Monuments and Museums
Saint Marc's Basilica (Basilica di San Marco)
Venice (Venezia)’s crown jewel, San Marco is a spectacular fusion of gold and marble, gracing Piazza San Marco with symmetrical arches, ornate turrets, and unsurpassed mosaic portals. Blending architectural and decorative styles of East and West, the Basilica is one of the greatest buildings in Europe.
Saint Marc's Square and the Bell (Piazza San Marco)
Venice (Venezia)’s only official piazza, Saint M's Square (Piazza San Marco) is a magnificent expanse of light, space, and architectural harmony. Here is right up the famous Saint M's Bell that is 332 feet tall. Taking the lift up, you can admire a beautiful view of Venice and the Lagoon. Beneath the arcade at the short end of Saint Mark Square lies the entrance to a trio of museums: Museo Civico Correr, Museo Archeologico, and the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana.
Grand Canal
The best way to view the Grand Canal as it winds through the heart of the city is from a vaporetto. Several lines travel the length of the canal. The palaces lining the waterway were built over a span of five centuries. The Grand Canal loops through the city and passes under three bridges: Ponte Scalzi, Rialto, and Ponte Accademmia. The candy cane posts used for mooring boats on the canal are called bricole and are painted with the family colors of the adjoining palazzo.
The Rialto Bridge
This impressive architectural structure was named for Rivo Alto, the first colony build in Venice (Venezia). Originally built of wood, the bridge collapsed in the 1500s. Antonio da Ponte designed the current stone structure (1588-91). Today, shops and vendors crowd the top of the bridge to peddle their wares.
Collezione Peggy Guggenheim
The museum displays a private modern art collection, including works by Brancusi, Marini, Kandinsky, Picasso, Magritte, Rothko, Ernst, Pollock, and DalÃ.
Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale)
The most impressive secular building in Venice (Venezia) and once the official residence of each Venetian ruler (doge), the Palazzo Ducale was founded in the 9th-century. This palace served as the senate house, administrative center, hall of justice, public archive, and prison up until the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. Nowadays it contains spectacular artwork, including Veronese’s Rape of Europa. Once the official residence of each Venetian ruler (doge), the Palazzo Ducale was founded in the 9th-century.
Galleria Dell’Accademia
Boasting the most extensive collection of Venetian art in the world, you’ll see works of Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Veronese, and Carpaccio.
Jewish Ghetto
In 1516, the Doge forced Venice (Venezia)’s Jewish population into the old cannon-foundry area (ghetto is the Venetian word for foundry), creating the first Jewish ghetto in Europe. At its height, the ghetto housed 5000 people in buildings up to seven stories high, making them among the tallest tenements in Europe at the time. Visit the oldest synagogue, or schola, the Schola Grande Tedesca (German Synagogue) which shares a building with the Museo Ebraico di Venezia (Hebrew Museum of Venezia).
Santi Giovanni e Paolo Church
Considered (with the Frari) as one of the city’s greatest Gothic church, it was built by the Dominicans in the 14th-century, and houses monuments to no fewer than 25 doges.
Saint Mary’s of Friars (Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari)
Originally built in the mid-13th century, Santa Maria dei Frari (St. Mary of the Friars) houses many masterpieces of Venetian Renaissance art, notably Giovanni Be's “Madonna and Child with Saints,” and the “Pesaro Madonna” by Titian, who is buried in the church. More commonly known as the Frari, this vast Gothic church is striking for its sheer size and for the quality of its works of art, including masterpieces by Titian and Giovanni Bellini, a statue by Donatello, and several grandiose tombs.
Burano
A traditional fishing village, visit the small Scuola de Merietti di Burano for unique Venetian lace, and the basilica, Chiesa de S. Martino, across from the museum. Burano is the most colorful of the lagoon islands and can be distinguished from a distance by the tilting tower of its church.
Lido
Lido provided the setting for Thomas Mann’s Death in Venezia. People flock to Lido to enjoy the surf, a casino, horseback riding, and one of Italy’s finest golf courses, the Alberoni Golf Club.
Murano
Famous for its glass since 1292 (when Venice (Venezia)’s artisans were forced off Venice (Venezia) proper because their kilns started fires), you’ll be able to witness the glass-blowing process. The studios in Murano are free. The Museo Vetrario (Glass Museum) houses a splendid collection featuring pieces from Roman times. The exceptional 12th-century Basilica de Santa Maria e San Donato displays the bones of the dragon slain by Saint Donatus.
Torcello
One of the most powerful island in the lagoon before Venice (Venezia) replaced its inhabitants and glory, Torcello is an island with simple natural beauty. The island’s cathedral, Santa Maria Assunta, contains 11th- and 12th-century mosaics depicting the Last Judgment and the Virgin Mary.
San Mich's Isle (Isola di San Michele)
Venice (Venezia)’s cemetery island, San Michele, is home to Coducci’s tiny Chiesa di Michele in Isola (1469), the first Renaissance church in Venice (Venezia). Poet Ezra Pound is buried in the Protestant cemetery, while Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and choreographer Sergei Diaghilev are entombed in the Orthodox graveyard.
Events
Carnevale
Carnival in Venice (Venezia) is a 10-day pre-Lenten extravaganza, culminating in the burning of the effigy of Carnival in Piazza San Marco on Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday). Carnival capers include costumed balls, firework display, and historical parades, all staged by the carnival societies. Masks originally allowed the nobility to mingle incognito with the common people in private clubs. Banned by the church for several centuries, Venice (Venezia)’s famous Carnevale was successfully reinstated in the early 1970s. During the ten days preceding Ash Wednesday, masked figures jam the streets and outdoor concerts and street performances spring up throughout the city.