Venice: Italy's City on Water
Beyond Gondolas, The Grand Canal and St. Marks
No one would go Venice without visiting the beautiful Piazza San Marco - St. Mark's Square. Or pausing atop Rialto Bridge to watch gondolas glide along the Grand Canal.
These Venice icons top everyone's list, but visitors should also see St Mark's Basilica, dedicated to Venice's patron saint, not missing the gold altar and the priceless gold and silver work in the treasury. For a different perspective on St Mark's Square, climb to the porch above the main entrance, where the four horses look out onto the Campanile.
Next door is the Doges Palace, but few visitors know about the morning Secret Itineraries Tour through the back passageways used in the glory days of the Venetian Empire and to the prison cell, across the Bridge of Sighs, that Casanova escaped so famously in 1756.
Venice has a lot more than popular tourist sights to entice travelers to stay longer. Cross Rialto Bridge to the San Polo neighborhood and lively morning food market alongside the Grand Canal. Meet the shellfish you'll see on your plate that day, and the chefs who will cook it in Venice's best restaurants.
Plunge into the warren of narrow passageways behind the market to find the workshops and studios of artists who make and sell carnival masks, marbled paper and fine art etchings. The wide Campo San Polo is alive with cafes, street musicians and children playing soccer. The few tourists in this charming residential Venice are heading to the Church of the Friary, known for its magnificent painting by Titian, and the Scuola San Rocco, whose walls and ceilings are covered in Tintoretto paintings.
Farther on, in the Cannaregio quarter, are Europe's first Ghetto and the exquisite church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, lined in patterns of colored marble. You are sure to get lost, wandering through tiny campos and along quiet canals lined by colorful Venetian houses. This is the best way to see the real Venice, the one that most tourists miss.
Join locals to cross the Grand Canal in a traghetto, the poor man's gondola. For less than one Euro, you can ride in a genuine gondola, and save a long walk to the next bridge. Ride it to get from St Mark's to the exciting Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Dorsoduro, another good place to get lost. Look into Venice's only remaining gondola boatyard, the Squero di San Trovaso, then take a break for a glass of chilled Prosecco and a plate of cicchetti snacks at the tiny wine bar, Cantina del Vino glia Schiavi.
