17 Stunning Architecture Landmarks in Venice
17 landmarks with verified facts and stories
Arsenale
Venezia Murano Burano (Venezia Insulare), Venice, Italy
Before Henry Ford, before the Industrial Revolution, before anyone else figured out assembly-line production, Venice had the Arsenale.
Bridge of Sighs
Piazza San Marco, Venice
It might be the most romanticised piece of infrastructure in the world, but the Bridge of Sighs was built for an entirely unromantic purpose: shuttling prisoners from the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace to the cells in the New Prison across the canal.
Ca' d'Oro
3932 Cannaregio, Venezia Murano Burano (Venezia Insulare), Venice, 30121, Italy
The "House of Gold" hasn't been golden for over four hundred years, but the name stuck.
Campanile di San Marco
Piazza San Marco, Venice
At 98.
Chiesa di Santo Stefano
2958 San Marco, Venezia Murano Burano (Venezia Insulare), Venice, 30124, Italy
Venice has four leaning bell towers, and Santo Stefano's is the most dramatic — tilting over two metres off-centre, visible from the campo below at an angle that makes tourists instinctively step back.
Doge's Palace
1 San Marco, Venezia Murano Burano (Venezia Insulare), Venice, 30124, Italy
For over a thousand years, this was the nerve centre of one of history's most successful republics — a state that lasted longer than the Roman Empire and ran a trading network that stretched from London to China.
Frari Church
3072 San Polo, Venezia Murano Burano (Venezia Insulare), Venice, 30125, Italy
The Franciscans arrived in Venice in 1226, and being Franciscans — sworn to poverty and simplicity — they immediately set about building one of the largest churches in the city.
Grand Canal
Grand Canal, Venice
Venice's main street is made of water.
Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo
Calle dei Cristi, Venezia Murano Burano (Venezia Insulare), Venice, 30125, Italy
Hidden down a narrow alley near Campo Manin, this palazzo has one of the most unexpected architectural flourishes in Venice: a massive external spiral staircase that corkscrews up the outside of the building like a stone snail shell.
Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco, Venice
Napoleon called it "the drawing room of Europe," and for once, the little emperor wasn't exaggerating.
Punta della Dogana
2 Dorsoduro, Venezia Murano Burano (Venezia Insulare), Venice, 30123, Italy
At the very tip of the Dorsoduro district, where the Grand Canal meets the Giudecca Canal, sits one of the most dramatic meeting points of old and new in Venice.
Rialto Bridge
Venezia Murano Burano (Venezia Insulare), Venice, Italy
The oldest bridge across the Grand Canal was designed by a man whose surname literally means "of the Bridge.
San Giorgio Maggiore
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
From Piazza San Marco, the church of San Giorgio Maggiore looks like a white marble mirage floating on the water across the basin.
Santa Maria della Salute
Dorsoduro 1, Venice
This church is a prayer made stone.
Scuola Grande di San Rocco
San Polo 3052, Venice
Tintoretto spent twenty-three years painting this building, and the result is Venice's answer to the Sistine Chapel.
St. Mark's Basilica
Piazza San Marco, Venice
This church exists because of one of history's greatest heists.
Teatro La Fenice
Campo San Fantin, San Marco 1965, Venice
Venice's opera house is named "The Phoenix" because it keeps burning down and rising from the ashes — which is either poetic or a sign of terrible fire safety, depending on your perspective.
Explore architecture in Venice
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