Place to not miss

Located in Campo San Samuele and overlooking the Canal Grande, Palazzo Grassi presents major temporary exhibitions, some of which are based in whole or in part on François Pinault's Collection. The building is the last palazzo on the Grand Canal having been built after the collapse of Venice Republic in 1797. Its nobility highlights the historical importance of the collection's masterpieces, that may well feel at home here, in the dialogue between Neoclassical architecture and modern renovation solutions created by architect Tadao Ando.

The Rialto Bridge (Ponte di Rialto) is the oldest of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal. After the collapse of the previous structure (a wooden bridge built in 1255), the actual bridge was built in stone between 1588 and 1591 and, until the construction of the Accademia Bridge (1854), it remained the only means of crossing the Grand Canal on foot. The present stone bridge, a single span designed by Antonio da Ponte, was finally completed in 1591. It is similar to the wooden bridge that succeeded, with three walkways: two along the outer balustrades, and a wider central walkway leading between two rows of small shops that today sell jewelry, linens, Murano glass, and other items for the tourist trade. The engineering of the bridge was considered so audacious that architect Vincenzo Scamozzi predicted future ruin. The bridge has defied its critics to become one of the architectural icons of Venice.

The Doge's Palace was the seat of the government, the Palace of Justice and the residence of the Doge of Venice (the Doge was the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice - from 697 to 1797). The existing Gothic palace’s construction owes its appearance to the building work of the 14th and 15th century. The rooms are ornate with allegorical historical paintings that embellish the walls and, in the past, used to impress visiting ambassadors and dignitaries. When the Republic fell in 1797, its role inevitably changed and. Venice was firstly subjected to French rule, then to Austrian, and ultimately, in 1866, it became part of a united Italy. The palace opened as a museum in 1923.

The Teatro La Fenice (Theatre "The Phoenix") is one of the most famous and renowned Italian theatre, and in the history of opera as a whole. Especially in the 19th century, the name of La Fenice was linked with great Italian composer; operatic premières of Verdi’s “La Traviata” and Rossini’s Tancredi and Semiramide took place here. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of three theatres to fire, the first in 1774, the second in 1836 and the third in 1996. After important works to rebuilt it, the theatre re-opened in November 2004.

The Church of Santo Stefano is a large church founded in the 13th century, rebuilt in the 14th century and radically altered again early in the 15th century, when the fine gothic doorway and the ship's keel roof were added. The interior is also Gothic and has three apses. During this time the Church, in reason of the violence that took place within its walls, has been deconsecrated six times. Close by the Church is the Campo Santo Stefano, one of the most spacious of Venice. In the past this campo housed bullfights and celebrations during the Carnival festivities; today, especially during the good seasons, children come here to play and tourist and Venetians enjoy the bars and restaurants to have a drink and taste locals dishes.

Once owned by the Pesaro family, this Gothic building in Campo San Beneto was transformed by Mariano Fortuny (stylist, painter, sculptor, set designer, photographer and artist ) into his own atelier. Bequeathed to the city by Fortuny’s widow, today the building maintains the structure created by Fortuny. The collection within the museum comprises an extensive number of pieces which reflect the various fields investigated by the artist, such as painting (around 150 paintings which illustrate the various phases of the career of the artist), light (the main focus of Fortuny’s work), photography (comprising works from 1850 to the Second World War, in a rich variety of styles) and fabrics and fashion design.

St. Mark's Basilica, the most important Church of Venice, is one of the best-known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture. The existing Church, organized on a Greek cross plan and crowned with five domes, has been designed by unknown architect during 1063-1094 and continued to be remodeled during the years. Built as the Doge’s private chapel for State ceremonies, in 1807 it becomes the Cathedral of the city. Inside, the Church appears as an opulent blend of Eastern and Western influences, with marble, carvings and mosaics.

Mercerie (composed by the Merceria dell’Orologio, the Merceria di San Zulian, the Merceria del Capitello and the Merceria di San Salvatore) is the main commercial thoroughfare of Venice, connecting Piazza San Marco to Rialto. Since de first years of the Republic of Venice, this area housed shops and stores providing precious goods that arrived from distant countries, as tissues, spices and perfumes. Today the Mercerie still is the commercial heart of the city, proposing jewelry, fashion, footwear, glass and other crafts.

The Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo (also called the Palazzo Contarini Minelli dal Bovolo) is a small palazzo built in the 15th Century by the Contarini Family, also known as “the Philosophers”. This building is best known for its impressive external multi-arch spiral staircase, also called Scala Contarini del Bovolo (in Venetian dialect “bovolo” means "snail shell "), added in 1499. The staircase leads to an arcade, providing an impressive view of the city rooftops; since February 2016 it is possible to visit the palazzo.

The Rialto area is well known for its famous market, open every morning (7h30 AM - 12h AM) except from Sunday. Organized around two main poles (the greengrocer market on the Erberia and the fish market on the Campo della Pescheria), the market is animated by the continuous passage of people, boats and carriage of local products (fruits, vegetables and fish). To see it all in full swing it’s important to arrive early in the morning, as by noon the vendors are packing up. Many typical trattorie and osterie can be found around that area, serving local wines and simple but delicious dishes.

Campo San Polo is the largest campo in Venice and the second largest Venetian public square after Piazza San Marco. Originally dedicated to grazing and agriculture, in 1493 it was entirely paved. It has traditionally been host to spectacular events (such as bullfight, mass sermons and masked balls). Today this wide open space is a heaven for local youngsters, who ride bikes, rollerskate or to kids who play football. The square remains also one of the most popular Carnival venues and is also used for open-air concerts and screenings during the Venice Film Festival.

The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (known by all Venetians as the Frari – a corruption of “frati”, meanings brothers), it is one of the greatest churches in Venice, and also the biggest of the city. The church, dedicated to the Assumption, is built of brick, and is one of the city's three notable churches built in the Italian Gothic style. After the construction of a first church (1250-1338), the Franciscans almost immediately began the works of replacing it with a larger building, the current church, which took over a century to build. The campanile (belltower), the second tallest in the city after that of San Marco, was completed in 1396. The interior contains masterpieces by Titian, Bellini, Donatello, the famous “Canova’s Tomb”, and also the only rood screen still in place in Venice.

The Venetian Arsenal, founded in the 12th century and enlarged in the 14th to the 16th, was employed to construct, equip and repair the great Venetian galleys. Organized as a complex with workshops, warehouses, factories, foundries and docks, the Arsenal developed methods of mass-production and provision a newly built galley with standardized parts on a production-line basis not seen again until the Industrial Revolution. Today the area is under military administration and for the most part closed to the public, even if some parts (such as the “Corderie”, the old rope factory) are used as exhibition centre, mostly for the Biennale.

The old Church of San Pietro di Castello is located in one of the earliest settlements of Venice. Probably founded in the 7th century, it became the Cathedral of Venice from 1451 to 1807 (when San Marco took its place); for this reason, in the mid-16th century, the Church was renovated following a design of Palladio. The church's ecclesiastical importance was exhibit by the great dome and by the impressive tower bell in with Istrian stone (the first example of this seen in Venice).

Founded in the early 9th century and rebuilt in the 1170s, the ancient Church of San Zaccaria was replaced by a Gothic one between 1458 and 1515 (the remains of the original church still stands, as the present church was built beside it). The original architect, Antonio Gambello, started the building in the Gothic style, but the upper part of the facade and of the interior were completed by Mauro Codussi in early Renaissance style seventy years later. Nearly every wall is covered with paintings by 17th and 18th century artists, including works by Giovanni Bellini, Tintoretto, Anthony van Dyck and Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo.

The Basilica of San Giovanni e Paolo is one of the largest churches in the city. This huge brick edifice, designed in the Italian Gothic style, was built by Dominican friars in the late 13th to early 14th, and since the 15th century hosted the funeral services of all of Venice's doges (the doge was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice between 697 and 1797). For this reason, the vast interior contains many funerary monuments (twenty-five doges are buried in the church) and many outstanding works, executed by the Lombardi family and other leading sculptors of the day. Next to the church is located the prominent Renaissance Equestrian Statue of the famous commander Bartolomeo Colleoni (1483), by the Florentine Andrea del Verrocchio.

San Francesco della Vigna is, along with Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, one of two Franciscan churches in Venice. The site, originally a vineyard (Vigna), was donated in 1253 for construction of a monastery. The first church, a triple-nave Gothic church by Marino da Pisa, was rebuilt in 1534 following a Renaissance style project by Jacopo Sansovino (1554). In 1562 the commission passed to Andrea Palladio, who design an innovative façade in white marble (1562-72). The interior of the church contains several works of art (paintings by Giovanni Bellini and by Paolo Veronese, a sculpture by Alessandro Vittoria), as the chapels of some of the most prominent aristocratic families in Venice.

The Venice Giardini is an area of parkland that hosts the Venice Biennale Festival of Arts and of Architecture. The gardens, created by Napoleon Bonaparte, contain 30 permanent pavilions, each one designed in a distinct architectural style by leading architects of the 20th century (including Carlo Scarpa, Alvar Aalto and James Stirling). Each pavillon is allocated to a particular nation, and during the Biennale they are used to display the nations’ works of art.

The Bridge of Sighs is an enclosed bridge designed by Antonio Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge) and built in 1600. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the New Prison to the offices of the feared State Inquisitors in the Doge's Palace. Made of white limestone and with stone bars on the windows, the view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. According to the legend the bridge name comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells.

During the fifteenth century, developments in Venice’s commercial activities led to the Sea Customs House, which had previously been near the Arsenal, being transferred to the western point of Dorsoduro. The building as it stands today was completed in 1682, five years before the nearby Basilia of the Salute. Architect Giuiseppe Benoni’s work is characterised by the tower surmounted by a sculptural group representing two Atlases lifting a golden bronze sphere on the top of which is Fortune, which, by turning, indicates the direction of the wind. The building continued to be a customs house, and thus intrinsically linked to the city’s history, until the 1980s. After twenty years of abandonment, the Venice city council announced a tender to transform it into a contemporary art space. The Pinault Collection was awarded the tender in 2007, and entrusted the restoration of the imposing complex to architect Tadao Ando. In June 2009, after 14 months of work, Punta della Dogana reopened to the public with the exhibition "Mapping the Studio".

The main aim of the Foundation is to promote art and work of Vedova and highlight his importance in the history of 20th century art through a series of initiatives, such as studies, research projects, analyses, exhibitions, itineraries and educational areas, conferences, scholarships and prizes.

The Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia was founded in 1750. The first director was Giovanni Battista Piazzetta; Gianbattista Tiepolo became the first president after his return from Würzburg. It was one of the first institutions to study art restoration starting in 1777 with Pietro Edwards, and formalised by 1819 as a course. In 1807 the academy was re-founded by Napoleonic decree. The name was changed from Veneta Academia di Pittura, Scultura e Architettura to Accademia Reale di Belle Arti, "royal academy of fine arts", and the academy was moved to the Palladian complex of the Scuola della Carità, where the Gallerie dell'Accademia are still housed. The collections of the Accademia were first opened to the public on 10 August 1817. The Gallerie dell’Accademia contains masterpieces of Venetian painting up to the 18th century, generally arranged chronologically though some thematic displays are evident.

A “squero” is an historical gondola and boats workshop, and this name comes from the word “squara”, which indicates the team of artisans involved in the construction of a boat. The squero is surrounded by Tyrolian-looking wooden structures (a true rarity in this stone city built on water, and an oddity shared by most squeri) that are home to the multiple-generational owners and original workshops for the traditional boats.

In 1949 Peggy Guggenheim (former wife of artist Max Ernst and a niece of the mining magnate, Solomon R. Guggenheim) bought the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (an 18th unachieved building known as the “Unfinished Palace”) as her personal home. Collector, dealer and patron of arts, since 1951 Peggy Guggenheim opened the doors of her home to expose her outstanding art collection, created mostly between 1938 and 1946. The collection include prominent Italian futurists and American modernists masterpieces, and embrace also Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract expressionism. Nowadays the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is one of the most visited museum of Venice.

Campo San Barnaba is a quietly appealing campo (square), with wine-bars, a traditional vegetable barge on the canal side, and the neighborhood's church San Barnaba (today hosting an exposition of “Da Vinci’s inventions models”). This campo has been featured in numerous films, including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where it served as the exterior to the library. Close to the campo is located one of the several “Ponti dei Pugni” (bridges of fists) of the city, distinguished by two pairs of footprints set in white stone on top of the bridge. These mark the starting positions for the fights between rival factions : formerly there were no balustrades, and contenders hurled each other straight into the water. The battles became so bloodthirsty that they were banned in 1705.

This richly furnished Baroque palace is one of the most splendid in Venice, and also one of the few in the city that opens its doors to the public. Since 1934 it has housed a vast collections of 18th-century Venetian art, including paintings (such as works of Giandomenico Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Cima da Conegliano, Pietro Longhi), collections of antique furniture, and also a fine collection of Venetian glass. Started in 1649 by the family Bon, the original project was conceived by Baldassarre Longhena, one of the most important proponent of Venetian Baroque (a style slowly replacing the Renaissance and Palladian architectural style). The palazzo was not finished until 1756 by the architect Giorgio Massari, who had adhered to the original plans of Longhena, with the addition of some concepts of his own which reflected the change in architecture between the palazzo's conception and its completion 100 years later.

The Fondamenta delle Zattere (in Venice a “fondamenta” is the bank for pedestrians along a canal) is a 1.4 km long quayside looking across to the island of Giudecca. The name derives from the rafts (“zattere” in Italian) made of and carrying timber from the Republic’s forests. Oriented to the south, this fondamenta is one of the Venetian’s favorite places to have a walk on a sunny day, and the perfect place to contemplate a romantic sunset over the lagoon. Several bars, restaurants and ice-cream shops occupy the waterside, offering the possibility of a tasty pause along the way.

Santa Maria della Salute is a church built between 1631 and 1687 and designed in the fashionable baroque style by Baldassare Longhena. The church was built in thanksgiving for the deliverance of the city from the plague of 1630, hence the name “salute”, meaning health and salvation. Every 21 November, in celebration, worshippers approach across a bridge of boats that span the mouth of the Grand Canal. The church is located on the narrow finger of Punta della Dogana, between the Grand Canal and the Giudecca Canal, making the church visible when entering the Piazza San Marco from the water. The dome of the Salute was an important addition to the Venice skyline and soon became emblematic of the city, inspiring artists like Canaletto, J. M. W. Turner, John Singer Sargent, and Francesco Guardi.

The “scuole” were peculiarly Venetian institution. Founded mainly in the 13th century, they were lay confraternities existing for the charitable benefit of the neediest groups of society, the professions or resident ethnic minorities. Built in 1663 as the headquarters of the Carmelite confraternity, the present Scuola building was designed by Francesco Caustello and Baldassare Longhena. In the 1740s Giambattista Tiepolo was commissioned to decorate the ceiling of the hall. In 1807, the confraternity was suppressed by Napoleon's anticlerical decrees. The Austrians allowed the Scuola to reopen, and it continues activities today, though mostly cultural activities.

The palazzo Mocenigo is a large building in gothic style, extensively rebuilt at the start of the 17th century. From this time, the palazzo was the residence of the San Stae branch of the Mocenigo family, one of the most important Venetian families and counting seven doges between its members (the doge was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice between 697 and 1797). Bequeathed to the city council in 1954, this building gives the opportunity of visiting a “palazzo” preserved more or less as it was in the 18th century. Today the building houses the Museo del Tessuto e del Costume (Museum of Textiles and Costumes), which contains antique fabrics and splendid made costumes.

The Fondaco dei Turchi is a Veneto-Byzantine style palazzo constructed in the first half of the 13th century; at that time it was one of the largest palazzo on the Grand Canal. From 1621 to 1838, the fondaco served as a restricted living quarter for Venice's Ottoman Turkish population, and integrates home, warehouse, and market for the Turkish traders. As commerce with the orient declined further, the structure fell in a very bad state until, roused by Ruskin’s passionate interest, it was completely restored between 1860 and 1880. Today, the Palazzo houses the Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia (Natural History Museum of Venice), with historical collections of flora and fauna, fossils, and an aquarium.

The Ca' Pesaro is a Baroque marble palace facing the Grand Canal; originally designed by Baldassarre Longhena in the mid-17th century, its construction started in 1659 and was completed by Gian Antonio Gaspari in 1710. Bequested to the city in 1898, in 1902 the City Council decided to use the palace to host the Modern Art municipal collection, which had started in 1897, when the second Venice Biennale was held. Shortly afterwards, between 1908 and 1924, it was also used to host the Bevilacqua La Masa exhibitions, which, in lively contrast with the Venice Biennale, favored a generation of young artists, including Boccioni, Casorati, Juti Ravenna and Arturo Martini. The collection was enriched over the years by further acquisitions and donations. Today the Galleria d’Arte Moderna features a permanent exhibition of work by artists such Bonnard, Matisse, Mirò, Klee, Kandinsky, in addiction to works by Italian artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. The upper floor of the Palazzo is dedicated to the Oriental Art Museum, with a collection of Chinese and Japanese artifacts collected by the Count of Bardi during his 19th- century travels.

The Chiesa di San Giacomo dall'Orio is a church founded in the 9th century and rebuilt in 1225. During the years the building has been repeatedly modified (including a major renovation in 1532), so that now it appears as a mix of several architecture styles: the campanile, basilica ground plan and Byzantine columns survive from 13th century, the ship’s keel roof and the columns are from Gothic period, and the apses are Renaissance. Two of the columns were brought back from the Fourth Crusade, after the sacking of Constantinople.

The Venetian Ghetto was the area of Venice in which Jews were compelled to live under the Venetian Republic. It was instituted on 29 March 1516, and definitely abolished in 1866. The quarter was cut off by wide canals, and connected to the city by water gates. En reasons of the increasing number of its population, the ghetto spread its limits several time (the Ghetto Vecchio in 1541 and the Ghetto Nuovissimo in 1633). The ghetto was home to a large number of Jews with different ethnic identity; for this reasons separate synagogues existed for the German (the Scuola Grande Tedesca), Italian (the Scuola Italiana), Spanish and Portuguese (the Scuola Spagnola), and Levantine Sephardi communities (The Scuola Levantina). A fifth one, the Scuola Canton, was built as a private synagogue. Even if today only few Jews live in the Ghetto, the quarter has not lost his character, and it is animated by kosher food shops, Jewish bakeries and restaurants, and several other shops. The terms “ghetto” has an unknown origin, but it is from the Venetian Ghetto that the English word "ghetto" is derived.

The church, erected in the mid-14th century by the now-defunct religious order the "Humiliati", was initially dedicated to St. Christopher, patron saint of travellers, to protect the boatmen who ferried passengers to the island in the northern lagoon. The dedication was changed in the early 15th century, following the discovery of a miraculous statue of the Madonna in a nearby vegetable garden (“orto” in italian). Inside the church it’s possible to admire the pentagonal apse decorated by paintings by Tintoretto (who is buried in the church), the painting St. John Baptist and Saints by Cima da Conegliano, and a notable St. Agnes by Tintoretto. The Renaissance Valier Chapel once housed a small Madonna with Child by Giovanni Bellini (1481), stolen in 1993.

Ca' d'Oro (correctly Palazzo Santa Sofia) is one of the older palaces on the Grand Canal, known as Ca' d'Oro ("golden house") due to the gilt and polychrome external decorations which once adorned its walls. Commissioned by the Contarini family (who provided Venice with eight Doges - the doge was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice between 697 and 1797), the palace was built between 1428 and 1430. During the years the palazzo suffered many changes of fortune (and of ownership), which caused barbaric renovations. In 1894, the palace was finally rescued by Baron Giorgio Franchetti, who restored it to its former glory and bequeathed it to the Italian State in 1915. Today the palazzo hosts the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca' d'Oro and features works by artists such Andrea Mantegna, Carpaccio, Lombardo, Sansovino, Titian.

Santa Maria dei Miracoli, also known as the "marble church", it is one of the best examples of the early Venetian Renaissance including colored marble, a false colonnade on the exterior walls (pilasters), and a semicircular pediment. Built between 1481 and 1489 by Pietro Lombardo to house a miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary, the façade is decorated with various shades of marble, and the interior is crowned by a barrel-vaulted ceiling. The church has been recently the object of an important restoration program.

The Church of San Giobbe is a 15th-century church located in a remote campo on the south bank of the Cannaregio canal, near the Ponte dei Tre Archi. It is one of the five votive churches built in Venice after an onset of plague. Between 1450 and 1470 the early gothic structure was modified by Antonio Gambello and (when work began again in 1470) completed by the sculptor and architect Pietro Lombardo, who added Renaissance elements to its design and made it one of the first examples of Renaissance architecture in the city.

The Fondamenta degli Ormesini – Fondamenta della Misericordia (in Venice a “fondamenta” is the bank for pedestrians along a canal) is a wide quayside along the “Rio della Misericordia”, one of the three straight canals created in the Cannareggio sestriere (the sestiere is a district of Venice; the word derives from the figure six, Venice having been cut up in six quarters) during the middle-ages to drain the marshy lands. Even if slightly off the busiest and touristic itineraries of Venice, along this fondamenta several small grocery shop and simple local bars and trattorias can be found; on summer evenings these fondamentas become one of the most favorite destinations for Venetians.