Themed Tour in Venice
The main street for Venetians is this upside-down S-shaped, 3.2-km-long stretch of busy waterway between San Marco and the train station. Commerce has long thrived on the canal, and for centuries nobility built their palaces on its banks. The half-hour vaporetto (waterbus) trip up the canal not only reveals the city's past grandeur, but also provides an exhilarating look at life in present-day Venice.
Start: Vaporetto 1 from San Marco/Vallaresso towards Piazzale Roma.
Dogana da Mar
The former Customs house at the entrance to the Grand Canal was at one time a mandatory stop for all vessels entering Venice. There are plans to create a new contemporary art museum here.
Vaporetto
Salute
Salute
A baroque fantasy in white marble, this church, designed by Baldassare Longhena and built as an offering to end an outbreak of the plague, hints at the architectural wonders that line the canal ahead.
Vaporetto
Salute
Ca' Dario
A long list of former residents died under mysterious circumstances, endowing this small, 15th-century palazzo with a reputation of being cursed.
Vaporetto
Salute
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni/Peggy Guggenheim Collection
The Venier clan ran into financial trouble while building their palazzo, but the ground floor — the only part completed — was well suited to the tastes of American heiress Peggy Guggenheim. Today the palazzo shows off her collection of modern art to ideal advantage.
Vaporetto
Accademia
Palazzo Corner della Ca' Grande
Venice's provincial administration has its headquarters in this elegant, early Renaissance palazzo built in the 1590s by Sansovino.
Vaporetto
Santa Maria del Giglio
Ponte dell'Accademia
This prosaic wooden structure dates from 1934, replacing an iron structure erected in 1854. Until then, the Ponte di Rialto was the only span across the canal.
Vaporetto
Accademia
Gallerie dell'Accademia
Three former religious buildings house the world's richest repository of Venetian art.
Vaporetto
Accademia
Palazzo Grassi
This grand, classical palazzo on the Grand Canal dates from 1749 and is now owned by the French magnate and art patron François Pinault. Adapted for use as an exhibition centre (parts of Pinault's personal collections often feature), the building retains many original features, including some fine frescoes.
Vaporetto
San Samuele
Ca' Rezzonico
The home of the Museo del Settecento Veneziano (Museum of 18th-century Venice) has also been home to the poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Cole Porter; and James McNeill Whistler. It is a magnificent noble mansion stuffed with period furniture and frescoes by the Tiepolos.
Vaporetto
Ca' Rezzonico
Ca' Foscari
The late Gothic home of a 15th-century doge houses the University of Venice and was restored in 2006.
Vaporetto
Ca' Rezzonico
Palazzo Balbi
Napoleon is among the legions of spectators who have sat on the balcony to watch the many regattas that, since 1315, have crossed the finish line in front of this palazzo.
Vaporetto
San Tomà
Palazzi Mocenigo
A clan that produced seven doges connected three adjacent palaces to create one of the grandest homes on the canal; in the early-19th century, one commodious wing accommodated Lord Byron and his menagerie.
Vaporetto
Sant'Angelo
Palazzo Loredan and Palazzo Farsetti
Two of the first palazzi on the canal, built in the 13th century, now serve as Venice's city hall.
Vaporetto
Rialto
Ponte di Rialto
Venice's most famous bridge, completed in 1590, was the first of the crossings over the Grand Canal and it's also the most elegant, and busiest. Designed by Antonio da Ponte, the bridge replaced an earlier wooden structure.
Vaporetto
Rialto
Fondaco dei Tedeschi
Built in 1508 as a multipurpose warehouse, office space, and a hostelry for Germans ( Tedeschi) working in Venice, this Renaissance-style structure is now Venice's main post office.
Vaporetto
Rialto
Palazzo dei Camerlenghi
The world's first-known office building was completed in 1528 for Venice's financial magistrates — it still serves a similar purpose today as the headquarters of the financial court.
Vaporetto
Rialto
Pescaria
Venetians have bought their fish from this spot since the 14th century; the neo-Gothic market hall dates from the early-20th century.
Vaporetto
Rialto
Fabbriche Vecchie and Fabbriche Nuove
Both structures were built in the 16th century as markets, warehouses, office and magistrates' courts.
Vaporetto
Rialto
Ca' da Mosto
The oldest palace on the Grand Canal was completed in the 13th century for a family whose members included Alvise da Mosto, the 15th-century navigator who discovered the Cape Verde Islands.
Vaporetto
Ca d'Oro
Ca' d'Oro
Even without the gold leaf that graced the facade and lent the palazzo its name, this early-15th-century palazzo is a glittering example of Venetian Gothic architecture. Inside is the Galleria Franchetti art collection.
Vaporetto
Ca d'Oro
Ca' Pesaro
The Pesaro family combined three Gothic houses to create one of Venice's largest palaces, now housing Asian and modern art collections.
Vaporetto
San Stae
Palazzo Vendramin Calergi
Past residents include the composer Richard Wagner, who completed Tristan and Isolde here in 1859. The Renaissance palazzo is home to Venice's casino.
Vaporetto
Santa Marcuola
Palazzo Labia
The 17th-century home of a Spanish trading family now houses the Venice offices of RAI, the Italian national television network. The Labia clan left behind tales of legendary wealth and pretension — at their lavish galas they would hurl gold dinnerware into the canal (nets laid on the canal bottom ensured easy retrieval). Another legacy: the frescoes that Giambattista Tiepolo executed for the Banqueting Hall in honour of the marriage of Maria Labia in the 18th century.
Vaporetto
Guglie
