Venice 5-day itinerary

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.

With its rose pink-and-white brickwork shimmering on the edge of the lagoon, the Doge’s Palace seems more mirage than monument. While other states fortified their power with forbidding castles, the Venetians showed off their security with this airy, ethereal palace.

The hub of the far-reaching political power of La Serenissima since the 9th century, today it is a testament to the best of Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance architecture and painting.

Highlights include the arcaded courtyard, the frescoes by Veronese, Tiepolo and Tintoretto in the grand chambers and the collection of armour and weapons in the old Armoury. Tintoretto’s Paradiso is the largest oil painting in the world.

Surely the most exquisite place of worship in Italy, St Mark’s is a cathedral built to satisfy the wildest dreams of the Doges.

Built in the 11th century to house the alleged remains of St Mark, its Byzantine mosaics, Gothic carvings and sumptuous treasures were accumulated during many centuries of Venetian trading and looting.

From the Pala d’Oro (jewel-encrusted altarpiece, made in Costantinopoli in 976) to its wealth of sculptures and magnificent bronze horses rearing over the piazza, its OTT opulence, both inside and out, it is a testament to La Serenissima’s power and might.

Murano became the capital of glass in 1291 thanks to a decree banning all furnaces from Venice proper to avoid fire risk. The island soon became centre for glass-blowing, shipping chandeliers, mirrors, vases and glass tableware across the world. Today, Murano remains a unique place where the skills of centuries are still practised by latter-day artisans.

Watching a top glass-blower is an absorbing sight, from the ferocious heat thrown out by the yellow glow of the furnaces to the balletic genius of the Murano craftsmen as they blow, snip, twist and tug at their fiery blob of liquid to transform it into an exquisite vase or seahorse. Afterwards, you can buy pieces in the showrooms.

Venice is set in the middle of a lagoon joined to the mainland by a manmade causeway and surrounded by water and 39 islands.

Murano is the best-known island thanks to its glass-blowers, and colourful Burano is the subject of many an Instagram shot, but there are others that are worth exploring, especially if you fancy getting away from it all. Each offers a very different atmosphere; some are all but deserted apart from the odd church, and on others, life seems to continue almost oblivious of the tourist madness just across the lagoon. All are accessible via vaporetto from Venice proper.

Of all Venice’s many churches, the huge, barn-like Frari is one of the most art-packed. The Franciscans started on the present Gothic church in 1338 and finished in 1469; it boasts the second-highest bell tower in the city and a severe exterior, but once inside, the quality of the art is extraordinary.

The assault begins as you go in when your eyes are drawn immediately to the High Alter and Titian’s vivid, soaring Assumption. Other works by Titian to look out for include his Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro (1519).

The Sacristy contains one of Giovanni Bellini’s greatest paintings, the Madonna and Child with Saints. To the left of the high alter is the fabulous Reniassance tomb of Doge Niccolò Tron (1473) by Antonio Rizzo.

Although Carnevale falls in February/March, you can learn to make your own Venetian Carnival masks year-round at one of several workshops in the city. Experienced artisans teach the art of papier-maché mask making and decorating in traditional Venetian style. Great for kids and adults alike.

The Lido – a long, slim sand barrier separating Venice from the open sea – is a tranquil residential suburb that morphs into a beach destination in summer; it’s THE place to be seen during the Film Festival. For swimming and sunbathing, head to the free beach at Alberoni.

Venice is set in the middle of a lagoon joined to the mainland by a manmade causeway and surrounded by water and 39 islands.

Murano is the best-known island thanks to its glass-blowers, and colourful Burano is the subject of many an Instagram shot, but there are others that are worth exploring, especially if you fancy getting away from it all. Each offers a very different atmosphere; some are all but deserted apart from the odd church, and on others, life seems to continue almost oblivious of the tourist madness just across the lagoon. All are accessible via vaporetto from Venice proper.

La Biennale transforms Venice annually into a surreal blend of ancient-and-contemporary culture unrivalled anywhere else in the world; it attracts giants of the international art world and vast numbers of visitors. The original Biennale (established in 1895) focused on art and is still held in odd years, but in 1980 an architecture equivalent was added in even years.

The annual bonanza divides into two main sections: individual countries have pavilions in the Giardini (Public Gardens) while artists and architects chosen by a curator exhibit within the magnificent spaces of the old Arsenale. The result is a pop-up museum of painting, installation, sculpture, film, new media and architecture that spreads its tentacles across palaces and churches across the city.

Cicchetti are Venetian tapas, tasty morsels to whet the appetite and soak up a glass of wine or two. They are traditionally served in a bacaro (wine bar), which also offers wines by the glass; Venetians eat cichetti before lunch or dinner, usually standing at the bar. A plate of cicchetti is one of the cheapest ways to fill up in this expensive city; 6 or 7 make a light meal, and at an average price of €2, along with a glass of inexpensive local wine, that’s a bargain.

A fun way to enjoy this tradition is to plan a tour of different bacari, tasting a couple of cicchetti in each. Expect polpette (fried meat balls), baccalà mantecato (creamed salt cod), a whole variety of weird and wonderful seafood, and lots more.

The unfinished, one-storey Palazzo Venier dei Leoni was the home of eccentric American millionairess Peggy Guggenheim and today still houses her extraordinary collection of modern art.

Guggenheim brought her collection of mainly surrealist and modernist works to Venice in 1949 purchasing the charming Grand Canal-side palazzo to house it and herself. She died here in 1979 aged 81.

From Picasso to Pollock, Brancusi to Max Ernst, Guggenheim’s brilliantly unfailing eye picked out the best of the 20th-century avant garde; this collection gives the city a modernist stamp it would otherwise have lacked.

Gazing across the Grand Canal, with the rambling sculpture garden overlooked by the café, there are few more alluring spots in Venice.

The grandest Dame of Venice’s classic hotels, the Gritti lords it over the Grand Canal from a superb spot across from the Salute church and just 10 minutes’ walk from Piazza San Marco.

A hotel since 1895, this 15th-century palazzo was once home of Doge Andrea Gritti; expect opulent interiors stuffed with antiques and grand master paintings, glittering Murano glass chandeliers and lots of polished wood and marble.

A major refurb in 2013 brought the hotel into the 21st century without compromising the old-world appeal and unmatched old-school service.

Breakfast or evening cocktails on the waterside terrace are memorable as is a dinner of taglierini with lobster at the shamelessly romantic Club dei Doge.