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Cities Info Venice
Venice
VENICE
AIRPORT
Marco Polo Airport (VCE) is located 16 Km north east of Venice (Tel. +39 041 2606111; www.veniceairport.it). It consists of two different terminals, linked by a free shuttle. Every 20 minutes a bus connects the airport to the main city railway station, Venice-Santa Lucia; public transport is available from the station.
Car rental, taxi and limousine services (041 522 0884) are also available (Avis, Europcar Italia, Hertz and Thrifty.)
LOW COST FLIGHT
Low cost flights to and from Marco Polo Airport are:
www.airblue.com
www.meridiana.com
www.eurofly.com
www.vueling.com
www.myair.com
www.easyjet.com
www.tuifly.com
www.airdolomiti.com
www.windjet.com
MOTORWAYS
The A4 is the main motorway linking Venice to Milan and Turin on the West and to Trieste on the East.
BY BOAT
Minoan Lines(www.minoan.gr) and Anek (www.anekitalia.com) run regular ferries to Venice from Greece, while Venezia Lines (www.venezialines.com) runs high-speed boats to and from Croatia and Slovenia in summertime.
BY TRAIN
Venice is easily reachable by train by the main Italian cities and by Austria and East Europe.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Water is the main medium of transport in Venice: water buses, called vaporetti, link multiple sites along the Grand Canal, making scheduled stops.
ATTRACTIONS
CHURCHES
Basilica of San Marco
It is a landmark of Venice, together with San Marco Bell Tower. This wonderful church was built in 829 and it houses the remains of San Marco, who is the city patron. The church has sumptuous interiors, Byzantine-style bas-reliefs, stunning marble floor and mosaics.
Basilica of Frari
It is a wonderful example of Gothic Franciscan style, built in the 14th century. The famous Venetian sculptor Antonio Canova and the painter Titian (Tiziano) were buried there.
The interior of the church has magnificent works of famous artists, including Donatello, Giovanni Bellini and Titian.
San Polo 3003 www.basilicadeifrari.it (041) 272 8611
Church of San Stae
The Church of San Stae was built around 1709. Its façade has wonderful marble decorations and the interiors are enriched with magnificent paintings. The sculptors involved in producing these decorations were Tarsia, Torretto, Baratta and Groppelli.
Basilica della Salute
This church was built during the terrible plague epidemy that destroyed Venice's population, in the 17th century.The façade was lifted with a number of steps to give the church an even greater sense of grandeur. The interior is incredibly charming due to the severe majesty of its size. There are a number of works of art inside the church too: Pentecost, San Rocco and San Sebastiano, David and Goliath and Cain and Abel by Tiziano; The Marriage of Canaan by Tintoretto and Jonah and Samson by Palma il Giovane.
Church of San Giorgio dei Greci
This beautiful church was built from 1539 to 1561 and it has magnificent interiors with a huge hemispherical dome.
MUSEUMS
The Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Oriental Art. It is housed in a beautiful 17th century building, an example of Venetian Baroque, called Cà Pesaro. This museum has a good selection of sculptures and paintings by Klimt, Chagall, Kandinsky, Matisse, Moore, Mirò, Klee, De Chirico and many others.
Peggy Guggenheim Museum
The Peggy Guggenheim Museum is housed in a wonderful ancient building on Grand Canal, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. It contains Peggy Guggenheim's personal collection of sculptures and paintings by many famous artists, including Magritte, Mirò, Chagall, Mondrian, Kandinsky, Ernst, Dalì, Picasso e Boccioni.
Accademia delle Belle Arti (The Academy of Fine Arts)
It was completely renowed after the second World War by the famous architect Carlo Scarpa and it contains a collection of Venetian paintings.
Arsenale (The Shipyards)
The Venice Arsenale is located in Castello Sestiere and is represented by a set of ancient building, dated back to 1104. At its best moment, the shipyards had 16000 men working in ships construction, joiners, sawyers and stucco decorators.
Now visitors can appreciate models of the Serenissima ships on exposition there.
Correr Museum
The Correr Museum has a central location in San Marco Square. A part of the museum is represented by the magnificent Neoclassical rooms of the Napoleonic Wing, with a unique collection of Canova's sculptures.
MONUMENTS
The Rialto Bridge
It is a famous bridge over the Grand Canal. Nowadays this place still looks like
the bustling fruit and vegetable market it was in origin, but with additional small jewel boutiques and a crowd of tourists.
St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco)
It is the most important Venice's square and it houses the Basilica of San Marco with the famous Bell Tower and Clock Tower, and Palazzo Ducale. The wide square is lined by elegant and expensive cafès and bars.
Palazzo Ducale
This exceptional building was the true center of Venetian political, social and economic life right from the beginning and was the private residence of the Doge. The portico supported by the large columns and the upper open gallery that face the bay are wonderful and wonderful is as well the Gothic wing that faces St. Mark's bay.
The School of St. Roch (Scuola di San Rocco)
The St. Roch School is a majestic building made from white marble, designed by the architects Bon and Scarpagnino around 1400.This structure is a combination of guild and religious fraternity whose members every year pay annual fee to support the preservation of the School. The interiors are decorated by the famous painter Tintoretto.
Campo San Rocco, San Polo 3054 www.scuolagrandesanrocco.it (041) 523 4864
EVENTS
Venice is traditional full of important events throughout the whole year. To cite only few of them:
The Historical Regatta
This event has a long tradition, dating back to the 13th century. It is held on the first sunday of September
Feast Day of the Redeemer (Festa del Redentore)
It represents one of the most famous Venice's religious festivals. This event dates back to 1576 in commemoration of the end of the plague that caused the death of almost one third of the city population. It is held annually on the third Sunday of July.
Carnival of Venice
A landmark of the city, this traditional event dates back to the 12th century. During this period, in February, the whole city is filled by acrobats, musicians, clowns and beautiful masks, some of them originally ancient.
www.carnevale.venezia.it
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival is the most ancient film festival in the world and it takes place every year in September.
www.labiennale.org
The Biennale
The Biennale is a modern art exposition that is held every two years. Painters, sculptors, architects and performance artists come to Venice from all over the world in this period.
Giardini Pubblici 29 August to 21 November 2010 www.labiennale.org
SHOPPING
The city centre, such as the streets around St. Mark's Square, called the Mercerie, are lined by a plenty of shopping windows, most of them being the windows of the most popular Italian stylists.
The glass objects made historically on the island of Murano by master glass blowers are an old tradition. They are made using techniques that have been handed down over the centuries. The most famous are Venini lamps and ashtrays, vases and small colored animals. The Murrina is world famous for glass jewelery.
Visitors also appreciate the several mask shops, with the typical masks made which are made in terracotta or in pottery.
If you want to take some food home as a souvenir, you can also buy some packages of typical Venetian sweets, such as zaeti or bussolà, that can be bought in one of the many cake shops in Venice.
RESTAURANTS
Venice's cuisine is delicious like that of every other region in Italy; as it is a seaside town, restaurants are particularly specialized in seafood.
Near the Rialto Bridge, there is a string of restaurants with tables along the canal, where you can enjoy the typica lVenice practice of dining by the canal lights.
The Dorsoduro area of has the highest concentration of places where locals, especially students, go to eat.
Ristorante Quadri
This restaurant has an elegant and sophisticated atmosphere and offers a wide selection of delicious dishes, both fish and steak.
Piazza San Marco 120 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (041) 522 2105
Locanda Cipriani
Giuseppe Cipriani, historic founder and original owner of the Locanda Cipriani in Torcello, deserves the undoubtable merit of having foreseen a lucky destiny for this special place.
Piazza Santa Fosca 29 – 30142 Torcello, Venezia Italy
Tel. (+39) 041 730150 Fax (+39) 041 735433
www.locandacipriani.com
Antico Martini
It shows an original atmosphere, characterized by large paintings on the walls, Persian carpets and, above all, a stunning view on the Fenice Theatre.
Campo San Fantin (on the same square as La Fenice opera house) (041) 522 4121
Grand Canal
This elegant restaurant belongs to the Hotel Monaco and Grand Canal, and offers traditional Venetian cuisine, including seafood and fresh vegetables.
It has a beautiful and romantic terrace to sit on.
Hotel Monaco, Calle Vallaresso, 1325 (041) 520 0211
Ristorante Terrazza Goldoni
This design restaurant is located just few metres from Piazza San Marco, looking out over a canal, attractively decorated with Art Deco period furniture and fittings.Refined and high quality dishes following the Venetian tradition.
San Marco, Calle Goldoni 4488, Venice
www.hotelbonvecchiati.it
Vino Vino
It is an elegant wine bar, offerinf a superb selection of Italian and imported wines.
San Marco 2007, On Ponte delle Veste This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (041) 241 7688
NIGHTLIFE
Venice is not really famous for its nightlife, so nightclubs are limited: Piccolo Mondo, on Dorsoduro, and Casanova, on Lista di Spagna, are the most popular.
St. Mark's Square and the streets around are full of cafès, the most famous are the Caffè Florian and Harry's Bar, opened by Giuseppe Cipriani in 1931 and representing a landmark of Venice.
Other popular locals are Taverna del Campiello, Caffè Lavena, Caffè Quadri and Bacaro Jazz cocktail bar.
Lovers of the opera and ballet can go to shows at the Gran Teatro la Fenice, that was recently rebuilt.