nałęcz himself, who haunts the place. It is said that the man was were strict and staunch, when it came to dealing with his political opponents.
The little village is also home to a neoclassical estate from the 19th Century and the neo-Gothic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary built in the same century. The local cemetery contains the grave of Walenty Szwajcer, a Polish teacher, who discovered remnants of the prehistoric settlement in Biskupin.
Wenecja became a location for shooting scenes for the film Kto nigdy nie żył/Who Never Lived, a directing début from Andrzej Seweryn, 2006, starring Michał Żebrowski, Joanna Sydor, Robert Janowski, or Wojciech Mecwaldowski, to name a few.
The excursion organised by Paweł (Rafał Mroczek) in the TV series M jak miłość offered an opportunity to see the ruins of the castle built by Mikołaj Nałęcz in Wenecja, which became a film set for episodes 1158 and 1159.
Finally, the Museum of Narrow-Gauge Railway in Wenecja was shown in the film Disco Polo, directed by Maciej Bochniak, starring popular actors of the young generation, which was an attempt at explaining the rapid rise and popularity of disco polo, a genre of music.
