Category: Things To Do In Venice

Venice never had a Renaissance the way Florence did, and it never really wanted one. While the rest of Italy

Most visitors to Venice have a mental list of what counts as a monument: churches, palaces, bridges, maybe a museum

Every visitor to Venice eventually stands on the bank of the Grand Canal and wonders how to get to the

From Bare Earth to Herringbone BrickThe Venice we photograph today, with its uniform grey stone streets, wasn’t always paved at

1. Chiostro di Sant’Apollonia — The Oldest and QuietestIf you want proof that peace still exists a few hundred meters

Not Mooring Posts — A Recognition SystemThese poles are called pali da casada, and here’s the detail that surprises almost

From 6,000 to 600At the Republic’s peak, Venice depended on a staggering number of these structures. A census taken in

Venice doesn’t have a coastline in the way most cities do — it has fondamente and rive, the paved walkways

The Torre dell’Orologio: A Clock Built for an EmpireIn 1493, Venice’s Senate decided the city needed a clock worthy of

Most visitors look at a Venetian palace facade and see, at best, “pretty stone.” What they’re actually looking at is

There’s a square in Castello I bring nearly every guest to at some point, and it’s rarely on their radar

Guests often ask me whether they should splurge on a private water taxi, hop in a gondola, or just walk

The first time an American guest looks down at a scrap of paper with their hotel address — something like

1. The Horses on the Facade Aren’t the Real OnesThe four bronze horses above the main entrance are what everyone

I’ve walked American visitors past these three symbols hundreds of times, and I’ve noticed something: most people see them without

Most visitors leave Venice having seen St. Mark’s, ridden a gondola down the Grand Canal, and photographed the Bridge of

1. The patron saint smuggled home in a barrel of porkEvery great city needs a patron saint, and in the

Most visitors’ first encounter with a Venice water taxi is standing at the airport with their bags, slightly overwhelmed, watching

I’ve walked the Ghetto with hundreds of visitors over the years, and it never fails — even people who’ve read

1. The Twin Doorways of Scuola Grande di San MarcoNow the entrance to Venice’s civil hospital, this Renaissance facade hides