Venice Travel Guide

Venice, Italy — Where to Go

Venice Tourist Information

Azienda di Promozione Turistica (APT, Tourist Board of Venice)
Giardini Ex Reali, San Marco (Venice Pavilion)
Tel: (041) 522 5150.
Website: www.turismovenezia.it
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1730.

Other tourist offices are located at the railway station and on the Lido, at Viale Santa Maria Elisabetta.

HelloVenezia (tel: (041) 2424; www.hellovenezia.com) can also provide information on transport, cultural events etc. in Venice. It has English-speaking operators.

Venice Sightseeing

The VeniceCard is available in 12-hour, 48-hour and week-long variations. It offers free public transport, entry to many museums and galleries, as well as shopping discounts. The VeniceCard is available from railway stations, tourist information offices and online (www.hellovenezia.com).

The Chorus Pass (tel: (041) 275 0462; www.chorusvenezia.org) includes entry to 16 of Venice's churches, including the spectacular Frari church and Palladio's Santa Sede Redentore. The pass lasts for one year, with proceeds going towards the upkeep of some of Venice's most historic parish churches. This pass is available for purchase at the tourist office, which will also provide a full list of the participating churches and their locations, and from the churches themselves.

Venice Sightseeing

Key Attractions in Venice, Italy

BasilicadiSanMarco(StMark'sBasilica)
St Mark's Square was memorably described by Napoleon as the ‘drawing room of Europe'. The golden Byzantine St Mark's Basilica was founded in the ninth century, as a shrine for the relics of St Mark. Built on a plan of a Greek Cross, its Eastern appearance is enhanced by golden mosaics, originally created by craftsmen from the Byzantine court at Ravenna.

The interior, lit by the expanse of golden mosaics, houses many of Venice's greatest treasures. In the chapel north of the main altar is the venerated icon of the Madonna Nicopeia. The golden screen behind the high altar - the crypt in which St Mark is supposed to be buried - is the Palad'Oro. Decked with sapphires, emeralds and rubies and inset with enamels from Constantinople, it was ordered by Pietro Orseolo, the Doge who was responsible for the rebuilding of the Basilica. Before leaving St Mark's, visitors should pause to admire the 12th-century pavement, a resplendent mosaic of glass and marble.

Piazza San Marco
Tel: (041) 270 8311.
Website: www.basilicasanmarco.it
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0945-1700, Sun 1400-1700 (Apr-Oct); Mon-Sat 0945-1700, Sun 1400-1600 (Nov-Mar).
Admission charge.

PalazzoDucale(Doge'sPalace)
The Doges' Palace (once home to the elected leader of Venice, the Doge, as well as the city's political nerve center) is a must-see. A merging of Islamic and Gothic styles, the facade dates from 1365.

The interior is more Renaissance in style, dating mainly from the 16th century. The first floor is predominantly made up of the Ducal apartments, all but empty except for some exemplary paintings by Titian and Bellini. It is on the upper floors that the business of government took place and it is here that Tintoretto and Veronese were commissioned to create new paintings to highlight the wealth of Venice.

But it is the Chamber of the Great Council (Sala del Maggior Consiglio) that holds the palace's most dramatic work, Tintoretto's Vision of Paradise. Tintoretto junior is also responsible for the frieze of portraits of the first 76 Doges, made memorable by the image of Marin Falier, the only Doge ever to attempt to install himself as absolute ruler.

Riva degli Schiavoni, San Marco
Tel: (041) 271 5911.
Website: www.museiciviciveneziani.it
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1900 (Apr-Oct); 0900-1700 (Nov-Mar).
Admission charge.

Rialto Bridge
Venice is historically centerd on Rialto Island, the name of which is derived from the Latin rivus altus, meaning high bank. In the 10th century, a provisions market developed spontaneously on the adjacent island and so, in 1264, the first wooden bridge linking the two landmasses was built. This wooden bridge collapsed in 1444, from the weight of crowds watching a wedding procession. It was replaced in 1588, by Antonio da Ponte's design for the single-stone arched bridge, which beat off proposals by Palladio and Michelangelo. Da Ponte's bridge retained the covered shops of the original - today the haunt of tacky tourist traps and hawk-eyed goldsmiths, but once home to Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Visitors may note how the bridge crosses the Grand Canal at an angle, in order to align with the axis of the Ruga degli Orefici (Goldsmiths' Road). Until 1854, this was the only point at which the Grand Canal could be crossed on foot.

Ponte di Rialto, near Piazzale Roma
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours.
Free admission.

Galleria dell'Accademia
Many of Venice's greatest paintings remain in the buildings for which they were created, but the most important art gallery, the Accademia, is still worth a visit, especially as its exhibition space has recently been considerably enlarged. Housed in the former church of Santa Maria della Carita and the adjoining Scuola, the collection first opened in 1750.

Oils were the favorite medium of the Venetian masters. Frescoes, popular on the mainland, were unsuited to the damp, salty climate of the lagoon and soon perished. Instead, oils painted on wood or canvas (long used in Northern Europe) were exploited to new limits, with the artists demonstrating an unusual sensitivity to color and light, no doubt partly influenced by the play of light on the lagoon. The small paintings in rooms 4 and 5 are some of the finest in the collection. Giorgione's Tempesta, depicting a naked mother and child sheltering under a stormy sky against the ruins of an ancient city, is full of mystery.

The larger canvases by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese in room 10 should not be missed either. Titian painted the Pieta for his own tomb, demonstrating his extraordinary ability to create light with his palette. Veronese's bawdy picture, entitled Feast in the House of Levi, was originally painted as The Last Supper but the artist was forced to change the title after charges of indecorum. Visitors should allow time for room 21, to admire the drama and color of the nine broad canvases in which Carpaccio has dramatically staged the Life of St Ursula.

Campo della Carita, Dorsoduro 1050
Tel: (041) 520 0345.
Website: www.gallerieaccademia.org
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0815-1915, Mon 0815-1400.
Admission charge.

Basilica dei Frari (Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari)
The glorious gothic Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, constructed around 1330, is primarily associated with the name of Titian, Venice's painter son who is buried here, alongside the city's celebrated sculptor, Antonio Canova. Titian made his reputation and crowned his early years by painting the huge altar piece, The Assumption of the Virgin, for the Franciscan brothers of the Frari in 1518. Titian also executed the painting over the Pesaro family altar in the north aisle. The inclusion of the flag and Turk in the painting alludes to Bishop Pesaro's victory over the Turks at Santa Maura. Titian's tomb, located in the south aisle, faces the large marble pyramid created for Canova, depicting St Mark's lion paying homage to the dead sculptor. Ironically, the design, executed by Canova's pupils, was based on Canova's own plans for a new monument to Titian.

San Polo 3072
Tel: (041) 272 8611.
Website: www.basilicadeifrari.it
Opening hours: Mon-Sat 0900-1800, Sun 1300-1800.
Admission charge.

Scuola Grande di San Rocco (School of St Roch)
The renown of the School of St Roch, one of the many lay fraternities established in Venice for charitable works, is the series of masterful canvases by Jacopo Tintoretto that decorate its interior. Founded in 1478, the school was dedicated to St Roch, following a particularly vicious outbreak of plague. Tintoretto won the commission to decorate the entire Scuola in 1564 and spent the next 23 years doing so.

The ground floor holds a series of large canvasses depicting scenes from the Life of the Virgin (1582-1587). In the upper hall, connected by Scarpagnino's staircase, are representations from the Old Testament on the ceiling and New Testament on the walls (1570-1581). The art critic and famous Victorian thinker, John Ruskin, reserved his greatest praise for the Sala dell'Albergo (1564-1567), where the chapter met. On entering the room, the visitor is confronted with the stunning expanse of Tintoretto's Crucifixion along the breadth of the opposite wall, one of the world's great works of art.

Campo San Rocco, San Polo 3054
Tel: (041) 523 4864.
Website: www.scuolagrandesanrocco.it
Opening hours: Daily 0900-1730 (Apr-Oct); 1000-1700 (Nov-Mar).
Admission charge.

Scuola Dalmata di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni (Dalmatian School of St George the Slav)
During the Middle Ages, the large Dalmatian (Schiavoni means ‘Slav') population in Venice provided laborers for building ships and sailors for the Venetian fleets. Forming a charitable guild in 1451, they moved their seat to the School of St George in 1480, under the patronage of the Knights of Malta. Vittore Carpaccio, himself of Istrian origin, painted a series of celebrated and brilliantly imaginative canvases, between 1502 and 1508. Located in a dark hall on the ground floor since 1551, the canvases depict scenes from the lives of the guild's patron saints - St George, St Tryphone and St Jerome.

Based on tales from The Golden Legend, the images depict St George killing the dragon, St Jerome welcoming the lion into the monastery, the funeral of St Jerome and the revelation of the death of St Jerome to St Augustine. Carpaccio's canvases demand attention through a combination of drama and extraordinary detail.

Calle dei Furlani 3259/A, Castello
Tel: (041) 522 8828.
Opening: Tues-Sat 0930-1230 and 1530-1830, Sun 0930-1230 (Apr-Oct); Tues-Sat 1000-1230 and 1500-1800, Sun 1000-1230 (Nov-Mar).
Admission charge.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Peggy Guggenheim's collection of modern art is probably the most distinguished in Italy. The wealthy American heiress (a generous benefactor who helped promote Jackson Pollock amongst others) built up her collection between 1938 and 1947. Following the exhibition of the collection at the 1948 Venice Biennale, she bought the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, where she lived until her death in 1979, leaving her estate to the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation. The collection spans Cubism, European Abstraction, Surrealism and early American Abstract Expressionism, with works by a wide variety of artists, including Pollock, Picasso, Kandinsky and Dalí. The sculpture garden is particularly fine and enjoys lovely views over the Grand Canal.

Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, 704 Dorsoduro
Tel: (041) 240 5411.
Website: www.guggenheim-venice.it
Opening hours: Wed-Mon 1000-1800.
Admission charge.

Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs)
The Bridge of Sighs offered the last view of the world that many of the prisoners condemned by the Divine Republic's judicial system would ever see. It links the Palazzo Ducale to the prisons and its distinctive limestone construction, appealing architecture and rich history have seen it become a key Venetian tourist sight that has been immortalized by poets and composers including Lord Byron.

Riva degli Schiavoni, San Marco
Opening hours: Daily 24 hours.
Free admission.

Further Distractions

TorcelloIsland
Torcello appears almost deserted and it is difficult to believe that, between the seventh and 13th centuries, it was home to a thriving community of 30,000, who prospered from the wool and salt trade. The town's decline began in the 14th century, when silt from the rivers turned the waterways around the island into swampland and brought malaria to the community. A visit to this ghost town provides a fascinating glimpse into the early beginnings and architecture of the Venetian lagoons. The main square can be reached by crossing the Devil's Bridge, the only medieval bridge remaining in Venice, allegedly built by the devil in a single night.

The austere facade of the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, linked by a portico to the Church of Santa Fosca and the Baptistery, conceals lavish mosaic wall coverings. Founded in the seventh century and rebuilt in the ninth and 11th, the complex pre-dates St Mark's Basilica by two centuries. In the central apse, there is a beautiful representation of the Virgin and the Mystic Lamb, inspired by works in Ravenna. The most magnificent mosaic is on the wall over the main door and is an enormous composition depicting Christ and the final judgement. Torcello also has its own provincial museum, Museo Provinciale Di Torcello, dedicated to the island's history and evolution.

Torcello Island

Museo Provinciale Di Torcello
Piazza Torcello
Tel: (041) 730 761.
Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1030-1730 (Mar-Oct); Tues-Sun 1000-1700 (Nov-Feb).
Admission charge.

Burano Island
Burano sees its fair share of tourists in the summer months and many Venetians descend on this lagoon island at weekends. But on a quiet, sunny weekday, the island is nothing short of idyllic. Many of its narrow canals are lined with brightly painted houses, said to have been painted originally by local fishermen, so that they could find their way home through the murky lagoon mists. The main industry today is tourism, which is fuelled by the production of traditional lace, on sale from many outlets around the island. Once visitors have purchased the obligatory lace souvenir, the only other pursuits are idling around the charming canals and lazing away the day in the waterfront cafés and restaurants. Il Gatto Nero (tel: (041) 730 120; www.gattonero.com) is a popular trattoria serving food every bit as good as Burano's more expensive and more tourist-orientated restaurants.

Burano Island