Doge’s Palace

Where to go and what to see in Venice to get the most from your trip – a 3-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Nicky Swallow.

Where to go and what to see in Venice to get the most from your trip – a 5-day itinerary from destination expert and travel writer Nicky Swallow.

Crammed with picturesque canals, Renaissance palazzos and artistic masterpieces, this unique and alluring city is heaven-on-earth for art lovers and romantics.

Surely the most exquisite, beguiling and opulent place of worship in Italy, St Mark’s cathedral was built to satisfy the wildest dreams of the Doges and is rich in glittering Byzantine mosaics, Gothic carvings and sumptuous treasures.

It’s huge, and often crowded, but St. Mark’s square is one of the most emblematic spots in the city and is lined with over-priced cafés that offer live music. But out of season, on a foggy winter’s evening or at dawn, it’s undeniably atmospheric.

American millionairess collector Peggy Guggenheim’s glittering display of avant-garde art is housed in her own 18th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal.

From Titian to Tiepolo, the Accademia’s world-class collection represents the Golden Age of Venetian painting. A dazzling collection of masterpieces but also a voyage through the history of Venice itself.

Although you can’t actually walk over it, the Bridge of Sighs (visible from the Ponte di Paglia) is one of Venice’s most famous sights and links the Doge’s Palace to the adjacent prisons and torture chamber. The sighs were emitted by prisoners en route knowing what awaited them.

Dating from 1720, world-famous Florian’s is a jewel-box of a café, all mirrors, stuccoes and frescoes. Join the locals perched at the bar rather than pay way over the odds for a table seat where a simple espresso is likely to set you back €10.

Dedicated to the history of the Venetian Republic, the Correr museum houses an eclectic collection of documents, maps, coins, ivories, weapons and so on. Artworks include paintings by Veneziano, Tintoretto, Antonello da Messina and Carpaccio whose Two Venetian Noblewomen appears on many a postcard.

The little-visited Palazzo Grimani is one of the city’s great Renaissance palazzos, now a museum housing an extraordinary collection of classical sculptures, stuccoes, elaborate frescoes and paintings by Hieronymus Bosch.

The great civilisations of the past have left a legacy of constructions that still stand out and inspire. Built without the wonders of 20th-century technology, many are also monumental feats of engineering; others offer such grace and beauty, that they’ll literally take your breath away.