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Basilica Di San Marco
The Basilica di San Marco is at once a remarkable place of worship and a singular declaration of commercial-imperial might. Building work on the first chapel to honour the freshly arrived corpse of St Mark began in 828, but the result disappeared in a fire in 932. The next version was demolished when, in 1063, Doge Domenico Contarini decided it was poor in comparison to grander Romanesque churches in mainland cities.
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Casa Di Goldoni
Venice's greatest playwright, Carlo Goldoni, came kicking and screaming into the world here in 1707. The 15th-century Gothic-era house is worth a quick visit, and Goldoni fans will find a host of material on his life and works. The entrance is the most striking part of the house, with its quiet courtyard, private well and stairway in Istrian stone.
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Cattedrale Di San Pietro Di Castello
Although overshadowed by the Basilica di San Marco, this church, on the far-removed island of San Pietro, was Venice's cathedral from 1451 to 1807. Indeed the island was among the first to be inhabited.
In 775, the original church was the seat of a bishopric. Its present appearance is basically a post-Palladian job, taking its cue in part from Giudecca's Chiesa del Redentore, with a monumental façade dating to the end of the 16th century.
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Cattedrale Di Santa Maria Assunta
The island's ancient Veneto-Byzantine cathedral, Venice's first, was founded in the 7th century. What you see today dates from the first expansion of the church in 824 and rebuilding in 1008, making it about the oldest Venetian monument to have remained relatively untampered with.
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Chiesa Dei SS Giovanni E Paolo
This huge Gothic church, founded by the Dominicans, was begun in 1333, but it was not consecrated until 1430. The vast interior is divided simply into an enormous central nave and two aisles, separated by graceful, soaring arches. Three chapels, each of different dimensions, have been tacked - it seems almost willy-nilly - onto the church's southern flank. Ruskin would have approved of this architectural wilfulness!
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Chiesa Dei SS Maria E Donato
This is a fascinating example of Veneto-Byzantine architecture. Founded in the 7th century and rebuilt 500 years later, the church was originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was rededicated to San Donato after his bones were brought here from the Greek island of Cephalonia, along with those of a dragon he had supposedly killed (four of the 'dragon' bones hang behind the altar).
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Chiesa Del Redentore
With the passing of a bout of plague in 1577, the Senato commissioned Palladio to design a church of thanksgiving. The following year, the doge, members of the Senato and a host of citizens made the first pilgrimage of thanksgiving, crossing from Zattere on a pontoon bridge of boats and rafts.
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Chiesa Dell'arcangelo Raffaele
The two towers of this stout church can be seen from all over southern Dorsoduro. The church was initially raised in the 7th century and for a long time was the focus of community life for the quarter's fishing families. The present church dates to the 17th century. The series of paintings inside above the main entrance has been attributed to the Guardi brothers, but no-one is sure which one - the vedutista (landscape artist) Francesco or his lesser-known elder brother Gian Antonio (1699-1760).
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Chiesa della Madonna dell'Orto
Architecture fans should find the exterior of this church intriguing. Elements of Romanesque remain (the inner arch over the main entrance, for instance) in what is largely a 14th-century Gothic structure in brick. That changes were made a century later is clear from the series of statues in niches above the two lower wings of the façade and from the triangular finish at the top.
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Chiesa Di San Francesco Della Vigna
Palladio was responsible for the high-and-mighty façade of this Franciscan church, which takes its name from the vineyard that once thrived on the site. The remainder was designed by Sansovino. The bell tower at the back seems to all intents and purposes the twin of the Campanile di San Marco. Inside, just to the left of the main door, is a triptych of saints by Antonio Vivarini.
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Chiesa Di San Giacomo Dell'orio
Campo San Giacomo dell'Orio is graced by the modest outline of one of Venice's few good examples of Romanesque architecture. The initial 9th-century church was replaced in 1225. The main Gothic addition (14th century) is the remarkable wooden ceiling a carena di nave . Among the intriguing jumble of works of art are a Byzantine column in green marble, a 13th-century baptismal font and a Lombard pulpit perched on a 6th-century column from Ravenna.
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Chiesa Di San Giorgio Dei Greci
Greek Orthodox refugees who fled to Venice from the Ottoman Turks were allowed to raise a church, 'St George of the Greeks', here in 1536. It is intriguing above all for the richness of its Byzantine icons, iconostasis and other artworks. The separate, slender bell tower, completed in 1603, began to lean right from the start.
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Chiesa Di San Giorgio Maggiore
Palladio's grand church occupies one of the most prominent positions in Venice and, although it inspired mixed reactions among the architect's contemporaries (not everyone was fond of the classical tones and indeed Palladio was denied many major commissions in Venice), it had a significant influence on late Renaissance architecture. Built between 1565 and 1580, it is his most imposing structure in the city.
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Chiesa Di San Nicolò Dei Mendicoli
Although fiddled with over the centuries, this church still preserves elements of the 13th-century original. The portico attached to one side was used to shelter the poor. The whole area was downtrodden and known for its mendicoli , or beggars. The church's tiny square, bound in by the canals and featuring a pylon bearing the winged lion of St Mark, is at the heart of one of the oldest parishes in Venice.
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Chiesa Di San Rocco
This church was completely overhauled in the 18th century - hence the bold baroque façade. It has a neglected feel inside but contains several paintings of interest to those who have not overdosed, including some by Tintoretto on the main-entrance wall and around the altar.
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Chiesa Di San Salvador
Built on a plan of three Greek crosses laid end to end, San Salvador is among the city's oldest churches, possibly dating from the 7th century (although the bulk of what you see dates from later periods). The present façade was erected in 1663. Among the noteworthy works inside is Titian's Annunciazione (Annunciation), at the third altar on the right as you approach the main altar.
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Chiesa Di San Zaccaria
If the Basilica di San Marco was the doge's private chapel, this was his parish church (eight dogi are buried here). The Renaissance façade is the handiwork of Antonio Gambello and Codussi. Gambello started off in a Gothic vein but was already influenced by Renaissance thinking. The lower part of the façade in marble is his work. When Codussi took over he favoured white Istrian stone, and the clean curves at the top mark his take on the Renaissance.
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Chiesa Di Sant'eufemia
A simple Veneto-Byzantine structure of the 11th century, this church's main portico was actually added in the 18th and 19th centuries. Down Fondamenta Rio di Sant'Eufemia are the one-time church and convent of SS Cosma e Damiano. They were turned into a factory and the bell tower into a smokestack, but have now been beautifully restored and studios and workshops. You can see artists working on paper, glass and perfumes, and buy too.
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Chiesa Di Santa Maria Dei Miracoli
It looks like an elaborate box containing the most refined of chocolates. Pietro Lombardo was responsible for this Renaissance jewel, which is fully covered inside and out in marble, bas-reliefs and statues. The state and Church generally paid for the construction of churches, but this case was different. It was built to house an iconic image of the Virgin Mary, reputed to be miraculous.
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Chiesa Di Santa Maria Della Salute
Possibly the city's most familiar silhouette, this bulging baroque beast is one of Longhena's masterpieces. Seen from close up, it's difficult to take it all in, but Longhena knew what he was doing and deliberately designed a monument to be admired from afar. Indeed it is more impressive on the outside than within, with one significant exception, the sacristy.
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Chiesa Di Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari
If you have seen Notre Dame in Paris or Cologne's Dom, you might be thinking: what is so Gothic about the Frari? Built for the Franciscans in the 14th and 15th centuries of brick rather than stone, and bereft of flying buttresses, pinnacles, gargoyles and virtually any other sign of decoration inside or out, it is a singularly austere interpretation of the style.
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Chiesa Di Santo Stefano
When you walk in here, look up at possibly the finest timber ceiling ( a carena di nave - like an upturned ship's hull) of any church in Venice. It is one of several examples in Venice and, for anyone who has tramped around the great churches of Spain, starkly reminiscent of that nation's Muslim-influenced artesonado ceilings (coffered, timber ceilings).
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I Gesuiti
The Jesuits took over this church, aka the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, in 1657 and ordered its reconstruction in the Roman baroque style. The conversion was completed by 1730. The façade is impressive enough - in fact, as is often the case with such sights in Venice, it seems out of place, as though it's bursting for more space to allow a greater appreciation of its splendour.
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Mulino Stucky
The striking neo-Gothic hulk of the best-known factory complex on the island, the Mulino Stucky, was built in the late 19th century and employed 1500 people. Now it is a star of the Hilton Hotel chain, with 380 rooms, a conference centre and several restaurants and bars. The original façade has been preserved and it is hard to miss when looking across from the western end of the Zattere.
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Palazzo Contarini Del Bovolo
This intriguing Renaissance mansion, hidden down narrow lanes off Campo Manin, takes its name from the dizzying external spiral ( bovolo in Venetian) staircase. Built in the late-15th century, the palace maintains a hint of the Gothic in its arches and capitals. You can enter the grounds and climb the staircase (when open), but it is perfectly visible from outside.
