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Venice - Sights & Activities

It may have started life as little more than a monastery garden crossed by a stream, but St Mark’s Square has long been the political and religious heart of Venice. Non the less, the first thing to say about it is that is that it isn’t really a square. If you look eastward across it from in front of the Correr Museum, you'll notice that it opens wider at the Basilica end, creating the illusion that it's even larger than it is.

Called “the world's most beautiful drawing room” by Napoleon when he entered Venice in 1797, the Square has been the backdrop for magnificent processions celebrating victorious commanders, visiting dignitaries and festivals. The glittering Basilica and Doge’s Palace command the eastern end. On one side, the long, arcaded building is the Procuratie Vecchie, built in the early 16th century as offices and residences for the powerful procurators (or magistrates) of San Marco. On the other is the Procuratie Nuove, built half a century later in a more grandiose classical style.

Diagonally across from the Basilica, the 323-foot Campanile offers incomparable views, not only of the city’s trademark red terracotta rooftops, but also of the snow-capped Dolomite Mountains in the distance. Having functioned as a lighthouse, watchtower and torture chamber at various stages in its long history, it collapsed in 1902, only to be masterfully rebuilt in its original 16th century style. The elevator ride to the top is brief and efficient, but there are often long queues, so it’s a good idea to visit early. The tower is open from 09.30–17.00, April to June and 09.45–20.00 July to September.

Just as impressive is the Renaissance-style Torre dell’Orologio, which features two bronze moors hammering out the hours on the upper terrace. And at Epiphany and Ascension there is an hourly procession of clockwork Magi led by an angel.

Begun in the 12th century and continually remodelled over the centuries, the Doge’s Palace is a rare example of civil Venetian Gothic architecture. The palace’s two magnificent – if somewhat top-heavy – Gothic façades in white Istrian stone and pink Veronese marble face St Mark’s Square and rest upon a graceful ground-floor colonnade. Home to the doge (ruler) of Venice for nearly a thousand years, it performed a variety of important functions – imagine a Presidential Palace, Parliament, torture chamber and prison all rolled into one.

Entering from the Piazetta San Marco, which faces the water, you'll find yourself in an immense courtyard with the Scala dei Giganti (Stairway of the Giants) directly ahead, guarded by Sansovino's huge statues of Mars and Neptune. Turning right, you reach the Doge’s Apartments via the central interior staircase, the upper flight of which is the lavishly gilded Scala d'Oro (Golden Staircase). Among the apartments, the grand Sala delle Mappe contains maps dating from 1762 that depicts the Republic’s territiories and voyages of Marco Polo.

Upstairs from the apartments are the rooms where the highest sectors of government met. Among these, the Anticollegio features four Tintorettos (including Bacchus and Ariadne Crowned by Venus) and the Rape of Europa by Veronese. Further on is the splendid Sala del Collegio, the ceiling of which features works by Veronese and Tintoretto. Signs then lead you downstairs to the immense Sala del Maggiore Consiglio (Hall of the Grand Council), dominated by Tintoretto’s Paradiso, the world’s largest oil painting at 23 by 75 feet.

The Palace’s other most celebrated feature is the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs). The bridge was built to connect the Prigioni Vecchie (Old Prisons) in the Palace complex itself to the Prigione Nuove (New Prisons), which lay to the east of it, on the other side of the canal. It was also split into two levels, allowing easy traffic back and forth, and earned its name from the despondent sighs of those being led across it to their execution.

Winding all the way through Venice Island in the shape of an inverted “S”, the 3.5 kilometre Grand Canal is the city’s main thoroughfare, used as much by commercial as tourist traffic. Vessels plying its waters include transport barges, vaporetti, water taxis, private speedboats, gondolas, police patrol boats, water ambulances and the water fire brigade. For the best experience of it, take a No 1 all-stops vaparetto (water bus) from San Marco and try to snare a seat up at the front. From here you’ll enjoy peerless views of the beautiful wooden Academia bridge, as well as the celebrated Rialto. What’s more, on either side you’ll be able to enjoy the façades of more than 100 palazzi (mansions) dating from the 12th to the 18th centuries. These include the Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi, Ca’Pesaro, Ca’Doro, as well as the grand Chiesa di Santa Maria della Salute and the Rialto Market. A trip along the Grand Canal really is the ultimate experience of Venice.

A magnificent blend of styles, ranging from Byzantine and Romanesque to Gothic and Renaissance, the Basilica was consecrated in 1094 and dominates St Mark’s Square. For centuries visitors in Venice have flocked to admire the dazzling mixture of gold and jewels on its façade. The arches above the main entrance boast fine mosaics. The one at the left-hand end, completed in 1270, depicts the arrival of St Mark’s body (reputedly stolen from Egypt) in Venice, while the one above the doorway next to it depicts the doge venerating it.

Built on a Greek cross plan, with five bulbous domes, the basilica became Venice’s cathedral in 1807. The interior is dazzling. The exquisite 12th-century marble pavement, a mixture of geometric patterns and animal designs, is complimented by a feast of gilded mosaics on the walls and ceilings. Work started on them in the 11th century and continued for hundreds of years. Notable mosaics include the 12th century Ascension in the central dome, the early 12th-century mosaics of the Pentecost in the west dome and the 13th century lunette over the west door depicting Christ between the Virgin and St Mark.

A magnificent, multicoloured marble iconostasis separates the main body of the church from the area before the altar. Behind the altar is the exquisite Pala D’Oro, a gold-, enamel- and jewel-encrusted altarpiece made in Constantinople for Doge Pietro Orseolo I in 976, which has been added to over the centuries. Almost 2000 precious stones adorn it. The Tesoro (Treasury), accessible from the right transept, contains most of the booty from the republic’s 1204 raid on Constantinople, including a thorn said to be from the crown worn by Christ.

From the 12th century until the advent of the Rialto in the late-16th century, the only way to cross the Grand Canal was via various frail wooden bridges and wobbly pontoon arrangements. Not only that, but for several centuries after its completion it was the only bridge over the Grand Canal.

Fashioned from Istrian stone, it was designed by one Antonio da Ponte (Anthony of the Bridge, appropriately enough), who was chosen in preference to Michelangelo and Palladio. Amazingly, it was built in just three years, between 1588 and 1591, at a cost of 250,000 ducats. Its 24-foot arch was designed to allow passage of galleys, and the massive structure was built on some 12,000 wooden pilings that still support it more than 400 years later. It has three walkways: two along the outer balustrades, and a wider central walkway leading between two rows of small shops that face resolutely inwards and sell jewelry, linens, Murano glass, and other items for the tourist trade. The outer walkways also tend to be crowded with street vendors selling cheap tourist trinkets.