Venice Things to Do

Santa Maria della Salute is my favoured church in Venice, more than San Marco for a very practical reason: during my last two visits to Venice the queue at San Marco was so long that I abandoned any...

On every visit of the doge's palace I was surprised by the contrast between the brightness, the clear colours and the elegance of the outside facades and the rather dark decoration from the inside of...

“Facing the wide area of the great square stood the quaint and venerable cathedral of San Marco.” —from “The Bravo: a Venetian Story” 1834 by James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) The red porphyry group,...

This is the center piece of Venice. It is stunning, iconic and stacked high with history, art and architecture. Its delicately tiled surface is filled with as many pigeons as tourists, and they dive...

A work of art and architecture, the bell tower of San Marco stands right in front of the church on Piazza San Marco. The "Campanile", as it is most often referred to by the Venetians, is an...

After a day of rowing, or waiting for the customers, the gondoliers are bringing back their gondolas; here at Campo Santa Sofia on the Grand Canal facing the Mercado (photo 1 & video). It's around 19...

On my last visit to Venice my perception of the Grand Canal was different from the previous visits where I had been, sitting at the bow of the vaporetto, admiring the palaces appearing one after...

There are three ways of crossing the steep up and down Rialto Bridge: 1° The central walkway between the shops is used by the Venetians and those tourists who just want to join Canaregio or San Marco...

Named so because of old paintings by the artist on the walls of the ballroom, this event happens once during the Carnival. The building is called Ca Pisani-Moretta and, of course, it faces the Grand...

“A lowered arch, a small Doric order with embossed, circular pediments overloaded with some windings, such is the Bridge of Sighs. It is properly speaking only a passage ten meters in lengths driving...

A visit, best before 9 am, to the fish market is like visiting the collections of the sea life department of a natural history museum. The variety of fish, shellfish, cephalopods and mollusks is...

This was the bridge between the prison and the interrogation chambers in the Doge's Palace, built in 1602. The story was that the last view of Venice's beauty would be the last thing a prisoner would...

“We got to Venice at one o’clock in the afternoon, and stopped at the Hotel Denielli on the water east of the Doge’s palace. It was a chilly day and the chain of mountains seen to the north of us all...

Venice is practically a patchwork of tiny islands isolated in a sea of canals, but it also has a number of actual islands dotted around outside the main city. I visited three: San Giorgio Maggiore,...

The Jewish Ghetto of Venice is home to one of Europe's oldest Jewish populations, and the original ghetto. It is believed that the name ghetto even gets its name from the place the Jewish people were...

Venice is a city on the water, but... how to get potable water? A very ingenious system collected the rain across filters to large cisterns in the centre of the squares. The water was then drawn up...

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...

There are plenty of art museums in Venice, and I visited a few, but the one that really stood out was the only one not entwined with the ancient history of the museum, but rather than modern. Tucked...

Less than an hour away by vaporetto, Burano is waiting for you! The whole island is eye candy and a photographer's paradise. I live near Venice and go here often, even in the winter. Wander around...

The Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo was built for the Contarini family during the 15th century, the same powerful family for whom Ca' d'Oro was built. Perhaps to make up for the fact that this palazzo...

Feed the pigeons! I love animals, maybe that's why, and like I said I've been to Venice 100 times, but feed the pigeons still amuses me! And now I have my daughter doing it with me, even more fun...

The Gallerie dell'Accademia has a collection of, mainly religious, older paintings from the heyday of the Venetian Renaissance. Included in the collection are some big names such as Bellini, Mantagna...

If I had to live on an island that would be San Giorgio: the view on San Marco and not the crowd of San Marco! My favoured place to sit and look around are the steps (photo 2) at the entrance of the...

“When I seek another word for ‘music,’ I never find any other word than ‘Venice.’ ” —Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900, Nietzsche visited Venice in 1880 for seven weeks) FINDING MUSIC IN VENICE A banner...

Consecrated in 1592, this church (the Redeemer) was designed by Andrea Palladio. It was a church meant to be dedicated in thanks for deliverance from the 1575-6 plague that killed some 30% of Venice's...