Positioned directly across from Piazza San Marco, little Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore is one of Venice’s most famous landmarks.
The island's oversized basilica was designed for maximum dazzle by acclaimed architect Andrea Palladio, with a white facade that glints against the water and blazes in the sunset. It shares the island with a prominent cultural institution, the architecturally rich Fondazione Giorgio Cini.
Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore
The line between church and classical temple is blurry at best in Palladio's magnificent Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore (abbaziasangiorgio.it; admission free), from its Istrian stone facade to the airy interior. The canvases lining the walls are unmistakably Christian, but the ambiance created by the architecture harks further back. An additional frisson is provided by large contemporary sculptural pieces, often on social-justice themes, exhibited within the cavernous space – part of an artistic program run by the still-functioning Benedictine Abbey to which the basilica is attached.
The Benedictines have a long tradition of supporting art on this island. They’ve been here since 982, but the present basilica is a relative newcomer, having been built between 1565 and 1610. Palladio’s design was revolutionary at the time for the way it elegantly resolved a Renaissance conundrum: how to graft a classical facade onto a triple-nave church.
Among its art, an extraordinary set of Tintorettos dominates. There are three each by father and son, Jacopo and Domenico, and one collaboration between the two. Another reason to visit is for the spectacular view from 60m up the campanile (adult/child €8/5), reached by a lift accessed from a corridor at the rear of the church.
Fondazione Giorgio Cini
Quite apart from its educational merits, the Fondazione Giorgio Cini (1/2/3 tours €15/22/28, closed Wednesday) is an architectural tour de force encompassing Renaissance cloisters, an elaborate garden maze and contemporary conceptual structures arranged within a private woodland. It can only be accessed on a set of three guided tours offered at fixed times, each lasting 45 minutes, and able to be mixed and matched on combination tickets.
The must-see tour is of the foundation itself, occupying the bulk of San Giorgio's historic abbey. The Benedictines were forced to downsize by Napoleon, who took over their buildings and stole their art, allowing only a handful of monks to remain to administer the church. The old abbey was derelict when industrialist and art patron Vittorio Cini – a survivor of Dachau – acquired it in 1951 and restored it in memory of his son, Giorgio, who died in a plane crash in 1949.
When you join the tour, you'll be provided with a headset in a language of your choosing and then led through the complex, starting in a magnificent cloister designed by Palladio. Veronese's vast Wedding Feast at Cana (1563) hung in Palladio's refectory until 1797, when it was looted by Napoleon and sent to the Louvre, where it still resides – an extraordinary full-sized super-high-quality digital copy hangs in its place.
Vatican Chapels
The Vatican Chapels tour is really only suited to dedicated design buffs. It visits a series of conceptual structures designed by contemporary architects that were erected as the Holy See's contribution to the 2018 Architecture Biennale. The multilingual headsets help to make sense of the unusual constructions, which are set within a forested park secluded behind a gate at the rear of the island.
