Venice Architecture

Venice Architecture

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The Architectural Highlights of Venice

Visitors to Lake Garda no doubt appreciate the wonderful natural beauty of Italy in one of its most lovely areas. However, for a day of history and culture, Venice is an easy 2 hour drive way along the A4 from Lake Garda, and it shows a totally different side to Italy.

Venice is known for its magnificent architecture and history, which is all the more amazing for its watery foundations. Built mainly on piles of petrified wood, the very existence of Venice at all is a miracle.

City highlights should include the wonderfully decorative Basilica in Piazza San Marco. Photographs of this ornately decorated building do not do it justice. Take a moment to take in the decorative detail and glorious beauty of the exterior before entering. Going early or late in the day will avoid long waits in queues. The atrium mosaics are some of the finest in the Basilica. They are best seen when the Basilica is lit, usually between 11.30am and 12.30pm daily. The Genesis Cupola depicts the Creation of the World in concentric circles, followed by the stories of Noah. The oldest mosaics are on either side of the portal, depicting The Virgin with Apostles and Saints. One optional gallery to visit is the Museo Marciano, well worth the entrance fee to see the bronze horses and the wonderful views over the Piazza. The mosaics cover an amazing 4000 m2. Back on the ground, don’t miss the mosaics in the Pentecost Dome and the Ascension Dome in the Nave, or the Pala d’Oro medieval screen behind the altar, encrusted with over 2000 pearls and precious gems. The Treasury holds the most prized pieces including the Pyx, a silver casket in the shape of a Byzantine Church.

Nearby is the splendid Campanile, or bell tower, which looks every bit as beautiful as when it was built in the 16th century, except that the original bell tower collapsed in 1902 and this is the faithfully copied replica! There are great views from the top, as far as the Dolomites on a clear day.

Other must-see buildings include the Ca’ D’Oro, meaning Golden House. This lacy Gothic residence is considered the most beautiful palazzo in Venice and when it was built in 1420 it was covered in gold leaf. It now houses the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti, a collection of the musician’s sculpture, tapestries and paintings. A stroll along the Zattere quayside will reward you with the grandiose Church of the Gesuati, an 18th century example of Venetian architecture which has many Tiepolo masterpieces within. A few minutes across the lagoon by vaporetto will bring you to Palladio’s masterpieces, the San Giorgio Maggiore Church and further along, Il Redentor, one of Venice’s most prominent landmarks.

Back in the San Polo region, the Frari Church is known as the finest Gothic Church in Venice and is well worth a visit, if only to admire Titian’s magnificent ‘Assumption of the Virgin’ above the main altar. It also has 14th century cloisters and a soaring bell tower. Of course no day trip is complete without a photograph of the lovely Bridge of Sighs just off St Mark’s Square, where your day of discovery began.

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