Venice
With a profusion of domes and more than 8000 sq metres of luminous mosaics, Venice's cathedral is unforgettable. It was founded in the 9th century to…
Must-see attractions in Venice
Venice
Holding pride of place on the waterfront, this pretty Gothic confection may be an unlikely setting for the political and administrative seat of a great…
Venice
Venice's historic gallery traces the development of Venetian art from the 14th to 19th centuries, with works by all of the city's artistic superstars. The…
Venice
In medieval times this part of Cannaregio housed a getto (foundry), but it was as the designated Jewish quarter from the 16th to 19th centuries that the…
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
Venice
Baldassare Longhena's magnificent basilica is prominently positioned near the entrance to the Grand Canal, its white stones, exuberant statuary and high…
Venice
Baroque dreams come true at this Baldassare Longhena–designed Grand Canal palazzo (mansion), where a marble staircase leads to a vast gilded ballroom and…
Venice
After losing her father on the Titanic, heiress Peggy Guggenheim became one of the great collectors of the 20th century. Her palatial canalside home,…
Venice
Napoleon pulled down an ancient church to build his royal digs over Piazza San Marco, and then filled them with the riches of the doges while taking some…
San Polo & Santa Croce
Everyone wanted the commission to paint this building dedicated to St Roch, patron saint of the plague-stricken, so Tintoretto cheated: instead of…
Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta
Murano, Burano & the Northern Islands
Life choices are presented in no uncertain terms in the dazzling mosaics of the Assumption Basilica. Look ahead to a golden afterlife amid saints and a…
Venice
Commenced in 1333 but not finished until the 1430s, this vast church is similar in style and scope to the Franciscan Frari in San Polo, which was being…
Venice
Once its dominion over the high seas ended, Venice discovered the power of the high Cs, opening La Fenice in 1792. Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini staged…
Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli
Venice
This magnificent church was built between 1481 and 1489 to house Nicolò di Pietro's Madonna icon after the painting began to miraculously weep in its…
San Polo & Santa Croce
A soaring Gothic church, the Friary's assets include marquetry choir stalls, Canova's pyramid mausoleum, Bellini's achingly sweet Madonna with Child…
San Polo & Santa Croce
Venice’s main market has been whetting appetites for seven centuries, with fruit and vegetable stands abutting the rather more pungent Pescaria. To see it…
Basilica dei SS Maria e Donato
Murano, Burano & the Northern Islands
Fire-breathing is the unifying theme of Murano’s medieval church, with its astounding 12th-century gilded-glass apse mosaic of the Madonna made in Murano…
Venice
Founded in 1104, the Arsenale soon became the greatest medieval shipyard in Europe, home to 300 shipping companies employing up to 16,000 people. Capable…
Murano, Burano & the Northern Islands
Murano has been the home of Venetian glass-making since the 13th century. Today, artisans continue to ply their trade at workshops dotted around the…
Chiesa della Madonna dell’Orto
Venice
This elegantly spare 1365 brick Gothic church remains one of Venice's best-kept secrets. It was the parish church of Venetian Renaissance painter…
Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’ d’Oro
Venice
One of the most beautiful buildings on the Grand Canal, with a lacy Gothic facade, 15th-century Ca’ d’Oro is resplendent even without the original gold…
Venice
Basilica di San Marco's 99m-tall bell tower has been rebuilt twice since its initial construction in AD 888. Galileo Galilei tested his telescope here in…
Venice
Fortuna, the weathervane atop Punta della Dogana, swung Venice’s way in 2005, when bureaucratic hassles in Paris convinced art collector François Pinault…
Venice
Begun under Napoleon as the city's first public green space, these leafy gardens are now the main home of the Biennale. Around half of the gardens is open…
Scuola Dalmata di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
Venice
This 15th-century Dalmatian religious-confraternity house is dedicated to favourite Slavic saints George, Tryphon and Jerome, whose lives are captured…
Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista
San Polo & Santa Croce
One of Venice's five main religious confraternities, the lay brothers of St John the Evangelist performed works of charity but also supported the arts by…
San Polo & Santa Croce
The stately exterior of this Baldassare Longhena–designed 1710 palazzo hides two intriguing art museums that could hardly be more different: the Galleria…
Venice
This grand showpiece square beautifully encapsulates the splendour of Venice's past and its tourist-fuelled present. Flanked by the arcaded Procuratie…
Murano, Burano & the Northern Islands
Burano, with its cheery pastel-coloured houses, is renowned for its handmade lace, which once graced the decolletage and ruffs of European aristocracy…
Murano, Burano & the Northern Islands
Torcello, the republic's original island settlement, was largely abandoned due to malaria and now counts only around 14 permanent residents. Its mosaic…
Venice
The free-standing bell tower, visible from the square behind, leans disconcertingly, but this brick Gothic church has stood tall since the 13th century…
Venice
Find design inspiration at the palatial home studio of art nouveau designer Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo (1871–1949), whose uncorseted Delphi-goddess frocks…
San Polo & Santa Croce
A superb feat of engineering, Antonio da Ponte’s 1592 Istrian stone span took three years and 250,000 gold ducats to construct. Adorned with stone reliefs…
Venice
The Grimani family built their Renaissance palazzo (mansion) in 1568 to showcase the extraordinary Graeco-Roman sculpture collection of Cardinal Giovanni…
Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia
San Polo & Santa Croce
Never mind the doge: insatiable curiosity rules Venice, and inside the former Fondaco dei Turchi (Turkish Trading House) it runs wild. The adventure…
Chiesa di San Nicolò dei Mendicoli
Venice
Other churches might be grander, but none is more quintessentially Venetian than this 12th-century church with a history of service to the poor. Its…
Chiesa di San Francesco della Vigna
Venice
Designed and built by Jacopo Sansovino, with a facade by Palladio, this enchanting Franciscan church is one of Venice’s most underappreciated attractions…
Venice
Antonio Scarpignano’s relatively austere 1508–48 facade creates a sense of false modesty at this neighbourhood church. The interior is adorned with floor…
Venice
In 1869 Conte Giovanni Querini Stampalia made a gift of his ancestral 16th-century palazzo (mansion) to the city on the forward-thinking condition that…
Venice
The two hardest-working men in Venice stand duty on a rooftop around the clock, and wear no pants. The 'Do Mori' (Two Moors) exposed to the elements atop…
Venice
Accessed by a narrow staircase leading up from Basilica di San Marco's atrium, this museum transports visitors to the level of the church's rear mosaics…
