Vacation ideas

Rome, Florence and Venice are Italy’s top tourism destinations. Venice is unique, a city built on over a hundred tiny islands that has canals instead of streets. This article will give a brief overview of the city.

Venice Italy Tourism Guide On Arrival and Getting Around

Venice’s airport, Marco Polo International, is well served by most major airlines. From the USA, Delta Airlines flies direct from New York and Atlanta, while US Airlines flies from Philadelphia. Once at the airport, the Alilaguna water bus will take you directly to the city.

There are many ways to get around Venice itself, but of course, everyone going to Venice, Italy for tourism will want to take at least one gondola ride. Make sure you only take a gondola from a licensed gondola stand. There are many unlicensed gondoliers more than willing to part unwary tourists from their Euros.

Venice Italy Tourism Guide To Art and History

The Republic of Venice was a major power in the Middle Ages and well into the modern era, until its surrender to Napoleon’s army in 1797, and its historic sites reflect this. The Doge, or Duke, was the highest elected official and the Gothic Doge’s Palace can still be found in the Piazzetta San Marco. Guided tours are available, where visitors can learn about the history of the palace and its unique architectural features.

The main art museum in Venice is the Accademia, which contains masterpieces of pre-19th century Venetian art. Famous paintings housed in the museum include The Miracle of the Slave by Tintoretto, Pieta by Titian, The Tempest by Giorgione and The Feast in the House of Levi by Veronese. Leonardo da Vinci’s world famous Vitruvian Man is also contained in its collection, but because of its bad situation it is not displayed always.

Venice Italy Tourism Guide To Bridges and Squares

Finally, no visit to Venice would be complete without seeing St. Mark’s Square and the world famous Rialto Bridge and Bridge of Sighs. St. Mark’s Square is the center of Venice and many of its historic buildings surround it, including the aforementioned Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s Basilica and the Procuratie which served as the headquarters of Napoleon’s occupation government.

They say that Venice is for lovers, and local legend has it that lovers kissing on a gondola under the Bridge of Sighs at sunset will be guaranteed eternal love. Whether there’s there is any truth to the legend or not, the Bridge of Sighs is a must-see, an enclosed bridge made of white limestone and connecting the Doge’s Palace to the old prisons. Lord Byron popularized the belief that its name came from the sighs of condemned criminals, though in reality, by the time the bridge was built, the prisons housed only petty criminals, who were unlikely to have received such severe sentences.

One of the important destination for tourism in Venice, Italy is the magnificent arched Rialto Bridge. For many years, it was the only way to cross the Grand Canal on foot. It is enclosed, like the Bridge of Sighs, and its three walkways house a variety of merchant’s stalls selling jewelry, linens and souvenirs. The water bus’s route 1 stops at the Rialto Bridge on its journey up and down the Grand Canal, if you want to access the bridge from below.