Rough Guide. Venice Directions

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Santa Maria Formosa

A powerful image of Saint Barbara – a

masterpiece by Palma il Vecchio – enhances

a chapel in the church of Santa Maria

Formosa.

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San Zaccaria

A large and lustrous altarpiece by Giovanni

Bellini is the highlight inside this wonderful

building.

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San Giorgio Maggiore

Tintoretto left his mark on San Giorgio

Maggiore too – the chancel contains a pair

of famous paintings created specifically for

the place where they still hang.

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A lot of people come

to Venice thinking

that the only way to

get around is by

boat, and are

surprised to find

that they spend

most of their time –

if not all of it –

walking from place

to place, map in hand. But

water is the lifeblood of

Venice, and to appreciate

the city properly you need

to spend some time on the

canals – and to take a

look at the Arsenale, the

gargantuan dockyard that

was the foundation of the

Republic’s maritime power.

On the water

Gondolas

Once an everyday means of transport

round the lagoon, gondolas remain the

quintessential Venetian trademark.

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Boat passes

The moment you arrive in Venice, buy one

of the various travel passes that are on

offer, for unlimited use of the waterbus

network.

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The Arsenale

The powerhouse of the

Venetian economy and

the basis of its naval

supremacy, the

Arsenale was in effect

a city within the city.

Today it’s mostly

disused, but still

redolent of former

glories.

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CASTELLO

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Traghetti

Can’t afford a jaunt on a

gondola? Never mind – hop

across the Canal Grande in a

stand-up traghetto gondola

instead.

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The Canal Grande

Get on board the #1 vaporetto

for an unhurried survey of the

aquatic high street of Venice.

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Maze-like, car-free

and dilapidatedly

durable, Venice in its

entirety is a very

strange place, and

no matter how

many times you

return to the city it

will never lose its

aura of extreme

peculiarity. Some

details of the

townscape are

stranger than others,

though. Here are a few

offbeat features that are

bound to stick in the

memory.

Venetian oddities

The Scala del Bovolo

The spiralling Scala del Bovolo features on

thousands of postcards, but few visitors to

the city ever manage to find it.

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PIAZZA

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Venetian dialect signs

The Venetian habit of slurring words and

dropping syllables can produce some

baffling names, none more so than San

Zandegolà, or San Giovanni Decollato –

Saint John the Beheaded.

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Leaning towers

In a city built on mud it’s inevitable that

some of the taller structures – such as the

campanile of Santo Stefano – should lurch a

few degrees off the perpendicular.

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THE PIAZZA

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Gesuiti

At first sight the walls of the Gesuiti seem to

be hung with damask; look again, and you’ll

see they’re made of something quite

different.

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The Ospedaletto

From the grotesque decoration of its facade

you might never guess that the Ospedaletto

is actually a church.

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Santa Maria del Giglio

The church of Saint Mary of the Lily is a

monument to the glory of the people who

paid for it rather than to the glory of God.

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THE PIAZZA

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As a thrustingly

mercantile city,

situated on the edge

of the

Mediterranean at

the crossroads of

Europe and Asia,

Venice was always a

place where a

multitude of cultures

mingled and did

business. Many

outsiders put down

roots here and grew

into significant

communities; others have

left fascinating evidence of

their temporary residence.

Multicultural Venice

Fondaco dei Turchi

HQ of the city’s Turkish traders, the

Fondaco dei Turchi is now occupied by the

natural history museum.

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Scuola degli Albanesi

Some lovely pieces of sculpture identify

this tiny building as the former hub of

Venice’s Albanian community.

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WEST OF THE PIAZZA

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San Giorgio dei Greci

A precariously tilting tower marks out the

church that for centuries was the spiritual

centre of Venice’s sizeable Greek population.

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San Lazzaro degli Armeni

The Armenian island of San Lazzaro offers

one of the lagoon’s most intriguing guided

tours, given by the monastery’s multilingual

residents.

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The Fondaco dei

Tedeschi

Once bustling with German

merchants, the Fondaco dei

Tedeschi is today the city’s main

post office.

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The Ghetto

The world’s original ghetto is home

to but a fraction of its former popu-

lation, but it’s still the centre of

Jewish life in Venice.

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The religious

confraternities

known as scuole

are distinctively

Venetian institutions

– dating back

hundreds of years, some

are still in existence today.

All of them were formed to

provide material and

spiritual assistance to their

members, but some were

considerably wealthier than

others, as you can see

from the profusion of

artworks that embellish the

headquarters of the so-

called Scuole Grande. The

Scuola Grande di San

Rocco is the most

spectacular of them, but

others repay a visit too.

Scuole

Scuola Grande dei Carmini

The scuola of the Carmelites is notable for

yet another bravura ceiling by

Giambattista Tiepolo.

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Scuola di Battioro e Tiraoro

Looking something like an overgrown

cabinet, the tiny scuola of Venice’s gold-

smiths is tucked alongside the church of

San Stae, right on the Canal Grande.

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Scuola di San

Giorgio degli

Schiavoni

The Slavs’ scuola

features on many

visitors’ lists of

favourite places in

Venice, on account of

Carpaccio’s dazzling

sequence of paintings

in the lower hall.

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CASTELLO

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Scuola Grande di San Rocco

Still functioning today, the Scuola Grande di

San Rocco is the wealthiest and most lavish

of all the scuole.

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Scuola di San Giovanni

Evangelista

The forecourt of the scuola of John the

Baptist is one of the most alluring episodes

in the Venetian cityscape.

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Scuola Grande

di San Marco

Now Venice’s hospital,

the Scuola Grande di

San Marco is a master-

piece of the early

Renaissance, featuring

carvings by Tullio and

Antonio Lombardo, two

of the major figures of

the period.

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Around fifteen

million people come

here each year, and

on a summer’s day

the influx of tourists

exceeds the city’s

population. Most of

these incomers see

nothing but the

Piazza, and if you

never stray far from

the precincts of the

Basilica di San

Marco it can seem that

Venice has lost much of its

soul to the depredations of

modern tourism. Wander

just a little further afield,

however, and you’ll find

plentiful signs of the

survival of a more

authentic Venice.

Authentic Venice

San Niccolò dei Mendicoli

Meander down to the western edge of

Dorsoduro and you’ll come to this quiet

and ancient church, one of the most char-

acterful in Venice.

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Campo Santa Maria

Mater Domini

With its parish church, crumbling old

houses, workadays bars and artisan’s

workshop, Campo Santa Maria Mater

Domini is like a snapshot of an earlier

age.

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