In 1951, industrialist and art patron Vittorio Cini – a survivor of Dachau – acquired the monastery of San Giorgio and restored it in memory of his son, Giorgio Cini. The rehabilitated complex is an architectural treasure incorporating designs by Andrea Palladio and Baldassare Longhena. Tours allow you to stroll through the cloisters, visit the refectory and libraries, and gaze down on the Borges Labyrinth – an intricate garden maze built to honour Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges.
Getty Images/Moment Open
Fondazione Giorgio Cini
Top choice in Giudecca, Lido & the Southern Islands
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
0.39 MILES
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…
0.33 MILES
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…
22.54 MILES
Padua's version of the Sistine Chapel, the Cappella degli Scrovegni houses one of Italy's great Renaissance masterpieces – a striking cycle of Giotto…
0.71 MILES
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…
1.35 MILES
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…
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
0.38 MILES
Baldassare Longhena's magnificent basilica is prominently positioned near the entrance to the Grand Canal, its white stones, exuberant statuary and high…
0.83 MILES
Baroque dreams come true at this Baldassare Longhena–designed Grand Canal palazzo (mansion), where a marble staircase leads to a vast gilded ballroom and…
0.54 MILES
After losing her father on the Titanic, heiress Peggy Guggenheim became one of the great collectors of the 20th century. Her palatial canalside home,…
Nearby Giudecca, Lido & the Southern Islands attractions
1. Chiesa di San Giorgio Maggiore
0.04 MILES
Begun in 1565 and completed in 1610, this dazzling Benedictine abbey church owes more to ancient Roman temples than the bombastic baroque of Palladio's…
0.12 MILES
Once part of a boarding school, 'The Glass Rooms' are now home to a constant flow of temporary exhibitions, all of them based on glass. Often the displays…
0.22 MILES
Designed by Palladio in the late 16th century and built after his death, the Zitelle was a church and almshouse for orphans and poor young women (zitelle…
0.31 MILES
One of a pair of granite columns bearing the two patron saints of Venice in Piazetta di San Marco, this eastern column bears a statue representing a…
0.31 MILES
One of two twin granite columns in the Piazzetta di San Marco, bearing the two patron saints of Venice. This column bears the image of warrior-saint…
0.33 MILES
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…
0.34 MILES
Fortuna, the weathervane atop Punta della Dogana, swung Venice’s way in 2005, when bureaucratic hassles in Paris convinced art collector François Pinault…
0.34 MILES
One of Venice's most photographed sights, the Bridge of Sighs connects Palazzo Ducale to the 16th-century Priggione Nove (New Prisons). Its improbable…