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Landmarks & Sights

DA VEDERE

Sixteen Venice sights, one page each, free ones first — because ten of the sixteen cost nothing to walk into, St Mark's among them.

Santa Maria della Salute seen from the Giudecca across the basin, its dome above the low waterfront
Photograph by This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder . Feel free to use my photos, but pleas, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Sixteen places, one page each. They are ordered the way this site argues the city works: the 10 that cost nothing to enter first, the 6 you buy a ticket for after.

That order is an argument, not a filing convention. Venice gives you the city for nothing and charges you for the water. Walking it is free, looking at it is free, and St Mark's Basilica itself is free to enter — only the Pala d'Oro, the treasury and the museum upstairs are ticketed. What costs is every alternative to walking: the vaporetto, the gondola at a fixed municipal tariff, the water taxi.

Three of the free ten — Murano, Burano and Torcello — make the point exactly. They cost nothing to visit and a good deal to reach, and two return trips to the outer lagoon cost more than a day travel card.

⚠️ Two honest notes on the photographs. There is no good freely-licensed frontal view of St Mark's or of the Doge's Palace — those squares are never empty enough — so both sets are led by the courtyard and the water instead. And the Campanile fell down in 1902: what stands is a 1912 copy, rebuilt dov'era e com'era.

St Mark's Basilica seen across the courtyard of the Doge's Palace, its lead domes and gold mosaics above the arcadeSt Mark's BasilicaFree to enter · extras ticketedPiazza San Marco on a clear day, the long arcades of the Procuratie running down both sides above the crowdPiazza San MarcoFree · and the lowest ground in the cityThe Rialto Bridge lit at dusk from the west, its arch and shop arcade reflected in the Grand CanalThe Rialto BridgeFree · and always fullThe Grand Canal looking towards Santa Maria della Salute, palazzi lining both banks and gondolas on the waterThe Grand CanalFree to see · a fare to travelA fruit and vegetable stall at the Rialto market, boxes of berries and tomatoes with handwritten pricesThe Rialto MarketFree · mornings only, not SundaySanta Maria della Salute at sunset from across the water, the customs point beside it and mooring posts in the foregroundSanta Maria della SaluteFree · the plague churchThe Campo del Ghetto Nuovo, a wide open square with a wellhead and tall plain houses around itThe Jewish GhettoFree to walk · museum ticketedA canal on Murano lined with low houses and moored boats, wider and quieter than anything in Venice itselfMuranoFree · the fare is the costA canal on Burano lined with houses painted in flat blue, orange, red and green, with boats moored along itBuranoFree · and further than it looksThe basilica and Santa Fosca on Torcello with the free-standing campanile behind them and cypresses alongsideTorcelloFree island · basilica ticketedThe Doge's Palace from the water, its double arcade of pointed arches carrying the pink upper wallThe Doge's PalaceTicketed · combined ticket onlyThe Campanile of St Mark's rising from the corner of the square, with Sansovino's Loggetta at its footThe CampanileTicketed · a lift, and a queueThe brick front of the Frari, a wide Gothic façade with a rose window and almost no ornamentThe FrariTicketed · or on the church passThe upper hall of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, its ceiling filled with Tintoretto's paintings above a patterned marble floorScuola Grande di San RoccoTicketed · sixty TintorettosThe front of the Gallerie dell'Accademia, a plain white façade with a banner hung across itThe AccademiaTicketed · Venetian painting, in orderThe Peggy Guggenheim Collection at dusk, its low white front along the Grand Canal with the windows litPeggy Guggenheim CollectionTicketed · closed Tuesdays

Photographs from Wikimedia Commons; each sight page carries its own photographer, licence and link.

Free first, and it is an argument

The sixteen sight pages here are ordered with the free ones first. Ten of the sixteen cost nothing to enter, including St Mark's Basilica itself — the church is free and only the Pala d'Oro, the treasury and the museum are ticketed.

What you actually pay for

The six ticketed ones are the Doge's Palace, the Campanile, the Frari, San Rocco, the Accademia and the Peggy Guggenheim. Three of those are covered or part-covered by passes worth knowing about: the Chorus Pass for the churches, and the combined museums of St Mark's Square ticket, which is the only way to buy the Doge's Palace at all.

⭐ And three that are free but not cheap

Murano, Burano and Torcello cost nothing to visit and a good deal to reach. That is the shape of every price in this city: the place is free and the water is not.

What is a reconstruction

Very little, but be honest about the Campanile: it fell down in 1902 and what stands is a 1912 copy, rebuilt dov'era e com'era. The bronze horses on St Mark's are copies too, with the originals inside. Everything else on this list is what it says it is.

How long each one takes

Less than you think, mostly. A church is twenty minutes; San Rocco is an hour if you use the mirrors; the Accademia is two; the Doge's Palace is two and cannot be hurried because the route is one-way. The islands are the outlier — Burano and Torcello are a whole day between them, most of it on a boat.

This section is being written. The guide above is the section for now. New articles are published across the site about twice a week rather than a section being filled in a day, so this page grows steadily — it is worth looking in again. In the meantime the sixteen sight pages and the plans by trip length are finished, and they are the best place to start.

Coming next in this section

  • What is genuinely free in Venice, and what only sounds free
  • Venice passes compared: Chorus, the square's museums, and the city cards
  • The best free views in Venice