The mainland of Venice is the territory of on the mainland coast of the Lagoon of Venice. It is connected to Venice by a 3,850 m (2.39 miles) long railway and road bridge over the lagoon called Ponte della Libertà (Freedom Bridge).

After World War II, Mestre had a fast and disorganized period of urban growth and became a large urban area together with the other urban centers on the Venetian mainland (Carpenedo, Marghera, Favaro Veneto, Chirignago, Zelarino, Tessera). Since Mestre is the hub and the most populated area of the mainland, in common parlance its toponym is very often used, incorrectly, to indicate the whole Venetian mainland.

Mestre became a comune in 1806 and remained so until 1926, when it was incorporated into the comune of Venice.

Mestre is now a favourite starting point for tourists visiting Venice on a budget due to its convenient location, its cheap and frequent connections to Venice by train and by bus (which also runs at night), and the more reasonable prices of its bars, discos, car parking, hotels, restaurants, and supermarkets compared to the prices of the same tourist services in Venice.

In 1979 Mestre provided one of the venues for the European basketball championship EuroBasket 1979. This drew many tourists to the town. The other venues were in Siena, Gorizia and Turin.