Venice tourist trail
Venice Tourist Trail - TravelSavvy travel guide to Venice city sights
There is so much to see in Venice, the whole city is a tourist trail. The areas of Cannaregio, San Marco and Castello lie to the east of the Grand Canal and San Polo/San Croce and Dorsoduro to the west.
The heart is the Piazza San Marco but there are many delights worth exploring beyond, not least the narrow alleys and quiet waterways that spider across the whole of Venice.
The Cannaregio covers northernmost Venice from the railway station to the Rialto Bridge. Sights vary from the tawdry bustle of San Giobbe to the evocative waterways of the Ghetto.
Venetian Gothic gets a good showing at Madonna dell'Orto on the Grand Canal where the artist Tintoretto is entombed. Restoration work has botched the interior but the Tintoretto paintings make up for it.
To the south is the shopping street of Rio Terra San Leonardo and nearby is the Palazzo Vendramin Calegri, where composer Richard Wagner died, now a casino.
San Marco was once the political centre of Venice. Now it's all luxury hotels and swanky shops. It's also home to several imposing churches, three theatres and many fine museums.
In the Piazza is the Museo Correr with paintings by Messina, Carpaccio and Bellini. Nearby, the San Salvador church has works by Titian as does the recently restored San Bartolomeo. Near the Camo Manin is the much photographed Bovolo Staircase.
Up-market shops around the Calle Larga XXII Marzo boast Ferranfano and Vuitton while African street traders flog fake designer bags on the pavement.
The Castello district lies east of San Marco. It contains the Arsenale, the naval dockyard that once turned out Venetian warships daily. Beyond the waterfront are atmospheric alleys and waterways.
The area is dominated by the huge Gothic church of San Giovanni e Paolo. It's on a par with the Frari in San Polo, packed with tombs and sarcophagi to the great and the good, not least that of the painter Tiepolo. A remarkable feature is its complex brickwork.
Edged by the upper sweep of the Grand Canal this is home to the Rialto Bridge and its markets - an antidote to cultural overload. The market bustle gives way to a maze of alleyways and lively squares.
South from the Rialto, through Campo San Polo is the Frari, a monumental 15th century Gothic church. Paintings by Titian show the artist at the height of his powers and there is Giovanni Bellini's famous 'Madonna And Child' alongside splendidly carved tombs.
Another star attraction is the Scuola Grande de San Rocco built by wealthy 16th century merchants and a showcase for a Tintoretto cycle of more than 50 paintings. They are poorly lit and display no labels, but you can pick up a free plan at the entrance.
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This area lies across the Grand Canal from San Marco and is noted for its fine houses, its vibrant university quarter and the Accademia Gallery.
The splendid rooms of Ca Rezonico overlooking the Grand Canal are awash with sumptuous 18th century furniture, paintings and even an old chemist's shop.
East of the Accademia is the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. The American collector's former home has major works by modern masters such as Picasso, Braque, Chagal and Kandinsky.
At the mouth of the Grand Canal stands the landmark Santa Maria del Salute church, built on 100,000 wooden piles. Some find the baroque interior disappointingly sober.
There were 10,000 gondolas in Venice in the 16th century; today there are about 500
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