Please Translate (Russian?) to English Miniature Painting

It measures 2-1/4" x 2-1/4", framed 3-1/2" x 3-1/2". Ink and watercolor. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Such as where this scene is.

 

It's too cursive for me to make out anything that it says but the scenery looks to be somewhere in Italy maybe. How did you acquire it?

 

It is Russian, but I can't make out most of it. The first line says Санкт-Петербург (Saint Petersburg) and the second line is the title of the picture. I can only make out some of it, but enough to determine that it's a scene on the Kryukov Canal.
http://www.saint-petersburg.com/rivers-and-canals/kryukov-canal/

You can see a similar spire on one of the buildings in the link.

I can't make out the rest of the words. At the end it is signed by the artist. Can't make out most of that, either.

 

The rest of the words (some contractions):
paper, watercolor, Indian ink
pen, lacquer.