The city, although small, is an inexhaustible well of surprises.

If you are visiting Venice for the first time you must see the following:

• Piazza San Marco
• Canal Grande
• the church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo
• Chiesa di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
• the Museo del Settecento Veneziano in Ca' Rezzonico
• the Peggy Guggenheim Collection
• Gallery of the Academy
• the collection Franchetti alla Ca' d'Oro.

Piazza San Marco

Imposing, magnificent, unique, is the only one in Venice that has the name of the square.
On the piazza overlooking the Byzantine basilica of San Marco, the patron saint of the city, magnificent example of architectural and cultural contamination of the East and West.

Palazzo Ducale, the seat of government of the Serenissima Republic of Venice, is located between the basilica and the pier.    
It is a masterpiece of Venetian Gothic and with a plenty  of decoration, "traforati" arches, columns and pinnacles which are similar to the famous  lace of Burano.

Next to the Palazzo Ducale, the prison, connected with the palace by the beautiful and haunting ponte dei Sospiri.

The Procuratie Vecchie, the ala napoleonica and the Procuratie Nuove, together with the Museo Correr, are situated one next to each other and are terminating the square in an embrace.

The torre dell'orologio that mark the hours of the city along with the miraculous bell tower, which collapsed in 1902 and was rebuilt in 1907, complete this extraordinary square, one of the most beautiful of the world.

Canal Grande

It is the largest channel of the city. Long about 3 kilometers wide  up to 70 meters, is crossed by 4 bridges: the ponte dell'Accademia, di Rialto, degli Scalzi and della Costituzione, better known as the ponte di Calatrava, opened in 2008.

Along the channel facing the most beautiful buildings of the city:

• the chiesa della Salute, ex voto to Our Lady of the Venetians after the plague of 1630;
• Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, the home of the Peggy Guggenheim collection;
• the Gallery of Accademia;
• Palazzo Grassi, the seat of important exhibitions;
• Ca' Foscari, home of the University of Venice;
• Palazzo Cavalli, where people celebrate civil marriages;
• the beautiful Ca' d'Oro, the home of the Franchetti collection;
• Ca' Pesaro, home of the International Gallery of Modern Art;
• Ca' Vendramin Calergi, winter home of the Casino di Venezia;
• the Fontego dei Turchi, home of the Museo di Storia Naturale;
• the church of San Simeon Piccolo, opposite the train station, subject many paintings of Canaletto.

Chiesa dei SS. Giovanni e Paolo

Insieme alla chiesa di Santa Maria dei Frari è uno degli esempi di architettura gotica religiosa che a Venezia acquistò un carattere e una fisionomia propri. Voluta dai frati domenicani, venne iniziata nel 1234 e completata nel 1430 come testimonia la lapide che si trova sotto l'organo nella navata sinistra. La chiesa ospita numerosi sepolcri di dogi e patrizi veneziani.
Chiesa di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

Extraordinary example of Venetian Gothic, the church of the Frari is known for music and the paintings.

At the Frari church music has always played an important role. The church must keep intact the tradition of two bodies with chancels historical functioning of the typical musical style of the Venice of the sixteenth and seventeenth century.

Some of the  masterpieces of art at  the Frari: Assumption by Titian, works by Giovanni Bellini, Antonio and Paolo Bregno, Lorenzo Bregno, Girolamo Campagna, Marco Cozzi, Donatello, Jacopo Sansovino, Paolo Veneziano, Alessandro Vittoria, Alvise Vivarini, Bartolomeo Vivarini.

Museums and gallery

Ca' Rezzonico

Ca' Rezzonico is an extraordinary example of Venetian Baroque.The building houses the Museum of Venice from  XVI century.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

The Palazzo Venier dei Leoni is the home of Peggy Guggenheim Collection and hosts works by Picasso, Klee, Kandinsky and many others.

The galleries of the Accademia

Host the largest collection of Venetian and Venetian paintings from 1300 to 1700.

Galleria Franchetti alla Ca' d'Oro

It has the collection of works collected by Giorgio Franchetti who bought the building in 1894.

Among these we point out the San Sebastian by Andrea Mantegna, the mirror to Venus by Titian, some views of Francesco Guardi, the sleeping Venus of Paris Bordone and portions of frescoes from the facade of Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice, beautiful sculptures and Renaissance bronzes.