Venice
The whole region of Veneto was only a part of the Republic of Venice: known as La Serenissima (the most serene), this was one of the largest, richest and most enduring maritime republics and trade empires in the world. Its citizens spoke Venetian, a language that was the lingua franca of the Mediterranean and still survives today, while trade (especially of salt) was the main activity.
The wealthy merchants patronized renowned art and architecture and were influential financiers in Europe. Venice was also the birthplace of great European explorers, such as Marco Polo, as well as Baroque composer Vivaldi, Renaissance painter Titian and playwright Goldoni.
Official site of Tourism Board
Official site of pubblic transport (ACTV)
Kasa Fue, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
How to get to Venice
There are three airports in the region of Veneto, and the closest one to Venice is actually located close to the city: the Marco Polo international airport. It is connected to Venice and Mestre’s train stations by special express trains and also buses.
If you have a car with you, remember to park it (either at the airport or in the cities’ parking lots) and enjoy Venice and Mestre by foot and public transport.
In case you are enjoying a longer stay in Italy and intend to use airports in the major cities (for example Milan or Rome), you will be able to get to Venezia Santa Lucia railway station easily by numerous trains, either regional or faster ones. The other two airports located in Veneto are Verona-Villafranca airport and Treviso airport. They are well connected to Venice but would be less advantageous and close: better to stick to other bigger and more convenient airports.
Here is the official site of Venice’s Marco Polo airport:
https://www.veneziaairport.it/en/
Things to do in Venice
Saint Mark’s Square
This Piazza is perfect for either taking a look or spend hours exploring every single thing you can find there. And there are many, from art and architecture to cafes and shops. St. Mark’s Basilica dominates the eastern part and is a stunning mixture of many architectural styles. Though time, it has also been embellished with more and more items (like the four bronze horses), brought by either commerce or war.
Other beauties to see: the long arcades (called Procuratie), Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s Clocktower, the Marciana Library, and more. Looking towards the Molo, you will also see the famous winged Lion of Venice on the second (eastern) column.
Lasagnolo9 at Italian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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The Doge’s Palace and the Bridge of Sighs
In Piazza San Marco you will see the Doge’s palace, built in Venetian Gothic style. The Doge was the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice and resided in this striking location. In the courtyard you will find the gorgeous Giants’ Staircase, guarded by two colossal statues of Mars and Neptune, which represent Venice’s power by land and by sea.
Do not miss the Museo dell’Opera, the Doge’s apartments and the prisons. The Bridge of Sighs contains a corridor that connects the Doge’s Palace to the structure intended to house the New Prisons, and is enclosed and covered on all sides.
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Antonio Contin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
Official site  |
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| 10.00 am – 6.00 pm (last admission: 5.00 pm) | |
| Always open | |
| Many different tickets according to itineraries and amount of attractions. For example, the Secret Itineraries tour at the Doges’s Palace is €28.00 (full price; reduced fee available under certain circumstances). | |
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The Grand Canal
Venetian painter Canaletto knew and represented the beauty of Venice well, and the Grand Canal was the subject of many of his works. The large, reverse-S shaped canal starts from the lagoon near Santa Lucia railway station and ends at the basin at San Marco, touching the central districts (sestieri) of Venice.
Many of the stunning Palazzos of rich citizens of the past are best seen while cruising the canal. Some of them are: Palazzo Barbaro, Ca’ Rezzonico, Ca’ d’Oro, Ca’ Foscari (the main seat of Ca’ Foscari University), Barbarigo, Venier dei Leoni (which houses the Peggy Guggenheim Collection). The Historical Regatta takes place every year along the Canal and is amazing to see.
Zairon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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| Being a canal, the best you can do is cruising it with a vaporetto, or follow it on foot, from the train station to Piazza San Marco |
The Rialto Bridge
One of the many amazing places where to take wonderful pictures while on your trip (as many other tourists will think as well). It is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice. It has been rebuilt several times since its first construction as a pontoon bridge in 1173.
First created as a floating bridge, once the traffic to the Rialto markets increased, it actually became a proper wooden structure and then a stone one, after many fires and collapses. You will find many shops, cafes and restaurants around/beside/on the bridge itself to enjoy (the Hard Rock Café Shop is very close).
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Gallerie dell’Accademia museum
The Gallerie dell’Accademia is a museum gallery which boasts masterpieces of Venetian painting up to the 18th century by Tintoretto (Presentation at the Temple, Lamentation, and many others), Giorgione (e.g. The Tempest), Lotto, Titian (Saint John the Baptist, Pietà, and more), Veronese (Battle of Lepanto, among others), Hieronymus Bosch (The Hermit Saints), Bassano (Adoration of the Shepherds), Bellini (Sacred Conversation, and others), Canaletto, Tiepolo, Veronese, Vasari, and many others.
The collection also includes Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of the Vitruvian Man, which is displayed only rarely as the striking work is on paper and therefore fragile and especially sensitive to light. Stopping by is definitely worth it.
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| Official site |
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| Tuesday to Sunday: 8.15 am – 7.15 pm (last admission: 6.15 pm) Monday: 8.15 am – 2.00 pm (last admission: 1.00 pm) |
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| No closing days | |
| Standard: €12.00 | |
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Peggy Guggenheim museum
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a modern art museum on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro sestiere. The collection is housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. The Palazzo is often mistaken as a modern building, but it was actually erected in the 18th century under the supervision of Venetian architect Boschetti.
It was Peggy Guggenheim’s home for three decades, and her noteworthy private collection boasts works by Picasso (The Poet), Metzinger (Au Vélodrome, visionary oil, sand and collage on canvas) and Kandinsky (Landscape with Red Spots No 2), among other futurists and modernists of the Cubism, Surrealism and abstract expressionism movements.
Peter Haas
Useful information
| View location on Google Maps | |
| Official site |
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| 10.00 am – 6.00 pm (last admission: 5.00 pm) | |
| Tuesday | |
| Standard: € 15 | |
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Basilica dei Frari
The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, usually just called the Frari, is a church to be found in the Campo dei Frari at the heart of the San Polo district. It is the largest church in the city, imposing in its brick structure and Gothic style. Distinguished Venetians are buried in the church, among which the talented painter Titian. While visiting, do not miss the beautiful Assumption of the Virgin and Pesaro Madonna (on the north wall of the nave) by Titian, the statuettes of St. Anthony of Padua and St. Agnes by Campagna, Donatello’s figure of St. John the Baptist and Pittoni’s Hagar in the desert.
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Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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| View location on Google Maps | |
| Official site |
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| 9.00 am – 6.00 pm | |
| No closing days | |
| Free entrance | |
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Scuola Grande di San Rocco
The building is the seat of a confraternity established in 1478, named after San Rocco, popularly regarded as a protector against plague. The members of the confraternity were a group of wealthy Venetian citizens. The building is next to the church of San Rocco, which houses the remains of the saint.
There are two floors with three halls: Sala Terrena, Sala Superiore, Sala dell’Albergo. Tintoretto was commissioned to provide paintings for the Scuola, and there you can find some of his best works, illustrating episodes from the New and Old Testaments. They are definitely worth seeing.
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Official site  |
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| 9.30 am – 5.30 pm (last admission: 5.00 pm) | |
| Saturday and Sunday | |
| Standard ticket: €10 | |
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Murano
Venice has many islands, among which the most famous are Murano, Burano, Torcello, Giudecca and Lido. Murano is especially famous for its glass making and glassblowing. Since furnaces presented a great danger for the city of Venice, all glassworkers were sent to Murano island, in order to protect both the city from fires and the art of glassmaking from being stolen.
There are many types of products and glass: crystal, enamelled glass (smalto), Avventurina, Millefiori, Lattimo and more. If you would like to know more (and also try your hand at this fantastic technique), visit the Museo del Vetro (glass museum).
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Pay attention to the vaporettos’ timetables, in order to not get stuck on the island. |
It is a complex of former shipyards and armouries clustered together, which was responsible for the bulk of the Venetian republic’s naval power from the late Middle Ages to the early modern period. It was one of the earliest large-scale industrial enterprises in history, made possible by the enormous quantity of employees and the streamlining of the actual production.
It was so incredible, Dante wrote about it in its Divine Comedy, and Galileo Galilei contributed to its power with his advice. Today, it is used as a headquarter of Venice’s MOSE Project, a flood defence system intended to protect Venice from the dreaded Acqua Alta phenomenon.
Zairon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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| Official site |
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| 8.00 am – 3.00 pm | |
| Saturday and Sunday | |
| Free entrance | |
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