THESE ARE THE TOP 10 PLACES TO VISIT IN VENICE IF YOU COME FOR THE FIRST TIME
Venice has a big offer in term of cultural heritage, such as museums, churches, palaces, charming bridges, squares and alleys. A rare amount of art which doesn’t help in planning what to visit when you come for the first time into Venice. This is a brief guide to make your own priority, planning how much time to spend in the city, and also useful suggestions to enjoy the places without waiting too long in the line.
CRITERIA I USED TO CHOOSE THE LIST OF THE TOP 10 PLACES TO VISIT IN VENICE
This list is based on personal opinions, following anyway these criteria:
LIST OF THE TOP 10 PLACES TO VISIT IN VENICE:
1- SAINT MARK’S SQUARE
It’s the main attraction of he city. Everybody goes there the first… available minute after depositing luggage in the hotel. A marvellous place which you should enjoy after the sunset, and even more during sunrise, when the beautiful colors of the magic palaces are kissed by the first rays of the sun. Remember not to walk in the middle of the square with a sandwich in your hands it would be an invitation for the seagull to jump on it. Remember also that feeding pigeons, sitting on the floor and wearing swimweare or bare-chested is forbidden by city law.
Sain Mark’s Square
2- SAINT MARK’S BASILICA
The oldest building in Venice, 900 years of history. An enchanting Romanesque Byzantine style architecture, surmounted by gothic motifs. Especially known for its famous golden mosaics, decorating the entire ceiling and part of the walls (85,000 square feet, 8.000 square meters covered) The second most visited monument in all Italy with an average of 5,500,000 visitors per year sometimes has a long line to get in, we provide a skip the line entrance on our tour.
Mosaics of Saint Mark
3- DOGE’S PALACE
It was the lavish center of the political power of the Republic of Venice. Nowadays the most visited museum in Venice. Dozens of rooms decorated by Renaissance paintings, wooden frames carved by golden leafs, but also the sinister cells of the ancient prisons, introduced by the famous passage trough the Bridge of Sighs. Also here a skip the line entrance if you choose our dedicated tour
The Doge’s Palace of Venice
4- RIALTO BRIDGE AND MARKETPLACE AREA
For many centuries the only bridge to cross the Grand Canal. For sure now the most famous one among the 400 bridges of Venice. It connects the marketplace area, the former economic center of the city, with St Mark, the former political center. The nowadays Rialto’s marketplace is the most peuliar and colorful area, also a good place for some shopping, or for a tavern crawl with us.
Rialto fish market
5- GRAND CANAL AND LITTLE CANALS BOAT RIDE
Venice is a city built over islands where in the past people were moving mostly by boat. When a complete bridge system wasn’t built yet the streets were water-streets and the Grand Canal was the main boulevard. So a little canals and Grand Canal boat ride means visitng the original main facade of the buildings, enjoying the water scale of the city. We often include boat rides on our tour
Rialto in the morning
6- MURANO, BURANO AND TORCELLO EXCURSION
This is one of the best investment of time and money you could do in Venice. Murano provides the most genuine and famous local production, the glass making furnaces. Torcello is the Venice before Venice, the roots of the lagoon settlement. Burano looks like a village for toy dolls. This is the related excursion tour.
A view of Burano
7- SCALA DEL BOVOLO
The Snail Staricase (Scala del Bovolo in local language) is located on a hidden dead end, so one of the best preserved secret of our off the beaten walk. Recently restored and reopen to the public, to see the view from the top of the tower is probably one of the most romantic things you can do in one of the most romantic city in the world. It’s also my “personal” monument as I grew up on the nearby alley.
8- FRARI’S CHURCH
A huge medieval Franciscan Friars church with the most important concentration of venetian great painters, such as Titian and Bellini. A unique place in order to enjoy the development of Venetian history of art over the centuries.
9- PEGGY GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION
One of the most important collection of modern art in the former private home of Peggy Guggenheim. For this reason a real “human scale” gallery. An actual enclave of an american-style museum in Italy.
10- CA’ REZZONICO PALACE MUSEUM
A Baroque Palace of one of the reachest venetian families facing the Grand Canal. Now converted into a museum, the best way to know how the venetian aristocracy lived at the time of Giacomo Casanova and Antonio Vivaldi. The Palace has the largest and most lavish ball room in Venice and a lovely little garden.
DO YOU AGREE WITH THE TOP 10 PLACES TO VISIT IN VENICE?
Feel free to put your comments or opinions on Venice Local Guide FB page
Davide Calenda
Foto by Andrea Donà
THESE ARE THE TOP 10 PLACES TO VISIT IN VENICE IF YOU COME FOR THE FIRST TIME
Venice has a big offer in term of cultural heritage, such as museums, churches, palaces, charming bridges, squares and alleys. A rare amount of art which doesn’t help in planning what to visit when you come for the first time into Venice. This is a brief guide to make your own priority, planning how much time to spend in the city, and also useful suggestions to enjoy the places without waiting too long in the line.
CRITERIA I USED TO CHOOSE THE LIST OF THE TOP 10 PLACES TO VISIT IN VENICE
This list is based on personal opinions, following anyway these criteria:
LIST OF THE TOP 10 PLACES TO VISIT IN VENICE:
1- SAINT MARK’S SQUARE
It’s the main attraction of he city. Everybody goes there the first… available minute after depositing luggage in the hotel. A marvellous place which you should enjoy after the sunset, and even more during sunrise, when the beautiful colors of the magic palaces are kissed by the first rays of the sun. Remember not to walk in the middle of the square with a sandwich in your hands it would be an invitation for the seagull to jump on it. Remember also that feeding pigeons, sitting on the floor and wearing swimweare or bare-chested is forbidden by city law.
Sain Mark’s Square
2- SAINT MARK’S BASILICA
The oldest building in Venice, 900 years of history. An enchanting Romanesque Byzantine style architecture, surmounted by gothic motifs. Especially known for its famous golden mosaics, decorating the entire ceiling and part of the walls (85,000 square feet, 8.000 square meters covered) The second most visited monument in all Italy with an average of 5,500,000 visitors per year sometimes has a long line to get in, we provide a skip the line entrance on our tour.
Mosaics of Saint Mark
3- DOGE’S PALACE
It was the lavish center of the political power of the Republic of Venice. Nowadays the most visited museum in Venice. Dozens of rooms decorated by Renaissance paintings, wooden frames carved by golden leafs, but also the sinister cells of the ancient prisons, introduced by the famous passage trough the Bridge of Sighs. Also here a skip the line entrance if you choose our dedicated tour
The Doge’s Palace of Venice
4- RIALTO BRIDGE AND MARKETPLACE AREA
For many centuries the only bridge to cross the Grand Canal. For sure now the most famous one among the 400 bridges of Venice. It connects the marketplace area, the former economic center of the city, with St Mark, the former political center. The nowadays Rialto’s marketplace is the most peuliar and colorful area, also a good place for some shopping, or for a tavern crawl with us.
Rialto fish market
5- GRAND CANAL AND LITTLE CANALS BOAT RIDE
Venice is a city built over islands where in the past people were moving mostly by boat. When a complete bridge system wasn’t built yet the streets were water-streets and the Grand Canal was the main boulevard. So a little canals and Grand Canal boat ride means visitng the original main facade of the buildings, enjoying the water scale of the city. We often include boat rides on our tour
Rialto in the morning
6- MURANO, BURANO AND TORCELLO EXCURSION
This is one of the best investment of time and money you could do in Venice. Murano provides the most genuine and famous local production, the glass making furnaces. Torcello is the Venice before Venice, the roots of the lagoon settlement. Burano looks like a village for toy dolls. This is the related excursion tour.
A view of Burano
7- SCALA DEL BOVOLO
The Snail Staricase (Scala del Bovolo in local language) is located on a hidden dead end, so one of the best preserved secret of our off the beaten walk. Recently restored and reopen to the public, to see the view from the top of the tower is probably one of the most romantic things you can do in one of the most romantic city in the world. It’s also my “personal” monument as I grew up on the nearby alley.
8- FRARI’S CHURCH
A huge medieval Franciscan Friars church with the most important concentration of venetian great painters, such as Titian and Bellini. A unique place in order to enjoy the development of Venetian history of art over the centuries.
9- PEGGY GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION
One of the most important collection of modern art in the former private home of Peggy Guggenheim. For this reason a real “human scale” gallery. An actual enclave of an american-style museum in Italy.
10- CA’ REZZONICO PALACE MUSEUM
A Baroque Palace of one of the reachest venetian families facing the Grand Canal. Now converted into a museum, the best way to know how the venetian aristocracy lived at the time of Giacomo Casanova and Antonio Vivaldi. The Palace has the largest and most lavish ball room in Venice and a lovely little garden.
DO YOU AGREE WITH THE TOP 10 PLACES TO VISIT IN VENICE?
Feel free to put your comments or opinions on Venice Local Guide FB page
Davide Calenda
Foto by Andrea Donà