Venice’s famed waterways have fallen victim to the cold snap, with some canals freezing solid as temperatures dipped as low as -10C.
The ferry – or vaporetto – services are acting as ice-breakers as the chill grips the city, stranding gondoliers and bringing tourism to a standstill.
Almost 59,000 Italian households have no electricity and officials have declared a gas supply emergency, msnbc reported.
Airports across Europe are experiencing delays and cancelled flights and roads have been blocked by snow.
The two week cold-snap has seen temperatures fall as low as -36 in Ukraine – with hundreds of people losing their lives.