Attractions in Venice

St. Mark's Basilica (Basilica di San Marco) is Venice's cathedral and one of the finest examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture in the world. Built in 1094 to house the relics of St. Mark the Evangelist, its five domes and golden mosaics make it instantly recognizable.

St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) is the monumental heart of Venice, the only piazza in a city of campi. Flanked by the Basilica, the Campanile, the Doge's Palace, and the Procuratie arcades, Napoleon called it 'the drawing room of Europe.'

The Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri) is an enclosed white Istrian stone bridge built in 1600, connecting the Doge's Palace to the New Prisons across the Rio di Palazzo. Its name evokes the sighs of prisoners catching their last glimpse of Venice through its small windows.

Santa Maria della Salute is a monumental baroque church commanding the entrance to the Grand Canal. Its distinctive silhouette of a great dome flanked by volute buttresses is one of Venice's most photographed landmarks.

The Rialto Bridge (Ponte di Rialto) is the oldest and most famous of four bridges crossing Venice's Grand Canal. Completed in 1591, its bold single-arch stone design was controversial at the time but has become an enduring symbol of the city.

Teatro La Fenice (Theatre of the Phoenix) is one of the most famous opera houses in the world, a jeweled gem-box of red velvet, gold leaf, and crystal. True to its name, it has risen from fire three times.

The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari is Venice's greatest Gothic church, built by the Franciscan order over nearly a century. It contains two of Titian's most important altarpieces and the composer Claudio Monteverdi's tomb.

The Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo (San Zanipolo in Venetian) is Venice's largest church and the traditional burial place of the doges. Twenty-five doges rest here amid monumental tombs and paintings.

Madonna dell'Orto is a beautiful Gothic church in northern Cannaregio, the parish church of Tintoretto, who lived nearby and is buried here. It contains several of his most powerful paintings.

Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo is a hidden architectural gem in Venice, famous for its extraordinary external spiral staircase — a Renaissance corkscrew of arches rising through five floors in a secluded courtyard.

The Scala del Bovolo is a remarkable late-15th-century external spiral staircase hidden in a quiet courtyard near Campo Manin. Its elegant succession of arched loggias creates a stunning architectural helix.

The Squero di San Trovaso is one of the last remaining gondola boatyards in Venice, where traditional craftsmen still build and repair gondolas by hand. The picturesque wooden workshop resembles an alpine chalet amid the canals.

The Arsenale was the state shipyard of the Venetian Republic and one of the largest industrial complexes in pre-industrial Europe. At its peak, 16,000 workers could construct a fully equipped galley in a single day using assembly-line methods.