Expert guide to Venice
A weekend break in Venice will no doubt deliver culture and history in spades. The Floating City is tightly packed with museums and galleries, spanning everything from ancient palaces and iconic century-old collections of art to more contemporary exhibits. You'll also want to listen to the city's classical music in an appropriate setting, such as in a deconsecrated church or at its iconic opera house La Fenice. Let expert Anne Hanley guide you through the her favourite things to do.
San Marco
Listen to baroque music in an atmospheric church
Venice is awash with bewigged musical ensembles sawing away at Vivaldi. Interpreti Veneziani are a major cut above most of the competition. Serious musicians play mainly baroque works with not a period costume in sight, though performers are not above exchanging high fives after virtuoso passages. Concerts take place most nights in the deconsecrated church of San Vidal.
Insider's tip: Preview the kind of period instruments the ensemble’s repertoire was originally played on at the Museo della Musica, where tickets for Interpreti Veneziani concerts can also be purchased.
Contact: 00 39 041 277 0561; interpretiveneziani.com
Opening times: See website
Nearest vaporetto stop: Accademia
Price: ££
Dress to the nines for an evening at the opera
Periwigged flunkeys no longer hand ladies from gondola to theatre steps on opening nights as they once did, but Venice's historic opera house is still a marvellously atmospheric place to take in some Verdi or Donizetti. Restored 'where it was, as it was' after a devastating fire, La Fenice is a jewel box of red velvet, ornate gilding and many-faceted chandeliers.
Insider's tip: To catch an opera, you’ll need to book months ahead. But you can tour the theatre premises by day with an audioguide, or catch a performance at La Fenice's scarcely less sumptuous sister venue, the Teatro Malibran.
Contact: 00 39 041 2424; teatrolafenice.it; theatre tours festfenice.com
Opening times: Performances at 5.30pm or 7pm
Nearest vaporetto stop: Giglio
Price: £££
Contemplate contemporary art in an 18th-century palazzo
The imposing 18th-century Grassi Palazzo on the Grand Canal stages challenging contemporary art exhibitions, many drawing on the vast collection of the palazzo's owner, luxury brand magnate François-Henri Pinault. Exhibitions run from April to December, ranging from single-artist affairs to collectives. One highlight from recent years was the sprawling new work by Damien Hirst that took centre stage.
Insider's tip: Next door, the Teatrino Grassi extends Palazzo Grassi’s activities on to the stage, with a programme of talks, films, performances and children’s workshops, all of which are free. The full schedule of events can be found online.
Contact: 00 39 041 523 1680; palazzograssi.it
Opening times: 10am-7pm; closed Tuesdays
Nearest vaporetto stop: San Samuele
Price: ££
Drift around the canals on a gondola
Pricey it may be, but a gondola ride is part of the Venice ritual. Choose a gondola you like the look of at one of the stands around the city, pay only the going rate (set by regulatory Ente Gondola) and remember that you're not obliged to go on the gondolier's standard circuit – you can choose your route. Bacino Orseolo is a popular starting point.
Insider's tip: You can get a gondola ride for just €2 in the large traghetto (ferry) gondolas that cross the Grand Canal at strategic points – for example between the Hotel Gritti and the Salute church. It’s de rigueur to do the crossing standing up.
Contact: 00 39 041 528 5075; gondolavenezia.it
Opening times: Rides available 24/7
Price: £££
Explore the many rooms of a duke's palace
Venice’s doges (dukes) were elected from among their aristocratic peers, after which their whole lives were owned by the state. Venice was all about shimmering exteriors concealing hard-nosed commercial or administrative activity. The mainly 15th-century Doge’s Palace has immense meeting halls and formal reception rooms with acres of canvases by Tintoretto – and narrow chambers where bureaucrats beavered away in cramped darkness.
Insider's tip: To visit the piombi, the attic prison cells from which lover-boy Giacomo Casanova once made a famous escape, and the dungeons by the Bridge of Sighs, be sure to book the Itinerari Segreti guided tour.
Contact: 00 39 041 271 5911; palazzoducale.visitmuve.it
Opening times: See website
Nearest vaporetto stop: San Marco-San Zaccaria
Price: ££
Delve into centuries of history and traditions
The Correr is the museum of Venice – its collection designed to illuminate the history and traditions of this remarkable city. A Napoleonic-era ballroom, the suite occupied by Austrian Emperor Franz Jozeph and his wife Sissi in the 19th century, classical statuary in the Museo Archeologico and Jacopo Sansovino's 16th-century temple of learning the Biblioteca Marciana, all show Venice at its finest.
Insider's tip: Less magnificent but equally as fascinating, the maps, globes, coins, musical instruments and feast-day banners on display here are a great introduction to the life and times of the Serene Republic. The Doge's Palace is included on the same ticket.
Contact: 00 39 041 240 5211; correr.visitmuve.it
Opening times: Apr-Oct: 10am-7pm. Nov-Mar: 10am-5pm
Nearest vaporetto stop: San Marco-Giardinetti
Price: ££
Castello
Find out what Venetian life looked like in the 18th-century
A particularly fascinating collection of furniture, paintings, and objects is displayed at the Museo Querini Stampalia. Inside the gallery's ornate rooms you'll find Giovanni Bellini's intriguing, mysterious Presentation in the Temple and Hieronymus Bosch’s brilliantly unhinged Vision of the Afterlife. It also has superb genre scenes of everyday Venetian life in the 18th century by Pietro Longhi and Gabriele Belli.
Insider's tip: The café on the ground floor, which spills out into the contemporary garden designed by 20th-century architectural master Carlo Scarpa, is a delightful place to rest and recharge over a coffee, snack or light lunch.
Contact: 00 39 041 271 1411; querinistampalia.org
Opening times: 10am-6pm; closed Mondays
Nearest vaporetto stop: San Marco-San Zaccaria
Prices: ££
Look up to fabulous frescoed ceilings
The under-visited Palazzo Grimani is one of the city's great Renaissance palazzos. Its architecture, decoration and contents breathe the classical enthusiasms of the man responsible for its transformation in the mid 16th-century, Cardinal Giovanni Grimani. The ceiling frescoes and stuccowork by artists such as Federico Zuccari have also been beautifully restored. One of the best rooms is Sala ai Fogliami; look to the ceiling for a riot of lovingly observed flora and fauna.
Insider's tip: If you're planning to visit the Galleria Franchetti–Ca' d'Oro as well, you can save money by getting the combined ticket.
Contact: 00 39 041 241 1507; palazzogrimani.org
Opening times: 8.15am-7.15pm; closed Mondays
Nearest vaporetto stop: San Marco-San Zaccaria
Price: £
Admire the city's scuoles
Venice’s flourishing scuole (schools) were part guilds, part charitable foundations. Some were rooted in a craft or profession, others had a common ethnic background. The city's Dalmatian community built itself this HQ (Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni) at the beginning of the 16th century, calling on Vittore Carpaccio to decorate it. There are intricate details everwhere, from elaborate turbans to a little dog looking pleadingly at his master St Augustine.
Insider's tip: Carpaccio was a master at capturing Venetian light, and he also painted from life. Don't leave without seeing The Calling of St Matthew: it’s set in the Venetian Ghetto, exactly as it was around 1505.
Contact: 00 39 041 522 8828
Opening times: Mon 2.45pm-6pm; Tue-Sat 9.15am-1pm, 2.45pm-6pm; Sun 9.15am-1pm
Nearest vaporetto stop: San Marco-San Zaccaria
Prices: £
Learn about Venice's naval past
The might of the Venetian republic was based on its sea power, and the Museo Storico Navale is a tribute to its prowess. If it's open (a major restoration ends in 2018) it’s a charming collection of seafaring memorabilia. You may not wish to study every scale model of all the fighting and trading ships ever built in the nearby Arsenale, but a quick browse is fascinating, especially for children.
Insider's tip: Open and most definitely worth a visit is the vast Padiglione delle Navi where a host of full-sized craft are displayed, including Marconi’s research boat Elettra and the Doge’s ceremonial barge.
Contact: 00 39 041 2441 399; visitmuve.it
Opening times: Daily, 8.45am-5pm
Nearest vaporetto stop: Arsenale
Prices: £
Enjoy one of the city's most beautiful 'secret' churches
The Gothic barn of the church Santi Giovanni e Paolo was built for the Dominican order in the 13th-15th centuries. The contents are remarkable: this is one Venetian church where it's worth taking time over some of the exquisite funerary sculptures. The standout painting is Lorenzo Lotto's St Anthony Giving Alms: note the rich Turkish rug and the typically Venetian street scene.
Insider's tip: Outside in the square stands Florentine artist Andrea del Verrocchio's 15th-century monument to mercenary soldier Bartolomeo Colleoni. The figs on his crest are a boastful reference to his surname which sounds very much like the Italian word for testicles.
Contact: 00 39 041 523 5913; basilicasantigiovanniepaolo.it
Opening times: Mon-Sat 9am-6pm; Sun 12pm-6pm
Vaporetto stop: Ospedale Civile
Prices: £
Cannaregio
Snag your dinner from the fish market by the Grand Canal
Lined with the palazzos of the Venetian ruling classes – many of them now hotels or pricey wedding venues – the lagoon city’s watery main street is one of the highlights of any visit. Halfway down the Grand Canal is the shop-lined 16th-century Rialto bridge. Also look out for the fairy-tale facade of Ca d'Oro, the busy Pescheria or fish market, and the charmingly lopsided Ca' Dario, said to be cursed.
Insider's tip: For the best view, take vaporetto number 1 from 'A' jetty in piazzale Roma and be quick to nab one of the coveted outside seats at the front or back.
Contact: Hellovenezia call centre: 00 39 041 24 24; actv.it
Opening times: 5am-11pm/midnight.
Vaporetto stop: Piazzale Roma or Ferrovia
Prices: £
Enjoy the artwork in a forgotten palazzo
The flamboyant Gothic flourishes of the 15th-century Grand Canal palazzo Ca' d'Oro distil the essence of Venice. Inside is the art collection assembled by a former owner, Baron Giorgio Franchetti. Its highlight is Mantegna’s visionary and unfinished Saint Sebastian, displayed in a marble-lined chapel built expressly to house his prize possession. Don't miss the view of the Grand Canal from the first-floor balcony.
Insider's tip: Universally known as the Ca’ d’Oro (golden house), the real name of this building is Palazzo Santa Sofia. Originally the façade was a multi-coloured marvel of red and blue with extravagant gold detailing, hence the nickname.
Contact: 00 39 041 5200 345; cadoro.org
Opening times: Mon 8.15am-2pm; Tue-Sun 8.15am-7pm
Vaporetto stop: Ca’ d'Oro
Price: ££
Gape at some of Tinoretto's best canvases
Everybody knows Madonna dell'Orto as 'the Tintoretto church', not only because the 16th-century maestro is buried here, but also because this Gothic church holds some of his most significant canvases. The Last Judgement is a maelstrom of dark intensity; his Presentation of the Virgin is a visionary work, the innocent girl somehow dominating the composition.
Insider's tip: Far from the tourist hordes, the area around the church is one of best parts of Venice. Look out for the marble relief of a turbaned man with a camel on a wall opposite – testimony to Venice's mercantile links with the Arab world.
Contact: 00 39 041 719 933; madonnadellorto.org
Opening times: 10am-5pm; Sun 12pm-5pm; closed Sundays
Nearest vaporetto stop: Orto
Price: £
Marvel at marble
What makes Santa Maria dei Miracoli so special is the fact that Pietro Lombardo, who designed it in the 1480s, was a stonemason, so he approached the thing as a piece of sacred sculpture. Polychrome marble adorns every inch of the place. Inside, balustrades and pilasters are alive with marble saints and cherubs, sea monsters and vegetation.
Insider's tip: If you're planning to visit four or more of the 18 Venetian churches that (like this one) belong to the Chorus scheme, invest in a €12 (£10) Chorus Pass, available on-line or in situ.
Contact: 00 39 041 275 0462; chorusvenezia.org
Opening times: Mon-Sat, 10.30am-4.30pm
Nearest vaporetto stop: Rialto/Fondamente Nove
Prices: £
San Polo & Santa Croce
Learn the art of perfumery
The entirely-restored Palazzo Mocenigo is a charming museum of Venetian aristocratic life and costumes in the 17th and 18th centuries. Opulent and utterly outlandish dresses once worn by Venetian noblewomen are displayed amid patrician interiors and furnishings. There's also a series of rooms dedicated to the history and science of spices and perfume in Venice.
Insider's tip: You can delve deeper into the fascinating art of perfumery in a two-hour course, available in English, which can be booked through the website.
Contact: 00 39 041 721 798; mocenigo.visitmuve.it
Opening times: See website
Nearest vaporetto stop: San Stae
Prices: ££
Read the Bible – across canvases of Renaissance art
Brace youself for artistic overload at the imposing HQ of the Confraternity of St Roch – the richest of Venice's scuole, or charitable brotherhoods. Tintoretto worked at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco for 27 years, illustrating almost the entire Bible, from Adam and Eve to Christ's Ascension, in a series of epic-scale canvases arranged on the walls and ceilings of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco's lofty halls.
Insider's tip: The prolific Tintoretto won a competition in 1564 to decorate San Rocco by wowing the selection committee with a finished painting rather than the required sketch. A free leaflet explains the order in which he created the works.
Contact: 00 39 041 523 4864; scuolagrandesanrocco.it
Opening times: Daily, 9.30am-5.30pm
Nearest vaporetto stop: San Tomà
Price: ££
Combine art and music at a Gothic church
The penumbral Gothic church of the Franciscan I Frari order may be unextravagant in style, but the artworks inside are truly sumptuous. Titian's dramatic, intensely spiritual Assumption of the Virgin (1518) over the high altar dominates. Other highlights include the serene Giovanni Bellini triptych of the Virgin and Child with saints (1488) in the sacristy, and Titian’s daringly off-kilter Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro in the left aisle.
Insider's tip: The basilica often hosts concerts, and any chance to hear choral music echoing through this lofty space should be seized. View the schedule online.
Contact: 00 39 041 272 8611; basilicadeifrari.it
Opening times: 9am-6pm; Sun 1pm-6pm; closed Sundays
Nearest vaporetto stop: San Tomà
Price: £
Dorsoduro
Check out some surrealist art
The redoubtable Peggy Guggenheim assembled a remarkable portofolio of modernist and surrealist art, including works by Picasso, Magritte, Max Ernst (her husband for a while), Giacometti and Jackson Pollock. The display case for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is equally original: the 18th-century Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal is just one storey high and was never finished. The museum shop is excellent too.
Insider's tip: Peggy placed Marino Marini's bronze horse-and-rider sculpture The Angel of the City facing the Grand Canal. The rider's erect appendage can be unscrewed – which Peggy did to make her intentions clear to men she fancied.
Contact: 00 39 041 240 5411; guggenheim-venice.it
Opening times: 10am-6pm; closed Tuesdays
Nearest vaporetto stop: Accademia/Salute
Price: ££
Contemplate modern art in a historic building
When the historic former customs warehouse Punta della Dogana reopened in 2009 after a top-to-toe rehaul by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, it consolidated Venice's growing reputation as a contemporary art destination. Ando's modernist raw concrete plays off against the brick walls and wooden ceiling beams of the 17th-century building, as a showcase for exhibitions mainly drawn from the vast vaults of the collection of French luxury goods magnate François-Henri Pinault.
Insider's tip: Pinault also occupies Palazzo Grassi, a Grand Canal-facing structure superbly revamped, like Punta della Dogana, by Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Tickets allow combined entrance to Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana.
Contact: 00 39 041 523 1680; palazzograssi.it
Opening times: 10am-7pm; closed Tuesdays
Nearest vaporetto stop: Salute
Prices: ££
Relax in front of rotating paintings
The cavernous space of the Fondazione Vedova, a former salt warehouse overlooking the Giudecca canal, was renovated by star architect Renzo Piano, largely to house a collection of vast, expressionist canvases by 20th-century Venetian artist Emilio Vedova. Emilio who? Never mind – it’s the display that impresses as much as the works. You stand still, or sit on the floor, and the paintings waltz past you, thanks to a complex overhead cog and rail mechanism.
Insider's tip: Note that temporary exhibitions dedicated to other artists have begun to hog the space and stop the machine, so ask for information before paying to see the paintings dance.
Contact: 00 39 041 522 6626; fondazionevedova.org
Opening times: Late Apr to late Nov: 10.30am-6pm; closed Tuesdays
Nearest vaporetto stop: Zattere/Salute
Price: Depends on individual exhibition
Walk through a highlight reel of Venetian masterpieces
The Gallerie dell'Accademia is to Venice what the Uffizi is to Florence: a superb repository of the very best of the city's art. Tintoretto's ghostly Transport of the Body of St Mark is my favourite, but there's so much else to enjoy: Titian’s moving Pietà; Veronese’s OTT Feast in the House of Levi; Giorgione’s mysterious Tempest; some exquisite Bellinis; and Carpaccio's detailed Life of St Ursula fresco cycle.
Insider's tip: Venice has Napoleon to thank for this collection: he ordered churches closed, and moved masterpieces here for budding artists to study – a move which arguably saved them from being carted off to Paris.
Contact: 00 39 041 522 2247; gallerieaccademia.org
Opening times: Mon 8.15am-2pm; Tue-Sun 8.15am-7.30pm
Nearest vaporetto stop: Accademia
Price: ££