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Venice, Florida
Location in Sarasota County and the state of Florida
Coordinates: 27°5′55″N 82°26′20″W / 27.09861, -82.43889
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Sarasota
Area
- Total	9.6 sq mi (25 km²)
- Land	9.1 sq mi (23.6 km²)
- Water	0.5 sq mi (1.4 km²)
Elevation	10 ft (3 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	17,764
- Density	1,850.4/sq mi (710.6/km²)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Area code(s)	941
FIPS code	12-73900GR2
GNIS feature ID	0292749GR3

Venice is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The population was 17,764 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, the city had a population of 19,990. It is noted for its large snowbird population. Its newspaper is the Venice Gondolier Sun, and Univision affiliate WVEA is licensed to Venice. It has been listed in many publications as being the "Shark's Tooth Capital of The World".

Contents 1 Geography 2 Demographics 3 Shark's Tooth Capital of the World 4 Robert Hanssen connection 5 9/11 Affiliation 6 Gallery 7 See also 8 External links

Venice is located at 27°5′55″N, 82°26′20″W (27.098674, -82.438985)^GR1.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.0 km² (9.7 mi²). 23.6 km² (9.1 mi²) of it is land and 1.4 km² (0.6 mi²) of it (5.69%) is water.

As of the census^GR2 of 2000, there were 17,764 people, 9,680 households, and 5,362 families residing in the city. The population density was 752.1/km² (1,948.8/mi²). There were 13,516 housing units at an average density of 572.2/km² (1,482.8/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.14% White, 0.55% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.41% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.24% from other races, and 0.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.10% of the population.

There were 9,680 households out of which 7.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.2% were married couples living together, 4.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.6% were non-families. 40.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 30.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.76 and the average family size was 2.25.

In the city the population was spread out with 6.9% under the age of 18, 2.3% from 18 to 24, 10.2% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 57.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 69 years. For every 100 females there were 76.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 75.8 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $37,536, and the median income for a family was $46,898. Males had a median income of $35,271 versus $26,132 for females. The per capita income for the city was $28,220. About 3.7% of families and 5.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.4% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.

Venice, Florida has been listed in many publications as being the "Shark's Tooth Capital of The World". It hosts an annual festival, the Shark's Tooth Festival, every year to celebrate the abundance of fossilized shark's teeth that can be found on its shores. In addition to finding shark's teeth on beach shores, many large sized teeth can be found freediving off of the coast or by excavating in the many shell deposits that are left over from the dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway. Beach renourishment efforts also brought new sand from a few thousand yards off the coast, yielding new, but fewer, fossilized shark's teeth. The teeth in the area can vary in size from an eighth of an inch to 3 inches and, on occasion, even bigger. A good place to look is on the very south end of the island part of Venice, known as Caspersen's Beach.

After Robert Hanssen was arrested on February 18, 2001, on charges of spying for Russia, the media came to Venice when it was discovered that his mother, Vivian lived there.

On September 12, 2001, national news and the FBI descended on Venice as it was discovered that three of the WTC 9/11 terrorists, Mohamed Atta, Marwan Al-Shehhi, and Ziad Jarrah, had all lived in Venice for the purpose of taking flight training lessons at the Venice Municipal Airport. The trio had all enrolled in Huffman Aviation.

Atta's time in Venice has been chronicled by Daniel Hopsicker in his book, Welcome to Terrorland.

Sun setting on one of Venice Florida's beaches.

Lovely Venice Avenue between downtown and the beach.

Venice Avenue at Tamiami Trail.

• Kentucky Military Institute which wintered in Venice for many years.

• City of Venice official site
• Venice Florida! dot com unofficial site
• VeniceFla.US Venice events, on-line community
• VeniceFlorida.org Information about Venice
• Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice

• Venice, Florida is at coordinates 27°05′55″N 82°26′20″W / 27.098674, -82.438985Coordinates: 27°05′55″N 82°26′20″W / 27.098674, -82.438985
• 2006 Aerial photos from Sarasota County aerial image viewer

v • d • e Municipalities and communities of Sarasota County, Florida
County seat: Sarasota
Cities	North Port | Sarasota | Venice
Towns	Longboat Key (part)
CDPs	Bee Ridge | Desoto Lakes | Englewood | Fruitville | Gulf Gate Estates | Kensington Park | Lake Sarasota | Laurel | The Meadows | Nokomis | North Sarasota | Osprey | Plantation | Ridge Wood Heights | Sarasota Springs | Siesta Key | Southgate | South Gate Ridge | South Sarasota | South Venice | Vamo | Venice Gardens | Warm Mineral Springs
Communities	Miakka