Things to do in Venice
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Basilica di San Marco
Creating Venice's signature architectural wonder took nearly 800 years of painstaking labour and one saintly barrel of lard. Legend has it that in AD 828, wily Venetian merchants smuggled St Mark's corpse out of Egypt in a barrel of pork fat to avoid inspection by Muslim customs authorities. Church authorities in Rome took a dim view of Venice's tendency to glorify itself and God in the same breath, but Venice defiantly created the basilica in its own cosmopolitan image, with Byzantine onion-bulb domes, a Greek cross layout, a Gothic rosette window and Egyptian marble walls. The roped-off circuit of the church is free and takes about 15 minutes. For entry, dress modestly…
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Palazzo Ducale
Don't be fooled by its genteel Gothic elegance: underneath all that lacy pink cladding, the doges' palace flexes serious muscle. The seat of Venice's government for nearly seven centuries, this powerhouse survived wars, conspiracies and economic crashes, and was cleverly restored by Antonio da Ponte (who also designed Ponte di Rialto) after a 1577 fire.
Exterior
Outside, the palazzo (mansion) mixes business with pleasure, capping a graceful colonnade with medieval capitals depicting key Venetian guilds. Facing the piazza, Zane and Bartolomeo Bon's 1443 Porta della Carta (Paper Door) served as a bulletin board for government decrees.
Courtyard
Sansovino's brawny statues of…
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Peggy Guggenheim Collection
After tragically losing her father on the Titanic, heiress Peggy Guggenheim befriended Dadaists, dodged Nazis and amassed avant-garde works by 200 modern artists at her palatial home on the Grand Canal. Peggy's Palazzo Venier dei Leoni became a modernist shrine, chronicling surrealism, Italian futurism and abstract expressionism, with a subtext of Peggy's romantic pursuits – the collection includes key works by Peggy's ex-husband Max Ernst as well as Jackson Pollock, who was among Peggy's many rumoured lovers. Peggy collected according to her own convictions rather than for prestige or style, so her collection includes folk art and lesser-known artists alongside…
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Trattoria Corte Sconta
The Biennale jet set seeks out this vine-covered corte sconta (hidden courtyard) for imaginative housemade pasta and ultrafresh, visually striking seafood. Crustaceans are arranged on a platter like dabs of paint on an artist’s palette, black squid-ink pasta is artfully topped with bright orange squash and tender cappesante (scallops) sticking out their red feet, and roast eel loops like the River Brenta on the plate with a drizzle of balsamic reduction.
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Antiche Carampane
Hidden in the once-shady lanes behind Ponte delle Tette, this culinary indulgence is a trick to find, and you may wonder who you have to, erm, know to get a reservation. The sign proudly announcing ‘no tourist menu’ signals a welcome change: say goodbye to soggy lasagne and hello to lagoon-fresh crudi, asparagus and granseola (lagoon crab) salad, bottarga pasta, and filetto di San Pietro (fish with artichokes or radicchio trevisano).
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Venicescapes
Intriguing walking tours run by a nonprofit historical society (proceeds support ongoing Venetian historical research) with themes such as ‘A City of Nations’, exploring multiethnic Venice through the ages; and ‘A Most Serene Republic’, revealing how Venice kept the peace through politics and espionage.
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Gam Gam
Gam Gam is great for your taste buds if you like Israeli-style falafels (around €5.50) and other Middle Eastern delicacies. This place is fully kosher and presents a diverse menu, from Red Sea spaghetti to couscous (with choice of meat, fish or vegetable sauce).
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Caffè dei Frari
Take your espresso with a heaping of history at this century-old carved wooden bar, or recover from the sensory overload of I Frari with a sandwich, glass of wine and easy conversation at the dinky indoor cafe tables downstairs or on the Liberty-style wrought-iron balcony upstairs.
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Gallerie dell'Accademia
Don't be fooled by Palladio's serene expansions for the former Santa Maria della Carità convent: these galleries contain more murderous intrigue, forbidden romance, shameless politicking and near-riots than the most outrageous Venetian parties. To guide you through the ocular onslaught, visits are loosely organised by style, theme and painter from the 14th to the 18th centuries, though recent restorations have temporarily shuffled round some of the masterpieces.
Rooms 1–5
Early collection highlights include Paolo Veneziano's c 1350 Coronation of Mary (room 1), which shows Jesus bestowing the crown on his mother with a gentle pat on the head. For sheer, shimmering gore,…
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St Mark's Square
Napoleon dubbed it the 'finest drawing room in Europe', and visitors and pigeons alike have been flocking here for centuries to strut and crow. There is a constant carnival atmosphere thanks to the cacophony of duelling cafe orchestras, cooing pigeons, and constant traffic of waiters serving alfresco diners.
Now that most visitors arrive in Venice via the railway station, the magical symbolism of the waterside Piazzetta San Marco has to a great extent been lost.
The piazzetta's two columns bear emblems of the city's patron saints: the winged lion of St Mark and the figure of St Theodore. From the Campanile (bell tower), you can enjoy breathtaking views. St Mark's Square…
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Taverna Del Campiello Remer
Off the tourist routes and close to any Venetian bargain-hunter’s heart, this vaulted cavern opens onto a secluded square along the Grand Canal. Buffet-style lunches come fully loaded with affettati (especially Trevisana sausages and cured meats) and pasta for about €20 – but the best deal is in the afternoons before 7.30pm, when a cicheti buffet and drink runs from €5 to €7. At dinner, abundant primi are served family-style with about a pound of pasta for two, and specials are recited rather than written down. As the sign says: menú turistico non ghe xe (there’s no tourist menu).
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Conca d’Oro
Pizza is not a local speciality, in case you hadn’t guessed from the cardboard pies you’ll find at most pizzerias around San Marco – but this place is the exception. This local joint brought pizza to Venice in 1960 and has been slinging generous thin-crust pies (€7 to €10) with creative toppings ever since, though the nonpizza items are better avoided. Service is not especially quick on busy days, so relax and enjoy the sun in the piazza. Note: the restaurant sometimes closes on Tuesdays in low season.
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Naranzaria
East meets West in this hip corner bistro with sushi and Venetian-style cicheti, along with light summer dishes. Swilled down with fine local and Friuli wines, this microscopically sized locale with cool ambient music adds a metro touch to the Rialto market bustle. Grab a table upstairs in winter or a canalside position in summer. (The Naranzaria was long the orange market. Oranges were prized by mariners not for making juice but as a preventive measure against scurvy while at sea.)
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Museo della Musica
Housed in the restored neoclassical Chiesa di San Maurizio, this collection of rare and curious 17th- to 19th-century instruments is accompanied by informative panels on the life and times of Venice’s Antonio Vivaldi. To hear these instruments in action, check out the kiosk with early-music CDs and concert tickets for Interpreti Veneziani, who fund this museum and play museum-piece instruments with modern verve around the corner at San Vidal.
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Camuffo
Kids, entomologists and glass collectors seek out Signor Camuffo, who wields a miniature blowtorch to fuse metallic foils to molten glass to make shimmering wings for the city’s finest selection of lampworked glass beetles and dragonflies. Between bugs, he’ll chat about his work and sell you strands of Murano glass beads at excellent prices.
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Osteria Alla Vedova
Culinary convictions run deep here at one of Venice’s oldest osterie, which is why you won’t find spritz or coffee on the menu or pay more than €1 for a bar snack of Venetian meatballs. Enjoy superior seasonal cicheti and ombre with the local crowd at the bar, or call ahead for brusque, pricey table service and strictly authentic Venetian pastas.
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La Pietà
Originally called Chiesa di Santa Maria della Visitazione but fondly nicknamed La Pietà, this light-filled and harmonious church designed by Giorgio Massari is best known for its association with the composer Vivaldi, who was concertmaster here in the early 18th century. Though the current church was built after Vivaldi’s death, its acoustic-friendly oval shape honours his memory, and it is still regularly used as a concert hall. Be sure to look up: on the ceiling, Giambattista Tiepolo’s gravity-defying Coronation of the Virgin seems to open up the church to the vast heavens themselves.
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Gloria Astolfo
Take your fashion cues from Venetian painting masterpieces at this Venetian bead artisan’s showcase. Garlands of beaded tiger lilies make open-necked T-shirts instantly glamorous, and those baroque pearl earrings would gently tickle your shoulders if you started to nod off at La Fenice. Prices starting at €35 are surprisingly down-to-earth for jewellery this original, especially so close to Piazza San Marco.
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Al Nono Risorto
Manifesto or menu? At Al Nono Risorto, pizzas are listed alongside urgent action alerts: ‘No abandoning animals!’, ‘More rights for gays and domestic partners!’ Prices are left of centre, radical-chic servers graciously indulge petty bourgeois pizza orders, and on sunny days, all of Venice converges on the garden for squid with polenta, the bargain house prosecco, and cross-partisan bonding.
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Hostaria Da Franz
Known in Venice as home to one of the best tiramisus in the world, Da Franz is also a phenomenal seafood stop (trying to get a table here during the Biennale is impossible). Two dishes spring to mind: the melt-in-mouth seppie (cuttlefish) prepared in black ink, and the anguila (eel), prepared according to grandma's secret recipes as a grilled fillet - surprising and delicious.
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Ae Oche
Architecture students and budget-minded foodies converge here for a choice of 70-plus wood-fired pizzas and ale at excellent prices. Extreme eaters order the lip-buzzing mangiafuoco (fire-eater) with hot salami, Calabrese peppers and Tabasco sauce, while Palladio scholars stick with the classic white estiva with rocket, seasoned Grana Padano cheese and cherry tomatoes.
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Millevini
For the price of a souvenir T-shirt, a top-notch Veneto vintage recommended by well-versed staff could become a highlight of your visit – beyond DOC prosecco, there are Veneto Merlots with gumption, and surprisingly velvety Valpollicellas. This brick wine-cellar is right at the foot of the Rialto bridge, a convenient stop if you want to toast the sunset on your hotel terrace.
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Orovetro Murano
Not all Murano glass chandeliers require baroque ballrooms. These dramatic modern designs in black, red, and acid-green glass could turn studio bedrooms into boutique hotel suites and dens into swanky lounge-bars. Prices begin under €1000 for limited-edition lighting; architect-designed chandeliers with more waving arms than Kali hit five digits.
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Osteria Mocenigo
Times and dining habits have changed since dogi strained waistcoat buttons across the street at the Palazzo Mocenigo: here you can make light meals of cicheti at the bar, including an upstanding sarde in saor, or sit down to a casually elegant meal of grilled local asparagus and scallops, with homemade pastas including ravioli stuffed with radicchio and whitefish. Dishes ranging from €7 to €12 are plentiful enough for lunch and you can wash them down with Veneto wine by the glass.
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Highlights Of Italy
8 days (Venice)
by Intrepid
Lose yourself in enchanting Venice city, Feast on scrumptious seafood on Italy's coast, Travel down the Cinque Terre's rugged coastal path, Witness a golden…Not LP reviewed