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The main building (15th century) was once the granary of Venice.
The ground floor and the first two floors present the exploits and equipment of the Navy of Venice and of the Italian naval Fleet. The museum is owned by the Italian Navy so that the 19th and 20th century, with the commando raids by human torpedo's, are more represented than the Navy of the Venetian Republic itself.
On the first floor a room is dedicated to the Bucintoro, the ceremonial barge of the Dodge from which every year on Ascension Day he would throw a ring into the lagoon, symbolizing the marriage of Venice to the sea. There are also models of ancient ships as well as a small ceremonial galley. In other rooms are shown models of commercial ships of the 20th century.
The third floor contains models and objects from gondolas, fishing boats and other vessels from the Venetian lagoon.
A room shows models of oriental junks; another one is dedicated to the Swedish navy and finally a room contains a collection of shells. These rooms, obviously, have nothing to do with the "Serenissima"!
Besides the main building the Ship Pavilion houses some Venetian boats among which a parade galley of 18 oars the "Scalea Reale".
Actually this museum disappoints the visitors who came for the navy of Venice, a navy which from the 12th to the 16th century dominated the Adriatic and the Oriental Mediterranean Sea. The navy of the Serenissima and its maritime power is finally not much represented.
It is disappointing all the more as at the time of its glory Venice maintained permanently a hundred galleys plus the merchant ships.
The museum does not show much of this. No battle galley was preserved, you do not find here historic vessels as the "Mary Rose" or "Victory" in Portsmouth, nor a replica like in the Netherlands with the commercial vessel "Amsterdam" of the VOC exposed at the maritime museum of Amsterdam.
The amateur who wants to see galleys will even see more impressive ones in the maritime museums of Barcelona or Lisbon-Belem.
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CASTELLO
Crossing over Ponte della Paglia, having taken your photo of The Bridge of Sighs, you arrive onto Riva degli Schiavoni - The Dalmations Quay.
(We have left San Marco sestieri (one of the 6 neighbourhoods of Venice) and are now in Castello sestieri - If You're ever unsure where You are in Venice, the street signs also name the Sestieri - and Yellow signs point to San Marco, Rialto Bridge and other main landmarks)
The name comes from schiavone-the Italian word for Slav, which in Venice was linked to the word slave. Slave trading was a common occurance in the early life of the city. Most slaves arrived from Dalmatian coastal towns.
Many of these Slavs were Christian, or converted to the faith, so by the 11th century, the slave trade in Venice ended.
The quayside, became the location where merchant ships from the ports of the Mediterranean, Adriatic, and further afield unloaded their goods.
It was such an important transit port, that the area had to be widened between 1780-82 by the architect Tommaso Temanza, to accommodate the increasingly busy trade.
Apparently a white stone border marks the original boundary. Canaletto's drawings of the Riva during the 1740's and 1750s show an area busy with gondolas, barges and sailing boats.
The Riva has been one of Venices highly desired addresses, with Petrarch in 1362 (No. 4145) and Henry James (No 4161) residing here. The Hotel Danieli (No 4196) has boasted Dickens, Proust, Wagner and Ruskin as guests. Today it welcomes guests willing to part with 700 Euros for its cheaper rooms - 900 Euro with a lagoon view!
Nowadays, this popular promenade still continues its trading history, although this time through the many gift shops and souvenir stalls.
There are also Exchange bureaus, and snack stalls, and You'll no doubt encounter a multitude of street entertainers along your stroll.
This is a pleasant area to stroll at dusk, as the sun sets over the water.
For those preferring a longer walk, and to see some of Venices' less visited areas, with views across the water -
The Riva stretches along the Bacino di San Marco from the Ducal Palace to the Rio Ca'di Dio near the Arsenale Vaporetto stop. Here, the promenade changes its name to Riva Ca' di Dio, until the bridge crossing the Rio dell' Arsenale. The section in front of the Naval museum is The Riva S Biagio, crossing the next bridge you are then on Riva dei Sette Martiri, which is a longer promenade, stretching to near the Giardini Vaporetto stop. Continuing in front of the Giardini Pubblici along the Viale del Giardini Pubblici, then crossing the bridge, you'll find yourself in Sant' Elena at the easternmost end of Venice. Leave a Comment Address: Riva degli Schiavani,Castello VeniceDirections: Vaporetto - SAN ZACCARIA
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 by Mahieu
My favourite area was Castello. In and around the Via Garibaldi, it is so quiet and you see harldy any tourists. Laundry drying outside, elder people taking a rest on one of the benches, ... : this is my kind of Venice! Leave a Comment
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 Calle delle Rasse street
sign by suvanki
Retracing your steps along the Riva degli Schiavoni, look for the Hotel Danieli. This is the largest and possibly one of the most famous hotels in Venice, and one of the top hotels in the world.
Originally built as a Palace for the ducal Dandolo family in the 14th century, it became a hotel in 1822, named after its owner Joseph Da Niel. Newer wings were added in the 1940's Apparently its opulent interior is crammed with marble, stained glass, crystal chandeliers, silk covered walls, gilt mirrors and oriental carpets. It also has the uninterrupted view over the lagoon - but this comes with the accompanying noise from the pavement below!
Between the 2 buildings of the hotel is a narrow street, Calle delle Rasse. Walking along here, you'll see many fish restaurants, bars and shops. When I visited at Christmas, small twinkling white lights decorated the street.
This street was originally a hive of industry- Rasse was a black strong canvas- like material, that was used to cover the gondolas, to protect their ornate furnishings and fabrics. So manufacturing, selling and sewing of this material took place all along the street, and led to its name. Leave a Comment Address: Calle delle Rasse, Castello, VeniceDirections: Vaporetto SAN ZACCARIA
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 Arsenale by sachara
Approaching the Arsenale along the canal, Rio dell' Arsenale, you have a great view at the twin towers, built in the 16th century. Nowadays the Arsenale is a military area with most parts closed for visitors. I could visit the Corderia, used as exhibitionhall during the Biennale. Leave a Comment Address: Castello
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Scuole, played a major role in Venezia. One of these is the Scuola Grande di San Marco with a marvellous southern façade. Maybe some of you know this building from Canaletto’s painting SS Giovanni e Paolo and the Scuola di San Marco of 1725, which is on exhibit in Dresden’s Gallery of Old Masters. Looking at this painting is fascinating, as it could have been made in todays’ time. Not much has changed, except the clothes of the people of course. However, the magnificent façade cannot be seen in the painting. But it is of a similar style as Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli and some palazzos along Canal Grande (Palazzi Dario and Manzoni for example). Similar as with the Byzantine ornaments, once I have seen this style, I started to see parts of it all over Venezia. he portal has beautiful decoration as well, scenes of San Marco's life.
Only later I learnt that it is indeed of a similar school, Pietro Lombardi and family have also started the work on Scuola San Marco’s façade. It was finished later by Mauro Coducci around 1500. What I mean in decoration are these polychrome dark red and dark green marble discs surrounded by elaborate circles as in photo 1. But the most intriguing is the symmetrical perspective of the façade’s entrance portal decorations. If you stand at one end of the campo and look at the building, the two arches flanking the portal look very much three-dimensional (photo 3 or 5): the lion seems to step out of the arch and the arches’ vault seems to vanish into the rear. But the closer you walk towards it, the more the illusion becomes obvious: these details are worked out in relief and partly in trompe d’œil style (see photos 1 and 2).
Oh, I almost forgot to write that this magnificent building is Venezia’s Ospedale Civile (main hospital) now. Some of the scuola’s magnificent interior can be visited Mondays to Fridays in the morning, this now through the southern entrance. Leave a Comment
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Chiesa San Zanipolo is marvellous inside. I can only highly recommend not to race through her, as you might miss one of the many treasures she holds. I stayed in there for nearly 3 hours and came back to see more. Also, the timing should be considered, as I found it quite fascinating to be inside around noon on a sunny day – the light painted the most marvellous effects on the anyhow fantastic marble grounds (photo 3).
If you come inside the church, take some moments and just stand there and look around: this will give you an idea how big she really is.
On the right hand side there is a big early Renaissance triptych, depicting San Vincenzo Ferrer (photo 3). He was a Spanish Dominican mendicant in 14th century. The triptych is said to be made by Bellini, but some art historicans doubt that.
Further to the right are three side chapels; the most interesting and artistic I found is Cappella di San Domenico with a marvellous ceiling fresco showing the apotheosis of San Domenico (photo 1). In the little side chapel next to it is an icon of Madonna della Pace, which was given to the Domenicans in 14th century and which is said to have miraculous powers. On the left side is the famous Cappella del Rosario (photo 5), which was built in 1582 as a votive chapel to celebrate the famous victory in Battle of Lepanto. Originally, Tintoretto has contributed with paintings, but these were destroyed during a fire in 1867 and have been replaced with paintings by Veronese. Try and go into this chapel during midday or a bit earlier, when the sun paints magic lights & shadows on the magnificent multicoloured marble floor.
While most of Venezia’s churches don’t have that much of stained glass windows, Zanipolo has one, in the southern transept (photo 4). It was of course made in Murano and shows many bible scenes and also St. George killing the dragon. Leave a Comment
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Of all the campos I saw and stayed in Venezia, Campo San Zanipolo was my favourite. Haha, easy enough, as I lived just around the corner (when staying in the appartment). I still don’t know what it was with this campo, maybe that the hospital is situated here and that the people often stop by in the cafes, restaurants and bàcari during their hospital visits ? And of course there is the church San Zanipolo with mass service. Consequently, on weekends the campo is full with real Veneziano life – just perfect. Now this campo has another advantage: by now it is the only place in Venezia, where the most famous pasticceria of all has a shop: Rosa Salva. They make the best sweets on the planet and their coffee smells…. divine !
The campo’s importance is indicated by the very nice and elaborate well (photo 1) and the famous equestrian sculpture of Bartolomeo Colleoni (photos 2 and 3). This sculpture is famous in several respects: it is one of the first bronze sculptures of that size, and even John Ruskin believed that there is no more glorious work of sculpture in this world. Then, you might ask how does a horse get into a town dominated by canales ? There is an interesting and funny story behind this. Colleoni was one of Venezia’s most famous leaders of armed forces on terra firma back in mid 15th century. In his testament he promised to donate a large sum to Venezia, if he would get immortality with a monument in front of San Marco. Now La Serenissima could not accept a foreigner from Bergamo, despite his triumphs for the city, standing in front of the Basilica of San Marco. But … smart as the Venezianos have always been – the testament did not specifically say “basilica”, so his statue was placed in front of San Marco, but the Scuola Grande di San Marco. Testament fulfilled, the city had the legal right to claim the money :-) Leave a Comment
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 Marvellous simple western
facade San Zanipolo by Trekki,
4 more photos
The church’s outside is very simple, brown brick and except the later built entrance portal has almost no decoration – reflecting the Domenicans’ life of privation. Inside, she has two chapels on each side and four apses around the main apse in the east. It is well worth to spend some time inside San Zanipolo, as it was here where the processions ended since 14th century when a doge has died. San Zanipolo is final resting place for 27 doges and nicely shows the development in tomb building – from simple ones to opulently decorated ones of Baroque style.
As space is not enough to describe the glory of this church in only one tip, I’ll expand on the next ones.
Opening hours: daily from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., except during masses of course.
Admission: 2,50 €, but note that San Zanipolo is not included in the Chorus Pass. Some travel books however metion that she would be included, but she is not on the Chorus Pass list
Holy masses are held on weekdays 8:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. as well as on Sundays and holidays on 8:30 a.m., 11.00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Leave a Comment
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After this visit we walked back to the Via Giuseppe Garibaldi and headed for the Arsenale di Venezia. The low-rise, close clustered buildings of this working-class area housed the employees of the Arsenale, most of which now lies poignantly derelict. The Arsenale, the ship-building yards of the Venetian fleet, is now closed to the public, because the Italian navy have a base in the old complex. It used to be a mighty complex of dockyards, foundries, magazines and workshops for carpenters, sailmakers, ropemakers and blacksmiths, that had the capability of building a ship in a day.
The impressive military construction of the Arsenale was begun in 1104 and was continually extended from the 14th to the 16th century. It is surrounded by high walls with square towers bearing the insignia of the winged lion. During its golden age, over 16.000 people worked at the Arsenale. The Arsenale di Venezia has two docks and lots of huge buildings. What became known as the Arsenale Vecchio (Old Arsenale) is the core of the whole complex. We loved the sight we had at the most notable structure of the Arsenale di Venezia, the Porta dell'Arsenale, the land gateway. We also had a look at the Corderie, where the ropes were made. The Arsenale is trully an amazing structure. But, to get a better understanding of the naval history of Venice visit the closeby Navy Museum.
Address:
Sestiere of Castello.
Directions:
(North) Eastern of Piazza San Marco – a 5 minute walk. Leave a Comment
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