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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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Cimitero
The city's cemetery was established on San Michele under Napoleon and is maintained by the Franciscans. The Chiesa di San Michele in Isola, begun by Codussi in 1469, was among the city's first Renaissance buildings, built in sober style of white Istrian stone. Inspired by local and Tuscan ideas in the body of the church, Codussi dedicated most effort to the façade, crowned by a semicircle that mixes the classical with an Eastern touch.
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Fondaco Dei Turchi
This 12th-century mansion belonged to the dukes of Ferrara until it was handed over in 1621 for use as a warehouse and way station for Turkish merchants (who operated in Venice through all the ups and downs of relations between Muslim Turkey and the West). The building now houses the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale (Natural History Museum).
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Fondazione Giorgio Cini
Behind Palladio's grand church extend the grounds of the former monastery. Established as long ago as the 10th century by the Benedictines, it was rebuilt in the 13th century and then expanded in a series of projects that spanned the 16th century, finishing with the library built by Longhena in the 1640s.
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Galleria d'Arte Moderna
This fine baroque mansion is considered one of the most important on the Grand Canal, started by Longhena and completed in 1710 by Gaspari. Since 1902 it has housed the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, a broad collection that includes pieces by De Chirico, Miró, Chagall, Kandinsky, Klee, Klimt, Moore and others.
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Galleria Di Palazzo Cini
With luck you may get to look at this curious collection of Tuscan intruders. Oddly, the main façade of this 16th-century building looks over the Rio di San Vio rather than the Grand Canal. Spread out over two floors are around 30 works, mostly from the 14th and 15th centuries, including some by Lippi, Piero della Francesca ( Madonna col Bambino ), Botticelli ( Il Giudizio di Paride , or The Judgment of Paris) and Beato Angelico.
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Gallerie dell'Accademia
Long the official arbiter of artistic taste in Venice, the 'Academy' is home to the finest in Venetian old masters, a veritable feast of High Renaissance, baroque and rococo. Although the city is dotted by works of the greats, this one-stop starburst represents a single, intense lesson in the greatness of Venetian high art from the 14th to 18th centuries.
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Giardini Pubblici & Biennale
Creation of the Giardini Pubblici, the most extensive (if now slightly tatty) public gardens in the city, was ordered by Napoleon in 1807. They were officially opened in 1811, just three years before his demise. To create them, he had an entire residential district (including four churches) razed. In the gardens you'll find shaded benches, a few giostre (swings and other kids' rides) and a snack bar/restaurant.
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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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Isola Di San Francesco Del Deserto
The Franciscans built themselves a monastery on this island, about 1km south of Burano, to get away from it all. The island on which evidence of an earlier Roman presence has also been found, makes an enchanting detour. Legend has it that Francis of Assisi landed here, seeking shelter after a journey to Palestine in 1220. The Franciscans deserted the island (hence the name) in 1420, as conditions had become difficult and malaria was rampant.
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Libreria Nazionale Marciana
Across Piazzetta San Marco from the Palazzo Ducale lies the gracious form of what Palladio described as the most sumptuous palace ever built. Designed by Jacopo Sansovino in the 16th century, the building occupies the entire west side of the piazzetta and houses the Libreria Nazionale Marciana (National Library of St Mark, aka Biblioteca di San Marco or Libreria Sansoviniana, after its architect) and the Museo Archeologico.
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Mechitarist Monastery
In 1717, the Armenian order of the Mechitarist Fathers (named after the founding father, Mechitar) was granted use of Isola di San Lazzaro degli Armeni, which centuries before had been a leper colony and earlier still the site of a Benedictine hospice for pilgrims. The Mechitarist monastery became an important centre of learning and repository of Armenian culture, which it remains to this day.
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Mercato Ittico
This market, alongside Canale di San Domenico where the Ponte Translagunare reaches into Chioggia, is an eye-opener if you can get there at about .
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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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Museo Correr
Begun by a certain Corsican general as a ballroom but not completed until halfway through the 19th century under Austrian rule, the Ala Napoleonica is home to the Museo Correr, dedicated to the art and history of Venice and loaded with all sorts of fascinating paraphernalia. The museum also gives access to the Museo Archeologico and, beyond, the beautiful Renaissance Libreria Nazionale Marciana.
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Museo Del Merletto
On the top floor of the island's one-time lace school (closed in 1970) are displayed pieces of handiwork little short of mind-boggling in the intricacy of their design. Everything from shawls to tablecloths is on show. Some of the 17th-century pieces, with complex relief detail and clearly the result of painstaking labour, are remarkable.
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Museo Del Vetro
The Glass Museum has some exquisite pieces. The building, set in a peaceful garden, is a grand 15th-century affair that from 1659 until the early 19th century was the seat of the Torcello bishopric (until its dissolution) and then became Murano town hall. The museum was installed here in 1861, mostly on the 1st floor.
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Museo Della Follia
From the 7th to the 17th centuries Benedictine monks had a monastery on San Servolo, bits of which still remain in the former hospital. This has been partly opened as the Museo della Follia. Two intriguing rooms are full of paraphernalia and explanations of the days when being sent to San Servolo was undesirable. In the first room is a series of before/after photos of 19th-century inmates, many of whom were little more than extremely poor folk slightly deranged through bad nutrition and vitamin deficiency.
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Museo Della Musica
Housed in the restored neoclassical Chiesa di San Maurizio, this collection of rare and often very curious instruments spans the 17th to 19th centuries and is accompanied by informative panels on the life and times of Antonio Vivaldi. On sale is a huge range of music by, among others, er, Vivaldi.
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Museo delle Icone
This gallery is dedicated to Orthodox religious art. On display are some 80 works of art and other items. Foremost are two 14th century Byzantine icons, one representing Christ in Glory and the other the Virgin Mary with Child and Apostles. Many items were done by Greeks in Venice and northern Italy.
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Museo Di Torcello
Across the square from the cathedral in the 13th-century Palazzo del Consiglio is this museum dedicated to the island. On the ground floor are some sculptural fragments from the cathedral, a 6th-century holy-water font and a curious display of Byzantine objects from Constantinople. Upstairs, among a series of rather dark religious paintings, many from the workshops of Veronese, are all sorts of odds and ends, including a 7th-century lead seal.
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Museo Diocesano D'arte Sacra
Housed in a former Benedictine monastery dedicated to Sant'Apollonia, this museum has a fairly predictable collection of religious art. More interesting is the exquisite Romanesque cloister you cross in order to get to the museum. It is a rare example of the genre in Venice. The cloister is often open much longer hours than the museum. The building next door was a church until 1906, and now houses exhibition spaces.
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Museo Ebraico & The Jewish Ghetto
A modest collection of Jewish religious silverware can be found at the Jewish Museum. Opened in 1955, it has been enriched down the years with donations of material used in private prayer and to decorate synagogues. The guided tours (in Italian or English; other languages if booked in advance) of the Ghetto and three of its synagogues that leave from the museum are a must, allowing you to enter a unique world.
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Museo Storico Navale
Spread over four floors in a former grain silo, this museum traces the maritime history of the city and of Italy. Models of everything from the bucintoro (the doges' ceremonial barge) to WWII battleships abound. Up on the 3rd floor is a room containing a few gondolas, including Peggy Guggenheim's.
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Oratorio Dei Crociferi
Virtually across the road from the grand Gesuiti church is this tiny 12th-century oratory, once part of a medieval hospice that has long since ceased to exist. It appears the brothers of the Crociferi order who set up here came from Rome. The hospice had a dual role, as was common at the time: to give shelter to pilgrims and provide assistance to the sick.
