DESTINATION VENICE: Attractions & Culture

Quick Links Piazza San Marco Gondolas of Venice Grand Canal Murano

BOVOLO STAIRCASE The Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo is a small palace in Venice, best known for the external spiral staircase, with a plethora of arches, known as the Scala Contarini del Bovolo (of the snail). The palace dates from the 15th century. The staircase leads to an arcade, providing a charming upanoramic view over some of the roof-tops of the city ...

BRIDGE OF SIGHS The Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri) is a bridge in Venice. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. It was designed by Antoni Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge), and built in 1602 ...

DISCOVER BURANO Burano is an island in the Venetian Lagoon. It lies near Torcello at the northern end of the Lagoon, and is known for its lacework. Burano is also known for its small, brightly-painted houses, popular with artists. Other attractions include the Church of San Martino, the Museum and School of Lacemaking ...

CA' D'ORO Ca' d'Oro (correctly the Palazzo Santa Sofia) is one of the most beautiful palazzos on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy and surely the most famous. One of the older palazzos, it has always been known as Ca' d'Oro (golden house) due to the gilt and polychrome external decorations which once adorned its walls ...

CA' REZZONICO Ca' Rezzonico is a palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice. Today it is a museum dedicated to 18th century Venice. It is one of the few palazzi in Venice, where the public can gain an insight into what lies behind the ornamental, but often secretive facades of the many exquisite buildings which line the Grand Canal ...

DOGE'S PALACE The Doge's Palace is a gothic palace in Venice, Italy. The current palace was largely constructed from 1309 to 1424 on 9th century origins, designed perhaps by Filippo Calendario. Giovanni and Bartolomeo Buon designed and executed the so-called "Porta della Carta", a monumental late-gothic gate on the Piazzetta side ...

GONDOLAS OF VENICE A gondola is a traditional Venetian rowing boat. Gondolas have for centuries been the chief means of transportation within Venice and still have a role in public transport, serving as traghetti (ferries) over major canals. The gondola is propelled by an oarsman (the gondolier) who stands facing the bow and pushes...

GRAND CANAL OF VENICE The Grand Canal is a canal in Venice, Italy. It forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. Public transport is provided by water buses (Italian: vaporetti) and private water taxis, and many tourists explore the canal by gondola. At one end the canal leads into the lagoon near Santa Lucia railway station and the other end leads into Saint Mark Basin ...

HORSES OF ST. MARK'S The Triumphal Quadriga or Horses of St Mark's is a set of bronze statues of four horses, originally part of a monument depicting a quadriga (a four-horse carriage used for chariot racing), which have been set into the facade of St Mark's Basilica since the thirteenth century ...

DISCOVER MURANO Murano is usually described as an island in the Venetian Lagoon, although like Venice itself it is actually an archipelago of islands linked by bridges. It lies about a mile north of Venice and is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking. Murano was settled by the Romans, then by people from Altino and Oderzo ...

RIALTO BRIDGE The Rialto Bridge spans the Grand Canal in Venice. It is the oldest bridge across the canal and probably the most famous in the city. The first dry crossing of the Grand Canal was a pontoon bridge built in 1181 by Nicoḷ Barattieri. It was called the Ponte della Moneta, presumably because of the mint that stood nearby ...

ST. MARK'S BASILICA The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark (Saint Mark's Basilica) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. It lies at the eastern end of the Piazza San Marco, connected to the Doge's Palace ...

ST. MARK'S CAMPANILE St Mark's Campanile is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy, located in the square of the same name. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the cityGalileo Galilei famously demonstrated his telescope to the Doge of Venice Antonio Priuli on August 21, 1609 from the Campanile ...

ST. MARK'S SQUARE St Mark's Square, often known in English by its Italian name Piazza San Marco, is the town square of Venice, Italy. The Piazza is the only urban space big enough to be called a piazza in Venice: the rest are campi. It was the Romantic French poet Alfred de Musset who called it the "drawing-room of Europe" ...

SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE San Giorgio Maggiore is one of the islands of Venice, northern Italy, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group. The isle is surrounded by Canale della Grazia, Canale della Giudecca, Saint Mark Basin, Canale di San Marco and the southern lagoon. It forms part of the San Marco sestiere ...

SANTA MARIA FORMOSA Santa Maria Formosa is a church erected in 1492 under the design by architect Mauro Codussi. It lies on the site of a former church dating from the 7th century, which, according to tradition, was one of the eight founded by San Magno, bishop of Oderzo. The name 'formosa' relates to an appearance of the Holy Virgin disguised as a voluptuous woman ...

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