Venice italy Europe Best things to do best places to visit |all about Venice
Best Things To Do In Venice (Italy’s Floating City)
VENICE, ITALY
Venice feels like it shouldn’t exist. Beautiful floating palaces of stone surrounded by a network of canals. Here are some of the best things to do in Venice for your first visit!
Venice is one of the most popular Italian cities for tourists, even with all the other beautiful & historic places there are in Italy.
But there’s a good reason. The City of Water is celebrated because of its unusual circumstances, sitting on 100+ small islands connected by over 400 bridges.
There are basically no roads, transportation is accomplished via boats on a confusing network of canals. It’s truly unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before!
There are many quirky, unique, unusual, and secret spots to discover in Venice.
Venice, facts and travel tips
The romantic city of Venice is located in the Veneto region of Italy — one of the northernmost states. This ancient and historically important city was originally built on 100 small islands in the Adriatic Sea. Instead or roads, Venice relies on a series of waterways and canals.
One of the most famous areas of the city is the world-renowned Grand Canal thoroughfare, which was a major centre of the Renaissance. Another unmistakable area is the central square in Venice, called the Piazza San Marco. This is where you’ll find a range of Byzantine mosaics, the Campanile bell and, of course, the stunning St. Mark’s Basilica.
What are the best things to do in Venice?
Few cities can claim such a priceless art and history heritage as Venice. This unique city with its magical, spectacular scenery is not just beautiful; it is a real miracle of creative genius: a city built on mud, sand and the slime of a difficult, inhospitable landscape.
The biggest attraction in the gorgeous city of Venice is the architecture — which is enhanced by the ancient canals that surround it. As well as Piazza San Marco and St. Mark’s Basilica, the city is home to the Gothic masterpiece Doge’s Palace. This pink and white marble buildings has to be seen in the flesh to be fully appreciated. Not only is it a breathtaking example of Italian architecture, it is also the centre of Venice Carnival celebrations every year.
Just a short gondola ride from Doge’s Palace is the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, which is one of the world’s most illustrious modern art collections. If you’re looking for more traditional works from the Renaissance period, spend some time at the Galleria dell’Accademia, which houses several classics from this era.
There are many places in Venice which characterise the city’s illustrious history and association with the arts and architecture. Take the Bridge of Sighs, for example, which is a white limestone masterpiece that the interrogation rooms of Doge’s Palace to the prison.
But the most beautiful bridge in all of Venice has to be the Rialto Bridge. This ornate structure hangs over the Grand Canal with masterful confidence. Connecting San Polo to the sestieri of San Marco, the bridge has been rebuilt many times over the years.
If you’re looking for entertainment in Venice, you truly are spoilt for choice. Spend a few hours perusing the artworks at Museo Correr, or explore an exciting mix of Renaissance and modern art at Punta della Dogana.
Perhaps you'd prefer to take in an evening of ballet or live music at Teatro La Fenice, which is a truly magnificent 1000-seat theatre. If you're interested in the history of Venice, a trip to either the Lace Museum or Fortuny Museum will take you on a journey of discovery. And no trip to Venice should pass by without a trip to Ca’ d’Oro — a Venetian-Gothic palace that also happens to be home to the Franchetti collection of Renaissance art.
What is the best time of year to visit Venice?
Venice is always at its busiest and most vibrant in the summer, between the beginning of June and the end of July. A phenomenon called the acqua alta floods areas of Venice during the winter months between November and March, and this can affect access to Piazza San Marco.
But if you’re looking to party during the Venice Carnival, make sure you’re around towards the end of February and beginning of March. This is the time of year when music, costumes and a celebration of the arts takes over.
What is the weather and climate like in Venice?
Venice enjoys a relatively cool Mediterranean climate. Temperatures at the height of summer rarely exceed 32C, with the hottest months being July and August. The summer months also happen to be among the driest of the year too.
The time of year with the most rain is usually the spring months of April and May. However, the spring is a particularly nice time of the year to visit Venice if you don’t like hot weather, as average temperatures fluctuate between just 17C and 22C. The coldest months are December and January, when the average temperatures languish in the single digits.
Venice is a true masterpiece of beauty and exquisite architecture. With so much to do and see, the city of romance will keep you coming back for more.
St. Mark's Square
St. Mark's Basilica
St. Mark's Campanile
Doge's PalaceThe Basilica of San Marco overlooks one of the most beautiful squares in the world, a real marble salon, the city center for centuries. Next to both the Basilica and the Doge's Palace, all the most important religious and civil ceremonies have always been held there and now the Piazza San Marco is considered the city's main symbol and tourist attraction.
This great square overlooking the water is a mixture of spaces, volumes and styles: the Procurator's residence, the bell tower, the Doge's Palace and the Sansoviniana Bookshop.
On Ascension day, the Doge and the city's most important members got on board and sailed out to the Adriatic, to the Lido port. Here the Doge threw a ring, symbolizing union between Venice and water, into the sea and pronounced the solemn formula: "We wed you oh sea, in the sign of true, eternal dominion".
Giant's Stairway
Higher Council Hall
Golden Staircase
Senate Hall
Hall of the Council of Ten
Chamber of Torment
Voting Hall
Hall of the Inquisitors
Hall of the Compass
Prisions & Giacomo Casanova's cellDoge's Palace
Doge's Palace: courtyardIf you imagine landing in Venice from the sea, as did those who came inland by ship, the first thing you see rising out of the water is the unmistakable shape of the Doge's Palace - the city's most famous building.
The Palace is the most representative symbol of Venice's culture, which, together with the Basilica of San Marco at the back and the Piazzetta in the forefront, forms of the most famous sceneries in the world.
For centuries the Doge's Palace had three fundamental roles: as the Doge residence, the seat of government and as the palace of justice. This was where some of the most important decisions for Venice's, and even Europe's destiny were taken.
Initially, when it was built in the IX century A.D. it was more like a castle than a palace with four sighting towers and high defensive walls. In fact, it was in a strategic position controlling the city, near to its sea access. Later, due to a series of fires and subsequent rebuilding, it became what we can see today - a splendid example of Venetian gothic architecture.
This imposing building has the one feature typical of Venetian architecture: lightness. Despite its considerable size, the multi-coloured façade decorations and the splendid perforation of the Gothic loggias, like stone lace, give us an elegant structure that isn't heavy in appearance.
There is also a real architectural "find": compared to most medieval palaces all over Italy, the Doge's Palace was built in the opposite way with the loggias down below and full walls above, whereas buildings like this normally had a huge base to make them easier to defend.
In Venice the state Palace had to be an expression of the Republic's special relationship with its citizens: one of trust and absolute fidelity. Venetians considered their government as legitimate not by imposition or divine right, like in other Italian medieval cities, but as an expression of the Venetians' will.
The portico is already a special place, a masterpiece within an even bigger masterpiece: the thirty-six stone capitals on their arches are a marvellous example of medieval sculpture and give us a rich repertoire of symbolic figures: vice and virtue, saints, martyrs, knights, trades, birds and signs of the zodiac.
From these arches the Doge watched public executions in the square and under the ninth arch, the one that stands out for the red of its marble, death sentences were announced.
The internal courtyard of the Doge's Palace is reached through the monumental Porta della Carta, on the Piazzetta di San Marco.
As on the outside, the facades indicate the double motive of the portico on the lower floors and of the walls with wide windows on the higher part. The architecture, which matches the marble loggia to the bricks of the masonry, manages to create a language that is both simple and ornate, the perfect expression of the spirit of the Republic.
This palace was a highly functional building and each element had a precise purpose.
Starting from the Giant's Staircase in the Courtyard, so-called because of two huge statues of Mars and Neptune at the top symbolizing the Republic's authority over land and sea, is the work of Sansovino: it was here that the Doge's crowning took place, an important happening for Venice, celebrated with great pomp.
Climbing to the top the Doge received the doge's horn (corno ducale) and pronounced the Promissione, the promise, to defend and respect the Serenissima constitution for ever
Comments
Post a Comment