When visiting Venice you visit the city and its monuments, churches, museums and other attractions.
However, you can visit its beautiful lagoon and its beautiful islands scattered all around, discovering the islands “minor” immersed in the lagoon landscape, each with its own identity and peculiarities.
Everything here is Venice and you must carefully plan what you want to see.
PIAZZA SAN MARCO is with its history and art one of the most places in Venice: Basilica di San Marco, Palazzo Ducale, the Campanile, the Clock Tower and the Magistrates
Basilica di San Marco is the most spectacular and majestic cathedral in the world
You can enjoy looking at the wonderful golden mosaics and inlaid marble floors, beautiful biblical scenes represented in the mosaics, the history and the particularities of this church and its history.
Behind the altar there is the so-called “Pala d’Oro” (the golden altar piece), a precious example of Byzantine art with its myriad of gems and precious stones. You will be amazed at the sight in front of the Treasury, a splendid example of the religious art collected over the centuries.
The Doge’s Palace is one of the symbols of Venice in the world. This Doge’s Palace has represented the head of political power in Venice. In the amazing halls full of most precious paintings the Doge and his Council met to rule the great Republic.
The famous Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) and The Palace of Prisons will introduce you into the life oh those ancient times also from another point of view.
RIALTO is considered the oldest part of Venice.
The operational centre of the trade empire of the Venice Republic, Rialto in Venice Italy is today characterized by a dense urban network of monumental buildings, houses, shops and inns that represent the most genuine traditions and customs of the real soul of Venice.
The Rialto area is dominated by the renowned Rialto Bridge, the oldest crossing over the Grand Canal. It’s the most famous bridge in Venice with its typical shops, the Erbaria (the fruit market), and its amazing views of the Grand Canal, one of the architectural icons of the city.
La Fenice Theatre is one of most famous opera theatres in Europe, which can be viewed from the outside. Opened in 1792 and sadly notorious famous for being destroyed several times by fire, La Fenice in Venice Italy is the main opera house in Venice. During the nineteenth century, the La Fenice Theatre has hosted numerous first concerts of major Italian authors such as Rossini, Bellini, Verdi and Donizetti.
Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo you can admire the famous external staircase Scala del Bovolo, a spiral staircase unique in its kind. Formed by a series of superimposed loggias connecting the various levels of the spiral staircase, in Venetian dialect ‘bovolo’, houses inside an arched cylindrical tower, the elegant Scala del Bovolo in Venice Italy is considered one of the most striking examples of the transition from gothic art to renaissance
MURANO is at easy reach, only five minutes farther. The island not need an introduction, it is associated with the traditional glass processing. Here are many factories for glass factories and exhibitions, but you can also visit the beautiful church as the Cathedral, San Pietro Martire, Santa Maria degli Angeli and Santa Chiara.
BURANO is a picturesque island famous for its colorful houses and shops of handmade lace shops. You will certainly appreciate also the “bussolai” confectionaries selling the good typical biscuits.
Curious also the famous bell tower of the only church on the island.
TORCELLO is a small island located farther towards the mainland. It is the most beautiful and most famous island from the historical point of view. It is the site where one thousand years ago the first inhabitants settled giving birth to the future of the Venetian Republic. Once it was highly populated and it had none churches. Later it decreased. Now there are only two churches left (the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta and the church of Santa Fosca) and there are only 20 people living on the whole island, but it is always overcrowded by tourists.
SAINT LAZARUS OF ARMENIAN. A part of the Armenian culture lies in this island of the Venice Lagoon. On the first half of ‘700, the monastery Mechitarista houses about 170,000 volumes in the library, many manuscripts, as well as Egyptian artifacts, Arabs and Indians. The island is accessible by public transport.
SAN SERVOLO the island was home to the mental hospital until 1978. After a great recovery intervention, the island has been transformed into a conference center and is home to some exhibitions related to the Biennale. The garden of San Servolo, finally, is indisputably one of the most picturesque of all the Venice lagoon.
SAINT FRANCIS OF THE DESERT is a small island between Burano and Sant’Erasmo. It is a charming place where a Franciscan Monastery remembers the story of St. Francis, living there for some time when he was on the way coming from the Holy Land. It is open to visitors but you cannot reach it by a public transport service.
SAN MICHELE is easily accessible from Fondamenta Nove by vaporetto n. 4.1. The island is the cemetery of the city where you can find the memories of many famous men as the American poet Ezra Pound, Stravinsky, Diaghilev and many others.
LIDO is a long island famous for its elegant beaches, marvelous hotels and the great Venice Film Festival, held every year in September with the most famous people and actors from around the world. You can go to Lido by boat n. 5.2 or 5.1.
VENETO: Padova, Treviso, Vicenza, Verona, Lake Garda and the Dolomites
You can considerer also a one-day trip outside Venice on the mainland. There are good and fast trains every hour to reach Padova, Verona and Lake Garda.
You certainly need a car if you want to go to the Riviera del Brenta, a canal with hundreds of beautiful old villas where once rich Venetian people lived in summer.
You can plan to visit Asolo near Treviso, where writers and poets like to live Elizabeth Barret Browning among them.
You can’t miss to go to see the beautiful Dolomites in Cortina d’Ampezzo. It will take only one and half on an hour to go there by car.
There are so many tourist itineraries, guided tours, excursions and many other things to do and see in Venice in mainland !!
We can suggest many tour and if you need a rental car with driver we can recommend an excellent service to better organize your trip.