78 Best Sights in Venice, Italy

One of the classic postcard sights of Venice, this exquisite Venetian Gothic palace was once literally a "Golden House," when its marble tracery and ornaments were embellished with gold. It was created by Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon between 1428 and 1430 for the patrician Marino Contarini, who had read about the Roman emperor Nero's golden house in Rome, the Domus Aurea, and wished to imitate it as a present to his wife. Her family owned the land and the Byzantine fondaco (palace--trading house) previously standing on it; you can still see the round Byzantine arches incorporated into the Gothic building's entry porch.

The last proprietor, Baron Giorgio Franchetti, left Ca' d'Oro to the city after having it carefully restored and furnished with antiquities, sculptures, and paintings that today make up the Galleria Franchetti. Besides Andrea Mantegna's St. Sebastian and other Venetian works, the Galleria Franchetti contains the type of fresco that once adorned the exteriors of Venetian buildings (commissioned by those who could not afford a marble facade). One such detached fresco displayed here was made by the young Titian for the facade of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi near the Rialto.

Baldassare Longhena's grand Baroque palace, begun in 1676, is the beautifully restored home of two impressive collections. The Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna has works by 19th- and 20th-century artists, such as Klimt, Kandinsky, Matisse, and Miró. It also has a collection of representative works from the Venice Biennale that amounts to a panorama of 20th-century art. The pride of the Museo Orientale is its collection of Japanese art—and especially armor and weapons—of the Edo period (1603–1868). It also has a small but striking collection of Chinese and Indonesian porcelains and musical instruments.

Construction of Venice's famous brick bell tower (325 feet tall, plus the angel) began in the 9th century; it took on its present form in 1514. During the 15th century, the tower was used as a place of punishment: immoral clerics were suspended in wooden cages from the tower, some forced to subsist on bread and water for as long as a year; others were left to starve. In 1902, the tower unexpectedly collapsed, taking with it Jacopo Sansovino's marble loggia (1537–49) at its base. The largest original bell, called the Marangona, survived. The crushed loggia was promptly reconstructed, and the new tower, rebuilt to the old plan, reopened in 1912. On a clear day the stunning view includes the Lido, the lagoon, and the mainland as far as the Alps, but strangely enough, none of the myriad canals that snake through the city.

In Venice's most prestigious residential neighborhood, you'll find one of the city's busiest crossroads just over the Accademia Bridge; it's hard to believe this square once hosted bullfights, with bulls or oxen tied to a stake and baited by dogs. For centuries the campo (square) was all grass except for a stone avenue called the liston. It was so popular for strolling that in Venetian dialect "andare al liston" still means "to go for a walk." A sunny meeting spot popular with Venetians and visitors alike, the campo also hosts outdoor fairs during Christmas and Carnevale seasons. Check out the 14th-century Chiesa di Santo Stefano. The pride of the church is its very fine Gothic portal, created in 1442 by Bartolomeo Bon. Inside, you'll see works by Tintoretto.

The impressive boat collection here includes scale models, such as the doges' ceremonial Bucintoro, and full-size boats, such as Peggy Guggenheim's private gondola complete with romantic felze (cabin). There's a range of old galley and military pieces, a section dedicated to Admiral Morosini (who plundered the Arsenale's Porta Magna lions nearby), and a large collection of seashells. A visit to the Paglione delle Nave, a part of the museum, allows you to see a portion of the interior of the Arsenale otherwise closed to visitors.

Housed in the incomplete but nevertheless charming Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, this choice selection of 20th-century painting and sculpture represents the taste and extraordinary style of the late heiress Peggy Guggenheim. Through wealth, social connections, and a sharp eye for artistic trends, Guggenheim (1898–1979) became an important art dealer and collector from the 1930s through the 1950s, and her personal collection here includes works by Picasso, Kandinsky, Pollock, Motherwell, and Ernst (her onetime husband). The museum serves beverages, snacks, and light meals in its refreshingly shady and artistically sophisticated garden.

Theories abound on this lovely square's unusual name; one hypothesis is that there was once a laurel tree here and the Venetian dialect has thoroughly transformed the word (lauro in Italian). In any case, today's trees lend it shade and character. Add benches and a fountain (with a drinking bowl for dogs), and the pleasant, oddly shaped campo becomes a welcoming place for friendly conversation and neighborhood kids at play. The church of San Giacomo dall'Orio (another common spelling) was founded in the 9th century on an island still populated (the legend goes) by wolves. The current church dates from 1225.

The church of San Stae—the Venetian name for Sant' Eustachio (St. Eustace)—was reconstructed in 1687 by Giovanni Grassi and given a new facade in 1707 by Domenico Rossi. Renowned Venetian painters and sculptors of the early 18th century decorated this church around 1717 with the legacy left by Doge Alvise II Mocenigo, who's buried in the center aisle. San Stae affords a good opportunity to see the early works of Gianbattista Tiepolo, Sebastiano Ricci, and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, as well as those of the previous generation of Venetian painters, with whom they had studied.

For Tiepolo fans, trekking to the outer reaches of a pleasant residential section of Cannaregio to visit the unassuming Gothic church of Sant'Alvise is well worth the trouble. The little church holds Gianbattista Tiepolo's three panels of the Passion of Christ. He painted these panels, which display a new interest in dramatic intensity, and perhaps the influence of Tintoretto and Titian, for the church during his middle period, between 1737 and 1740.

Guided by his vision of a beautiful Madonna, 7th-century St. Magno is said to have followed a small white cloud and built a church where it settled. Gracefully white, the marble building you see today dates from 1492, built by Mauro Codussi on an older foundation. Codussi's harmonious Renaissance design is best understood by visiting the interior; the Renaissance facade facing the canal was added later, in 1542, and the baroque facade facing the campo was added in 1604. Of interest are three fine paintings: Our Lady of Mercy by Bartolomeo Vivarini, Santa Barbara by Palma Vecchio, and Madonna with St. Domenic by Gianbattista Tiepolo. The surrounding square bustles with sidewalk cafés and a produce market on weekday mornings.

After a plague in 1576 claimed some 50,000 people—nearly one-third of the city's population (including Titian)—Andrea Palladio was asked to design a commemorative church. Giudecca's Capuchin friars offered land and their services, provided the building's design was in keeping with the simplicity of their hermitage. Consecrated in 1592, after Palladio's death, the Redentore (considered Palladio's supreme achievement in ecclesiastical design) is dominated by a dome and a pair of slim, almost minaretlike bell towers. Its deceptively simple, stately facade leads to a bright, airy interior. There aren't any paintings or sculptures of note, but the harmony and elegance of the interior makes a visit worthwhile.

When the order of Santa Maria del Carmelo commissioned Baldassare Longhena to finish the work on the Scuola Grande dei Carmini in the 1670s, their confraternity was one of the largest and wealthiest in Venice. Little expense was spared in the stuccoed ceilings and carved wooden paneling, and the artwork is remarkable. The paintings by Gianbattista Tiepolo that adorn the Baroque ceiling of the Sala Capitolare (Chapter House) are particularly alluring. In what many consider his best work, the artist’s nine canvases vividly transform some rather conventional religious themes into dynamic displays of color and movement.

This scuola was founded in the 13th century, but the actual building is the work of various Venetian Renaissance architects and dates from the 15th century. In the 1480s the architect Pietro Lombardo finished the school's most beautiful and important architectural feature, the outdoor atrium and gateway that separate the complex from the campo adjoining it. Shortly after, in 1498, the architect Mauro Codussi finished work on a double staircase connecting the upper and lower halls. It is illuminated by a mullioned window on the landing between the two flights of stairs, an architectural device much used by Codussi. Carpaccio and Gentile Bellini painted their cycle of the miracle of the holy cross, now in the Accademia museum, originally for the Scuola di San Giovanni.

This enameled clock, completed in 1499, was most likely designed by Venetian Renaissance architect Mauro Codussi. Twin giant figures with tarnished bronze bodies strike the hour each day, while three wise men with an angel walk out and bow to the Virgin Mary on Epiphany (January 6) and during Ascension Week (40 days after Easter). An inscription on the tower reads "Horas non numero nisi serenas" ("I only count happy hours"). Originally, the clock tower had a much lighter, more graceful appearance, and was freestanding. The four lateral bays were added in the early 16th century, while the upper stories and balustrades were completed in 1755. The clock itself was neglected until the 19th century, but after years of painstaking labor, it was reassembled and is fully operational. Guided tours, which start at the Museo Correr's ticket office, are held in English numerous times a week (for adults and children age six and older); book in advance online or by phone.

Being an independent nation based on commerce, Venice in the 16th and 17th centuries was the premier European city for inventions, patents, and research. Midwives, for example, were required by the Ministry of Health to be able to read, to be certified to have spent two years attending anatomical dissections relating to obstetrics, to have spent two years as an assistant to an approved midwife, and to have passed a final examination conducted not only by doctors, but two midwives who were permitted to question the candidate. In the 1770s obstetric surgeon Giovanni Menini paid for the construction of an anatomy theater where not only midwives, but also surgeons, were taught. The building is now used for civic functions. The adjacent bridge is named the Ponte de l'Anatomia.

You might complete your circuit of Jewish Venice with a visit to the Antico Cimitero Ebraico, full of fascinating old tombstones half hidden by ivy and grass. The earliest grave dates from 1389; the cemetery remained in use until the late 18th century. You can book guided tours through the Jewish Museum of Venice; see their website ( www.ghettovenezia.com) for details, as it's sometimes not accessible to the public.

Just past the glass museum, this is among the first churches founded by the lagoon's original inhabitants. The elaborate mosaic pavement includes the date 1140; its ship's-keel roof and Veneto-Byzantine columns add to the semblance of an ancient temple. Though renovations are ongoing, the church can still be visited.

Only Piazza San Marco is larger than this square, and the echo of children's voices bouncing off the surrounding palaces makes the space seem even bigger. Campo San Polo once hosted bullfights, fairs, military parades, and packed markets, and now comes especially alive on winter days when a temporary ice-skating rink is installed. In the summer, an outdoor cinema is set up with 1,300 seats.

The Chiesa di San Polo has been restored so many times that little remains of the original 9th-century church, and the 19th-century alterations were so costly that, sadly, the friars sold off many great paintings to pay bills. Although Gianbattista Tiepolo is represented here, his work is outdone by 16 paintings by his son Giandomenico (1727–1804), including the Stations of the Cross in the oratory to the left of the entrance. The younger Tiepolo also created a series of expressive and theatrical renderings of the saints. Look for altarpieces by Tintoretto and Veronese that managed to escape auction.

San Polo's bell tower (begun 1362), across the street from the entrance to the church, remained unchanged over the centuries—don't miss the two lions, playing with a disembodied human head and a serpent, on the wall just above the tower's doorway. Tradition has it that the head refers to that of Marino Faliero, the doge executed for treason in 1355.

Lined with cafés and restaurants generally filled with students from the two nearby universities, Campo Santa Margherita also has produce vendors and benches where you can sit and take in the bustling local life of the campo. Also close to Ca' Rezzonico and the Scuola Grande dei Carmini, and only a 10-minute walk from the Gallerie dell'Accademia, the square is the center of Dorsoduro social life. It takes its name from the church to one side, closed since the early 19th century and now used as an auditorium. On weekend evenings, especially in the summer, it attracts hordes of students, even from the mainland.

This large, attractive square is the site of two city landmarks: the imposing namesake Gothic church and the Scuola Grande di San Marco, with one of the loveliest Renaissance facades in Italy. The scuola's (men's fraternal institution) exterior is the combined work of Venice's most prominent Renaissance architects. The facade was begun by Pietro Lombardo in the 1480s, then in 1490 the work was given over to Mauro Codussi, who also added a grand stairway in the interior. In the 16th century, Sansovino designed the facade facing the Rio dei Mendicanti. The campo also contains the only equestrian monument ever erected by La Serenissima. The rider, Bartolomeo Colleoni, served Venice well as a condottiere, or mercenary commander—the Venetians preferred to pay others to fight for them on land. When he died in 1475, he left his fortune to the city on the condition that a statue be erected in his honor "in the piazza before San Marco." The Republic's shrewd administrators coveted Colleoni's ducats but had no intention of honoring anyone, no matter how valorous, with a statue in Piazza San Marco. So they collected the money, commissioned a statue by Florentine sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio (1435–88), and put it up before the Scuola Grande di San Marco.

Hallowed as the site of Richard Wagner's death and today Venice's most glamorous casino, this magnificent edifice found its fame centuries earlier: Venetian star architect Mauro Codussi (1440–1504) essentially invented Venetian Renaissance architecture with this design. Built for the Loredan family around 1500, Codussi's palace married the fortresslike design of the Florentine Alberti's Palazzo Rucellai with the lightness and delicacy of the Venetian Gothic. Note how Codussi beautifully exploits the flickering light of Venetian waterways to play across the building's facade and to pour in through the generous windows. Consult the website to book a guided tour of the small Museo Wagner upstairs, where an archive, events, and concerts may interest Wagnerians.

Venice has always prized the beauty of this palace. In 1652 its owners were convicted of a rather gruesome murder, and the punishment would have involved, as was customary, the demolition of their palace. The murderers were banned from the Republic, but the palace, in view of its beauty and historical importance, was spared. Only a newly added wing was torn down.

Unwanted babies were left on the steps of this religious institute, founded by a Franciscan friar in 1346. The adjoining orphanage provided the children with a musical education. The quality of the performances here reached continental fame—the in-house conductor was none other than Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741), who wrote some of his best compositions here for the hospice. The present church was designed in the 18th century by Giorgio Massari, but the facade was completed only in the early 20th century. The main reason for a visit is to view the magnificent ceiling fresco by Gianbattista Tiepolo. In a room to the left of the entrance is a tiny collection of baroque instruments, including the violin played by Vivaldi. There are guided tours Tuesday through Sunday.

Tiny, cypress-lined San Michele is home to the first church designed by Mauro Codussi and the first example of Renaissance architecture in Venice; the gracefully elegant structure shows the profound influence of Florentine architects Alberti and Rossellino that would come to full fruition in Codussi's palaces on the Canale Grande. The church's dedication to St. Michael is singularly appropriate, since traditionally he holds the scales of the Last Judgment.

Next to the church is the somewhat later hexagonal Capella Emiliani (1528–1543), whose strangely shaped dome recalls those of Etruscan tombs.

Within this Benedictine monastery is a peacefully shady 12th-century cloister that has been modified over the centuries. It remains the only surviving example of a Romanesque cloister in Venice. The brick pavement is original, and the many inscriptions and fragments on display (some from the 9th century) are all that remain of the first Basilica di San Marco.

Commonly referred to as the "Calatrava Bridge" after its designer, Santiago Calatrava, this swooping modern arch crossing the Grand Canal connects Piazzale Roma to the train station. Opinions have differed wildly on its aesthetic ever since its inauguration in 2008, but no one can deny its long-overdue usefulness—as many as 5,000 people a day cross it when arriving, departing, or daily commuting. It has become notorious for its structural flaws, most notably slippery steps made of Murano glass that—it is said—are eventually going to be replaced by concrete. Whatever your thoughts on its beauty, the views from its graceful summit are always engaging.

This broad, bustling waterfront promenade is one of Venice's prime stretches for strolling; thanks to its southern orientation along the Giudecca Canal, it is full of families, students, children, and dogs whenever there is the slightest ray of sunshine. Come in spring or winter to warm up a little, or in the summer to cool off under café umbrellas with drinks or gelato. Restaurant terraces over the water lure diners until late. The name Zattere means "rafts," and this was the area designated by the Venetian government for storing the vast platforms of tree trunks that were floated down rivers from the nearby Alps destined to become pilings, beams, ships, or any other item made of wood.

After the Dominicans took over the church of Santa Maria della Visitazione from the suppressed order of Gesuati laymen in 1668, Giorgio Massari, the last of the great Venetian Baroque architects, was commissioned to build this structure between 1726 and 1735. It has an important Gianbattista Tiepolo (1696–1770) illusionistic ceiling and several other of his works, plus those of his contemporaries Giambattista Piazzetta (1683–1754) and Sebastiano Ricci (1659–1734). Outside on the right-hand wall above a small staircase is a bronze door decorated with a series of panels showing scenes from the life of Jesus by noted Venetian sculptor Francesco Scarpabolla.

Located just across the Grand Canal between Piazzale Roma and the train station, this lush oasis was created in the 1830s by demolishing the former monastery of Santa Croce. A tranquil place to sit in the shade, the gardens feature flowers, large, leafy trees, and a small playground for children. Pause to admire the marble statue of civil engineer Pietro Paleòcapa; not a Venetian, but one of the great 19th-century hydraulic engineers modifying rivers and swamps in Italy and Europe. He served in Venice as Director of Public Works and crowned his career by collaborating with Luigi Negrelli in the planning of the Suez Canal.

Launched in 2019 and housed mainly in the former Dreher brewery industrial complex, GAD art village comprises a number of galleries and spaces, including those of renowned video artist Fabrizio Plessi, and hosts temporary exhibitions by world-renowned artists like Yoko Ono and other Biennale artists.

Set in the west wing of a former boarding school within the Cini Foundation complex, these sleek gallery rooms host exhibitions exploring 20th- and 21st-century glass, from art pieces to commercial producers, including Venini.