The Veneto
Most visitors to the Veneto devote all their time to Venice, which is understandable – until you discover the rich variety of experiences that await just an hour or two away.
First, there are the city-states Venice annexed in the 15th century: Padua (Padova), with its pre-Renaissance frescoes; Vicenza, with Palladio's peerless architecture; and Verona, with its sophisticated bustle atop Roman foundations. All are easily reached by train from Venice.
Then there are the wines, in particular Valpolicella's bold Amarones. In a party mood? The hills around Conegliano produce Italy's finest bubbly: Prosecco Superiore. For harder stuff, Bassano del Grappa provides its eponymous firewater.
When the Adriatic wipes Venice clean of its mists, you can catch glimpses of the snowcapped Dolomites – in less than two hours you can go from canals to the crisp Alpine clarity of Belluno and Cortina d'Ampezzo: a land of idyllic hikes, razor-sharp peaks and the world's most fashion-conscious skiing.
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Top attractions
These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout The Veneto.
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Basilica di San Marco
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 house the corpse of St Mark after wily Venetian merchants smuggled it out of Egypt in a barrel of pork fat. When the original building burnt down in 932 Venice rebuilt the basilica in its own cosmopolitan image, with Byzantine domes, a Greek cross layout and walls clad in marble from Syria, Egypt and Palestine. Unbelievably, this sumptuous church was the doge's private chapel. It only officially became Venice's cathedral in 1807 following the demise of the Republic, replacing the considerably less grand Basilica di San Pietro in Castello. The front of St Mark's ripples and crests like a wave, its five niched portals capped with shimmering mosaics and frothy stonework arches. It's especially resplendent just before sunset, when the sun's dying rays set the golden mosaics ablaze. The oldest mosaic on the facade, dating from 1270, is in the lunette above the far-left portal, depicting St Mark’s stolen body arriving at the basilica. The theme is echoed in three of the other lunettes, including the 1660 mosaics above the second portal from the right, showing turbaned officials recoiling from the hamper of pork fat containing the sainted corpse. Grand entrances are made through the central portal, under an ornate triple arch featuring Egyptian purple porphyry columns and intricate 13th- to 14th-century stone reliefs. Blinking is natural upon your first glimpse of the basilica's glittering ceiling mosaics, many made with 24-carat gold leaf fused onto the back of the glass to represent divine light. Just inside the vestibule are the basilica's oldest mosaics: Apostles with the Madonna , standing sentry by the main door for more than 950 years. Inside the church proper, three golden domes vie for your attention. The images are intended to be read from the altar end to the entry, so the first dome you see is actually the last: the Pentecost Cupola, with the Holy Spirit represented by a dove shooting tongues of flame onto the heads of the surrounding saints. In the central 13th-century Ascension Cupola, angels swirl around the central figure of Christ hovering among the stars. The Cupola of the Prophets is best seen from behind the main altar, which houses the simple sarcophagus containing St Mark's body. But the main reason visitors pay €2 to enter this space is to see the stupendous Pala d’Oro, a gold altarpiece studded with 2000 emeralds, amethysts, sapphires, rubies, pearls and other gemstones. The screen's most priceless treasures, however, are biblical figures in vibrant cloisonné, begun in Constantinople in AD 976 and embellished by Venetian goldsmiths in 1209. The enamelled saints have wild, unkempt beards and wide eyes fixed on Jesus. Other holy bones and booty from the Crusades fill the Tesoro (treasury; admission €3) and there are more treasures on show in the museum upstairs, accessed from the vestibule. A highlight is the Quadriga of St Mark's (also known as the Triumphal Quadriga), a group of four bronze horses plundered from Constantinople and later carted off to Paris by Napoleon before being returned to the basilica. The originals are now kept inside, but a door leads out to where they were originally placed on the Loggia dei Cavalli, where reproductions of the horses gallop off the balcony over Piazza San Marco. There's no charge to enter the church and wander around the roped-off central circuit, although between April and October you can purchase 'Skip the Line' tickets for €3 (children under 5 enter free of charge). You'll need to dress modestly (ie knees and shoulders covered) and leave large bags around the corner at the Ateneo San Basso Left Luggage Office. Those simply wishing to pray or attend Mass can enter from the Porta dei Fiori, on the north side of the church.
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Palazzo Ducale
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 republic, but it's an exquisitely Venetian one. Beyond its dainty colonnades and geometrically patterned facade of white Istrian stone and pale pink Veronese marble lie grand rooms of state, the doge's private apartments and a large complex of council chambers, courts and prisons. The doge's official residence probably moved to this site in the 10th century, although the current complex only started to take shape around 1340. In 1424 the wing facing the piazzetta was added and the palace assumed its final form, give or take a few major fires and refurbishments. A standard ticket allows you access to the grand central courtyard, a display of historic masonry ( Museo dell'Opera) on the ground floor and a circuit of the main part of the palace that leads through the state rooms, armoury, prisons and institutional rooms. The Doge's Apartments are now used for temporary art exhibitions, which are ticketed separately (around €10 extra). Further rooms, too small for the masses, can be visited on the 75-minute Secret Itineraries Tour. The most impressive parts of the palace are at the top. Ascend Sansovino’s 24-carat gilt stucco-work Scala d’Oro (Golden Staircase) and emerge into rooms covered with gorgeous propaganda. In the Palladio-designed Sala delle Quattro Porte (Hall of the Four Doors), ambassadors awaited ducal audiences under a lavish display of Venice's virtues by Giovanni Cambi, Titian and Tiepolo. Few were granted an audience in the Palladio-designed Collegio (Council Room), where Veronese’s 1575–78 Virtues of the Republic ceiling shows Venice as a bewitching blonde figure waving her sceptre like a wand over Justice and Peace. Father-son team Jacopo and Domenico Tintoretto attempt similar flattery, showing Venice keeping company with Apollo, Mars and Mercury in their Triumph of Venice ceiling for the Sala del Senato (Senate Hall). Government cover-ups were never so appealing as in the Sala Consiglio dei Dieci (Chamber of the Council of Ten), where Venice’s star chamber plotted beneath Veronese’s Juno Bestowing Her Gifts on Venice, depicting a glowing goddess strewing gold ducats. Above the slot where anonymous treason accusations were slipped into the Sala della Bussola (Compass Room) is his St Mark in Glory ceiling. The cavernous 1419 Sala del Maggior Consiglio (Grand Council Hall) provides the setting for Domenico Tintoretto's swirling Paradise, a work that’s more politically correct than pretty: heaven is crammed with 500 prominent Venetians, including several Tintoretto patrons. Veronese’s political posturing is more elegant in his oval Apotheosis of Venice ceiling, where gods marvel at Venice’s coronation by angels, with foreign dignitaries and blonde Venetians rubbernecking on the balcony below.
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Cappella degli Scrovegni
Padua's version of the Sistine Chapel, the Cappella degli Scrovegni houses one of Italy's great Renaissance masterpieces – a striking cycle of Giotto frescoes. Dante, da Vinci and Vasari all honour Giotto as the artist who ended the Dark Ages with these 1303–05 paintings, whose humanistic depiction of biblical figures was especially well suited to the chapel Enrico Scrovegni commissioned in memory of his father (who as a moneylender was denied a Christian burial). It's a simple brick building, with little indication from the outside of what lies within. It took Giotto two years to finish the frescoes, which tell the story of Christ from Annunciation to Ascension. Scrovegni's chapel once adjoined the family mansion (demolished in 1824) – the city of Padua acquired the chapel in 1881. Giotto's moving, modern approach helped change how people saw themselves: no longer as lowly vassals, but as vessels for the divine, however flawed. And where medieval churchgoers had been accustomed to blank stares from saints perched on high thrones, Giotto introduced biblical figures as characters in recognisable settings. Onlookers gossip as middle-aged Anne tenderly kisses Joachim, and Jesus stares down Judas as the traitor puckers up for the fateful kiss. Giotto also used unusual techniques such as impasto, building paint up into 3D forms. A 10-minute introductory video provides some helpful insights before you enter the church itself. Visits must be pre-booked. Tickets are available at the Musei Civici agli Eremitani, where you access the chapel, or at the tourist office. Chapel visits last 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the time of year), plus another 10 minutes for the video. Arrive at least 15 to 30 minutes before your tour starts, or an hour before if you want to get around the Musei Civici agli Eremitani beforehand.
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Roman Arena
Built of pink-tinged marble in the 1st century AD, Verona's Roman amphitheatre survived a 12th-century earthquake to become the city’s legendary open-air opera house, with seating for 30,000 people. You can visit the arena year-round, though it’s at its best during the summer opera festival. In winter months, concerts are held at the Teatro Filarmonico. From October to May, admission is €1 on the first Sunday of the month. The eighth-biggest amphitheatre in the Roman Empire and predating the Colosseum in Rome, nothing of the incredible inside is visible from outside. Pass through the dingy ancient corridors, wide enough to drive a gladiator's chariot, to re-emerge into the massive, sunlit stone arena, at least 50 levels of seating rising from the mammoth, oval showground. Note the amphitheatre is completely open so this is not a great place to visit in the rain.
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Gallerie dell'Accademia
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 complex housing the collection maintained its serene composure for centuries until Napoleon installed his haul of art trophies here in 1807 – looted from various religious institutions around town. Since then there’s been nonstop visual drama on its walls. Note that the gallery is in the midst of a major refurbishment; some rooms may be closed. The Accademia inhabits three conjoined buildings. The Scuola della Carità (founded 1260) was the oldest of Venice's six scuole grandi (religious confraternities); the current building dates to 1343. Bartolomeo Bon completed the spare, Gothic-edged facade of the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Carità in 1448. A century later, Palladio took a classical approach to the Convento dei Canonici Lateranensi. From 1949 to 1954, Carlo Scarpa chose a minimalist approach to restorations. The bulk of the collection's treasures are on the 1st floor, and this is the best place to start your visit. The ground floor houses major exhibitions, sculpture and a less showstopping collection of paintings from 1600 to 1880. Take the stairs up from the grand entry hall and prepare to be overwhelmed by the sensory overload of Room 1, where a swarm of angels flutter their golden wings from the carved ceiling, gazing down upon a swirling polychrome marble floor. Competing valiantly for your attention are a collection of vivid 14th- and 15th-century religious works that show Venice's precocious flair for colour and drama. Room 20 is full of large canvases taken from the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. Gentile Bellini's Procession in Piazza San Marco offers an intriguing view of Venice's most famous square before its 16th-century makeover, while the former wooden version of the city's most famous bridge appears in Vittore Carpaccio's Miracle of the Reliquary of the Cross at Rialto Bridge. The former church (Room 23) is a serene showstopper fronted by a Bellini altarpiece. Sharing the space is Giorgione’s highly charged The Storm. The rear of the church displays massive canvases looted from the Scuola Grande di San Marco. The Sala dell’Albergo (Room 24) has been left untouched from when it was the Scuola della Carità's boardroom. Meetings would not have been boring here, under a lavishly carved ceiling and facing Antonio Vivarini's Madonna Enthroned with Child in the Heavenly Garden, filled with fluffy-bearded saints. Titian closes the 1st-floor circuit with his touching Presentation of the Virgin. Here, a young, tiny Madonna trudges up an intimidating staircase while a distinctly Venetian crowd of onlookers point at her. To dodge the high-season queues, you're best to arrive at opening time or towards the end of the day. The last entry is 45 minutes before closing, but a proper visit takes at least 1½ hours. Otherwise, book timed tickets in advance online (booking fee €1.50). There's free admission to the gallery on the first Sunday of each month.
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The Ghetto
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 word acquired a whole new meaning. In accordance with the Venetian Republic’s 1516 decree, by day Jewish lenders, doctors and clothing merchants were permitted to attend to Venice's commercial interests, but at night and on Christian holidays they were locked within the gated island of the Ghetto Nuovo (New Foundry). When Jewish merchants fled the Spanish Inquisition for Venice in 1541, there was no place left in the Ghetto to go but up: in buildings around the Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, upper storeys housed new arrivals, synagogues and publishing houses. A plain wooden cupola in the corner of the campo (square) marks the location of the Schola Canton. Next door is the Schola Tedesca, while the rooftop Schola Italiana is a simple synagogue built by newly arrived and largely destitute Italian Jews, who had fled from Spanish-controlled southern Italy. As numbers grew, the Ghetto was extended into the neighbouring Ghetto Vecchio (Old Foundry), creating the confusing situation where the older Jewish area is called the New Ghetto and the newer is the Old Ghetto. Sephardic Jewish refugees raised two synagogues in Campo del Ghetto Vecchio that are considered among the most beautiful in northern Italy, lavishly rebuilt in the 17th century. The Schola Levantina, founded in 1541, has a magnificent 17th-century woodworked pulpit, while the Schola Spagnola, founded around 1580, shows just how Venetian the community had become through a demonstrated flair for Venetian architectural flourishes: repeating geometric details, high-arched windows, and exuberant marble and carved-wood baroque interiors. After Venice fell to Napoleon in 1787 the city's Jews experienced six months of freedom before the Austrian administration restricted them to the Ghetto once again. It wasn't until Venice joined with Italy in 1866 that full emancipation was gained, but even that was short-lived. Many of Venice's Jews fled before the Nazi occupation, but 246 were arrested and sent to concentration camps between 1943 and 1944; only eight survived. A memorial consisting of harrowing bas-reliefs and the names and ages of those killed now lines two walls facing Campo del Ghetto Nuovo. You can stroll around this peaceful precinct by day and night, but the best way to experience the Ghetto is on a guided tour of three of the synagogues offered by the Museo Ebraico, departing hourly from 10.30am.
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Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
Baldassare Longhena's magnificent basilica is prominently positioned near the entrance to the Grand Canal, its white stones, exuberant statuary and high domes gleaming spectacularly under the sun. The church makes good on an official appeal by the Venetian Senate directly to the Madonna in 1630, after 80,000 Venetians had been killed by plague. The Senate promised the Madonna a church in exchange for her intervention on behalf of Venice – no expense or effort spared. Before 'La Salute' could even be started, at least 100,000 pylons had to be driven deep into the barene (mudbanks) to shore up the tip of Dorsoduro. The Madonna provided essential inspiration, but La Salute draws its structural strength from a range of architectural and spiritual traditions. Architectural scholars note striking similarities between Longhena's unusual domed octagonal structure and both Greco-Roman goddess temples and Jewish Kabbalah diagrams. The lines of the building converge beneath the dome to form a vortex on the inlaid marble floors; some believe the black dot at the centre radiates healing energy. The basilica's interior is flooded with light filtered through disks of pale-tinted glass encircling the implausibly high dome. The main focus of devotion is the elaborately carved baroque high altar, with a 12th-century Cretan icon of the Madonna of Good Health set into it. A side altar near the entrance to the sacristy showcases The Descent of the Holy Spirit (1546) by Titian. Entry to the church is free, but there is a charge to visit the art-slung sacristy (closed on Sunday mornings). The sacristy is a wonder within a wonder, its glorious collection of Titian masterpieces including moody ceiling frescoes, a vivid self-portrait in the guise of St Matthew, and his earliest known work, Saint Mark Enthroned with Sts Cosmas, Damian, Roch & Sebastian (1510). Salute's most charming allegory for Venice's miraculous survival of the plague is Palma il Giovane's painting of Jonah emerging from the mouth of the whale, where the survivor stomps down the creature's tongue like an action hero walking the red carpet. Life in a time of plague is a miracle worth celebrating in Tintoretto’s upbeat Wedding Feast of Cana (1561), featuring a Venetian throng of multicultural musicians, busy wine pourers and Tintoretto himself, depicted with a long beard near the bottom left of the canvas.
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Museo Correr
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 of Venice's finest heirlooms to France as trophies. When he lost Venice to the Austrians, Empress Sissi remodelled the palace, adding ceiling frescoes, silk cladding and brocade curtains. It's now open to the public and full of many of Venice's reclaimed treasures, including ancient maps, statues, cameos and four centuries of artistic masterpieces. Napoleon's wing links the 16th-century Procuratie Vecchie on the northern side of the square to the Procuratie Nuove on the south. The latter, described by Palladio as the most sumptuous palace ever built, is incorporated into the museum. It includes the magnificent Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, a large library designed by Jacopo Sansovino in the 16th century and covered with frescoes by Veronese, Titian and Tintoretto featuring larger-than-life philosophers and miniature back-flipping sea creatures. Adjoining it is the collection of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, featuring an extraordinary array of ancient sculpture, much of which was bequeathed to the city in 1523 by Cardinal Domenico Grimani. Also on this floor, look out for Jacopo di Barbari's minutely detailed woodblock perspective view of Venice and Antonio Canova's 1776 statues of star-crossed lovers Orpheus and Eurydice. Upstairs, in exhibition rooms designed by Carlo Scarpa, is a large collection of mainly religious art, including 14th-century sad-eyed saints by Paolo Veneziano (room 25) and an entire room of bright-eyed, peach-cheeked Bellini saints (room 36).
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Scuola Grande di San Rocco
Everyone wanted the commission to paint this building dedicated to St Roch, patron saint of the plague-stricken, so Tintoretto cheated: instead of producing sketches like rival Veronese, he gifted a splendid ceiling panel of the saint, knowing it couldn't be refused, or matched by other artists. This painting still crowns the Sala dell'Albergo, upstairs, and Tintoretto's work completely covers the walls and ceilings of all the main halls. When Tintoretto painted these darkly dramatic works, between 1575 and 1587, Venice's outlook was grim indeed: the plague had just claimed the lives of 50,000 Venetians. In the Ground Floor Hall, St Mary's story starts on the left wall with the Annunciation and ends on the opposite wall with an unusually dark and cataclysmic Assumption. From spring to late autumn, the artworks provide a bewitching backdrop to top-notch classical-music concerts; ask at the counter or check the website for details. Upstairs in the Chapter Room, Tintoretto's biblical scenes read like a modern graphic novel: you can almost hear the swoop overhead as an angel dives to feed the ailing prophet in Elijah Fed by an Angel. Mercy from above is a recurring theme, with Daniel’s salvation by angels, the miraculous fall of manna in the desert, and Elisha distributing bread to the hungry. The scenes from Christ’s life that fill the walls aren’t in chronological order: birth and baptism are followed by resurrection. The drama builds as background characters disappear into increasingly dark canvases, until an X-shaped black void looms at the centre of Agony in the Garden.