A walk with 82 stops, from The Columns of the Piazzetta San Marco to St Mark's Square.
The stops
- The Columns of the Piazzetta San Marco
For centuries, anyone arriving in Venice from the sea entered the city passing here: the two columns of the Piazzetta were the monumental gateway of the Serenissima (the Republic of Venice), the threshold between the power of the Doge’s Palace and the learning of the Libreria (the Library).
- Molo di San Marco
It is the only waterfront in Venice called a molo (quay): the stretch of fondamenta (canalside walkway) in front of the Piazzetta, between the Ponte della Paglia and the Ponte della Zecca.
- Ponte della Paglia
The Ponte della Paglia looks like one of the many Venetian bridges, broad and crowded, but it is one of the oldest in the city: the 15th-century Cronaca Savina records it as the first built in stone instead of wood, during the dogate of Giovanni Dolfin, between 1356 and 1361.
- Bridge of Sighs
The Bridge of Sighs looks like a little piece of postcard architecture, but it was born as a device of Venetian justice.
- Prigioni Nuove
Opposite the Doge’s Palace, beyond the rio (a small canal) crossed by the Bridge of Sighs, the Palazzo delle Prigioni is one of the first buildings in Europe put up expressly to serve as a prison: a severe, single-storey classical façade, with a portico and mighty rusticated blocks of Istrian stone, begun in 1563 by Rusconi, resumed by Antonio da Ponte in 1589 and completed by the Contino in 1614.
- Riva degli Schiavoni
The Riva degli Schiavoni is a long waterfront along the St Mark’s Basin, in the Castello district.
- Calle delle Rasse
A stone’s throw from the Bridge of Sighs, a narrow calle (street) descends from the Riva degli Schiavoni towards San Provolo: it is the Calle delle Rasse, and its name is a piece of medieval geography — the rassa, or rascia, was the ordinary woollen cloth imported from the kingdom of Rascia, ancient Serbia, and here it was sold to cover the felzi, the black cabins of the gondolas.
- Palazzo Dandolo
Palazzo Dandolo is the great Gothic building you recognise today by the Danieli sign, but its story begins as a patrician dwelling.
- Portale dei Bon a San Provolo
At the end of the Salizzada San Provolo, before you enter the quiet Campo San Zaccaria, a portal in Venetian flamboyant Gothic forms a monumental threshold.
- Church of San Zaccaria
One of the most history-laden churches in Venice, a stone’s throw from St Mark’s Square.
- Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II
Anyone walking along the Riva degli Schiavoni ends up passing it without knowing who it is. The bronze horseman pointing his sword towards the Bacino di San Marco is Vittorio Emanuele II, first king of Italy, and the monument that portrays him is a Risorgimento manifesto in bronze and granite telling thirty years of history in a few square metres.
- Ponte della Pietà
The Ponte della Pietà, of stone with baluster railings, crosses the Rio dei Greci along the Riva degli Schiavoni, taking its name from the nearby Ospedale and the church of Santa Maria della Pietà.
- Church of the Pietà
On the Riva degli Schiavoni, the Church of the Pietà is Antonio Vivaldi’s monument: here the Red Priest taught the violin for almost forty years to the ’Figlie di Choro’, the young orphan girls of the Ospedale founded in 1346 for the children abandoned in the ’scaffetta’.
- Calle della Pietà
Calle della Pietà (a Venetian calle, or street) is a small open-air archive, hidden behind the church of the same name and looking onto the rio della Pietà (a small canal).
- Calle del Doge
A calle (a Venetian lane) in the sestiere (district) of Castello that leads from the Riva degli Schiavoni, just past the ponte del Sepolcro, towards campo Bandiera e Moro (a campo is a Venetian square), the old campo of San Giovanni in Bragora.
- Campo Bandiera e Moro
Stop beneath the trees of Campo Bandiera e Moro (campo means square).
- Chiesa di San Giovanni in Bragora
In the quiet campo Bandiera e Moro (a campo is a Venetian square), behind the Riva degli Schiavoni, San Giovanni in Bragora is a late-Gothic jewel rebuilt between 1475 and 1505 on a legendary foundation of 829 — one of the eight churches St Magnus built in a dream.
- Calle della Morte
Few streets in the world have so explicit a name: Calle della Morte.
- Palazzo Gabrielli
At number 4107 on the Riva degli Schiavoni, with its Moorish windows looking out over St Mark’s Basin, Palazzo Gabrielli is a late Gothic residence dating from the end of the 14th century.
- Ponte della Cà di Dio
On the Riva degli Schiavoni promenade, between the St Mark’s basin and the Arsenal, a broad stone bridge spans the rio della Cà di Dio (a rio is a small Venetian canal) — and its unusual name tells of one of the oldest institutions in the city.
- Granai della Repubblica (the Republic's granaries)
Between the Riva Ca’ di Dio and the gates of the Arsenal lines up the ’larder’ of the Venetian fleet: here, a few steps from the shipyards from which the galleys came out, the Serenissima concentrated the whole ship’s-bread cycle.
- Church of San Biagio
Beside the Naval History Museum, where the rio dell’Arsenale meets the campo (square) that today bears the name of Angelo Emo, stands the church Venetians call San Biagio dei Marinai: the only church in Italy that truly belongs to the Navy.
- Monument to Angelo Emo
At the far end of Via Garibaldi, where Castello faces the basin, Campo Angelo Emo—formerly Campo San Biagio—is a small military square (a campo): it is bordered by the church of San Biagio, a historic church of the Italian Navy, and a monument to the army that came to Venice’s aid during the great floods.
- Fondamenta di San Biagio
Past the Ponte dell’Arsenale, the bank running towards the Ponte della Veneta Marina is the Fondamenta di San Biagio, the canalside walkway Venetians call Riva San Biasio.
- Riva dei Sette Martiri
One of the widest and airiest waterfronts of Venice — 850 metres of monumental quayside open onto the Basin of St Mark, without parapets, between the Arsenal and the Biennale Gardens.
- Via Garibaldi
Welcome to Via Garibaldi, the only street in Venice entitled to bear the official title of ’Via’: an absolute exception in a toponymy made of calli (streets), campi (squares) and rii (canals).
- Giardini Pubblici di Venezia
At the eastern edge of Venice, where the city opens onto the Bacino di San Marco, the Giardini Pubblici spread out along the waterfront.
- Motta di Sant'Antonio
Between Via Garibaldi and the Riva dei Sette Martiri, beneath the avenues and lawns of the Giardini Pubblici, sleeps a district that no longer exists: the Motta di Sant’Antonio.
- Ponte sul Rio di San Giuseppe
At the entrance to the Giardini Pubblici (public gardens), where the Castello shore begins to look out over the open lagoon, this bridge crosses the rio di San Giuseppe (a rio is a small Venetian canal) — the rio de Sant’Isepo, from the Venetian name of the church facing it. It is a crossing you make almost without noticing, but just raise your eyes beyond the parapet to see one of the strangest things in Venice: a Roman column with a Victory on top, ringed by bronze rostra — which is neither Roman, nor Venetian, nor even born here: it was erected at Pula by the Austrians and reached the lagoon as war booty.
- Viale Trieste
Viale Trieste is the long avenue that runs along the St Mark’s Basin through the Giardini, in the part dedicated to monuments: among the trees you come across busts and statues of explorers, aviators, musicians and poets — from Francesco Querini to Wagner, from Pier Luigi Penzo to Carducci.
- Palazzo dell'Esposizione della Biennale
At the heart of the Giardini Pubblici, Napoleon’s public gardens at Venice’s easternmost edge, stands the palace that launched the world’s oldest contemporary art exhibition: the Palazzo dell’Esposizione.
- Viale Vittorio Veneto
Venice’s only avenue is where you least expect it: at the far end of Castello, on the island of Sant’Elena, where a real avenue — asphalted, tree-lined, open to the horizon — cuts through the Parco della Rimembranza (Remembrance Park).
- Church of Santa Elena
At Venice’s easternmost edge, on the island that bears its name, stands the church of Sant’Elena, facing the lagoon beside the Parco della Rimembranza, where part of the old meadow survives.
- Viale Quattro Novembre
Viale Quattro Novembre is a promenade in Sant’Elena that holds together two faces of Venice: the green of the Giardini della Biennale and the water of the Rio di Sant’Elena (a rio is a small Venetian canal).
- Paludo di Sant'Antonio
At Venice’s easternmost edge, the street now called Paludo di Sant’Antonio carries its origins in its name.
- Campo di San Giuseppe
The campo (square) of San Giuseppe opens out around the church of Sant’Isepo, in the part of Castello that was still water and salt marshes five centuries ago. The little islands of Secco Marina and Paludo emerged here; they were reclaimed after the Senate decreed in 1512 that a church dedicated to St Joseph should be built.
- Chiesa di San Giuseppe di Castello
At the far east of Venice, beyond Via Garibaldi and the Giardini, San Giuseppe di Castello — Sant’Isepo in Venetian — arose by decree of the Senate of 25 June 1512 on reclaimed islets of the Secco Marina, as the conventual church of the Augustinian nuns who had come from Verona.
- Corte Soldà
The corte (a Venetian courtyard) in Castello lies behind the rio di San Giuseppe (a small canal).
- Calle Correra
A calle (a Venetian lane) in the inner part of Castello, between Via Garibaldi and the Fondamenta di Sant’Anna (a fondamenta is a canalside walkway), with its own corte (courtyard) and its three rami (side branches).
- Fondamenta Sant'Anna
The fondamenta (canalside walkway) follows the rio di Sant’Anna, a Venetian canal, through the working heart of Castello, a short distance from the Arsenal and the Biennale Gardens.
- Church of Sant'Anna
At the end of Via Garibaldi, where the sestiere (district) of Castello turns into quiet and football pitches, the church of Sant’Anna rests against its rio (Venetian canal) like a moored ship: deconsecrated, closed, its doors barred for years.
- Ponte di Quintavalle
The Ponte di Quintavalle is one of Venice’s longest wooden bridges: a 53-metre walkway over the Canale di San Pietro, linking the Via Garibaldi and Fondamenta Sant’Anna area with the island of San Pietro di Castello, the city’s ancient episcopal centre.
- Campo di San Pietro di Castello
At the easternmost edge of Venice, where the city ends and the lagoon begins, Campo San Pietro is the only Venetian square that truly deserves its name: a campo (square), with real grass underfoot and trees shading the benches.
- Basilica di San Pietro di Castello
Stop in Campo San Pietro, at the north-eastern edge of Castello: here Venice keeps its ancient cathedral, isolated in a landscape of water, grass and low houses.
- Salizzada Stretta
A stone’s throw from Campo di Ruga (a campo is a Venetian square), in the heart of Castello, this street bears a name that is almost a paradox: salizzada, meaning ’paved’, and streta, meaning ’narrow’.
- Campo di Ruga
Stop in Campo Ruga (a campo is a square), a few steps from San Pietro di Castello.
- Riello (calle, bridge and fondamenta)
Here Riello brings together a calle (street), a ponte (bridge) and a fondamenta (canalside walkway), between Via Garibaldi and San Pietro di Castello.
- Complesso di San Gioacchino
Where Via Garibaldi ends and the Fondamenta di San Gioacchino begins - a fondamenta is a canalside walkway - the rio (a Venetian canal) di Sant’Anna keeps one of the oldest charity complexes in Venice.
- Ponte Nuovo
At the entrance to Via Garibaldi, this marble bridge closes the last navigable stretch of the rio di Castello, here called the rio della Tana.
- Church of San Francesco di Paola
On Via Garibaldi, the ’Napoleonic street’ created by filling in the rio (a Venetian canal) di Castello, stands the church of the Minims: founded as a hospital commissioned in 1291 by Bishop Bartolomeo Querini, it was entrusted in 1588 to the Order of St Francis of Paola and consecrated in 1619 under the double dedication of Saints Bartholomew and Francis.
- Fondamenta della Tana
A quiet fondamenta (canalside walkway) of Castello, one of those corners of Venice where residents still outnumber tourists.
- Campo della Tana
A broad, quiet stretch of paving just beyond the crenellated walls of the Arsenal: this is Campo della Tana, for centuries the gateway to the ropeworks.
- Fondamenta dell'Arsenale
The Fondamenta dell’Arsenale - a fondamenta is a canalside walkway - skirts the southern side of the great crenellated walls that enclose the industrial heart of the Serenissima (the Republic of Venice): three kilometres of red brick around 48 hectares of yards, workshops and docks, about fifteen per cent of insular Venice.
- Monumental Arsenal of Venice
The gateway that closes Campo dell’Arsenale (campo is Venetian for square) is Venice’s first true Renaissance triumphal arch, erected when the fall of Constantinople made it urgent to revive the naval power of the Serenissima (the Republic of Venice): the model was the Arch of the Sergii in Pula, and the work was completed in 1460.
- Museo Storico Navale
In an imposing 15th-century building on Riva San Biagio, once one of the Republic’s granaries that supplied the fleet with biscuit, the Italian Navy keeps the most important naval museum in Italy.
- Fondamenta di fronte all'Arsenale
The bank opposite the Arsenal, across the rio (a Venetian canal), is aptly named: in Venetian, it is called the fondamenta de fazza l’Arsenal (the canalside walkway facing the Arsenal).
- Campo San Martino
Just steps from the Arsenal gates, Campo San Martino is one of Venice’s exceptions: this campo (Venetian square) stretches along the church façade and side, squeezed between two rii (Venetian canals) and - unusually - has no well.
- Church of San Martino
A stone’s throw from the Arsenal, the elegant church of San Martino looks over the campo (square) of the same name with its Tuscan-style façade, completed only in the 19th century.
- Fondamenta dei Pennini
In the quietest heart of Castello, between Campo San Martino and the rio (Venetian canal) delle Gorne, runs a fondamenta (canalside walkway) with a singular name: Fondamenta dei Pennini.
- Calle del Pestrin
Between the Fondamenta dei Pennini canalside walkway and Calle dei Corazzeri, behind Campo San Martino square, this calle (street) takes its name from the «pestrin»: a dairyman who processed and sold milk and dairy products.
- Salizzada del Pignater
The Salizzada del Pignater, in Castello, carries a vanished trade in its name: here a «pignater» had his shop, a seller of cooking pots.
- Chiesa di Sant'Antonino
A very old church in the sestiere (the district; Venice has six) of Castello, along the salizada of the same name - a salizada is one of the first paved streets in Venice - a stone’s throw from the rio della Pietà and San Giovanni in Bragora.
- Ponte Sant'Antonin
This stone bridge, built of brick and stone and fitted with iron railings in a meander pattern, was restored in 2001.
- Salizzada dei Greci
The street that runs from the Salizzada Sant’Antonin towards the rio (a Venetian canal) dei Greci and the church of San Giorgio is the backbone of Venice’s old Greek colony — today it is still the seat of the Orthodox archdiocese of Italy and Malta.
- Collegio Flanghini
In the silent Campo dei Greci, a stone’s throw from the Orthodox church of San Giorgio and its leaning bell tower, opens the little courtyard of the Collegio Flanghini, the intellectual heart of Venice’s Greek community.
- Church of San Giorgio dei Greci
Along the Salizzada dei Greci (a salizada is one of the first paved streets), beneath the bell tower that leans over the rio (a Venetian canal), stands the oldest church of the Orthodox diaspora: built by the Greeks of Venice between 1539 and 1577 after a century of wrangling with the Senate, San Giorgio was the heart of the Greek ’nation’ — four thousand people including merchants, intellectuals and stradioti — which celebrated the Byzantine rite here under the Metropolitan of Philadelphia.
- Museum of Byzantine Icons
In the quiet little courtyard of the Scoletta di San Nicolò, next to the Orthodox church of San Giorgio dei Greci, a small museum unique in Italy keeps the treasure of the most important Greek community in the West: the Icon Museum of the Hellenic Institute.
- Ponte dei Greci
Six hundred metres from St Mark’s, where the Fondamenta di San Lorenzo meets the Calle della Madonna, a stone bridge crosses the rio dei Greci and marks the gateway to Venice’s little Greece.
- Palazzo Zorzi a San Severo
Between the salizada Zorzi (a salizada is one of the first paved streets of Venice) and the rio di San Severo (a small Venetian canal), in the sestiere (district) of Castello, the white Istrian stone cladding of Palazzo Zorzi stands out — also called Zorzi Galeoni: a great Renaissance palazzo erected in the early years of the 16th century to a design attributed to Mauro Codussi, the architect of the nearby church of Santa Maria Formosa.
- Ponte dell'Osmarin
Two canals away from St Mark’s, on the rio (a Venetian canal) de San Provolo — which Venetians call the rio de l’Osmarin — this little stone-and-brick bridge is a favourite stop for gondolas.
- Palazzo Priuli all'Osmarin
On the Fondamenta dell’Osmarin (canalside walkway), on the corner with the rio (a Venetian canal) that takes its name from the nearby Ponte del Diavolo, Palazzo Priuli is one of the finest Gothic houses in Venice: it was built for Giovanni Priuli, who died here in 1456.
- Campo San Provolo
A pointed arch separates Campo San Zaccaria from Campo San Provolo (a campo is a Venetian square): you pass beneath a flamboyant Gothic portal and enter a small square that bears the name of a church that no longer exists.
- Campo Santi Filippo e Giacomo
A few metres from the crowds of St Mark’s Square, Campo Santi Filippo e Giacomo breathes an air all of its own: a lived-in, working-class campo (square), with its vera da pozzo (wellhead), outdoor tables and a church that is no longer there.
- Chiesa di San Giovanni Novo
In the quiet campo (square) behind the San Zaccaria area, San Giovanni Novo - San Zan Novo in Venetian - is one of the oldest churches in Venice: it was founded in 968 by the Trevisan family, who dedicated it to St John the Evangelist ’in Oleo’, after the martyrdom in boiling oil which the saint is said to have miraculously survived before the Porta Latina in Rome; ’Novo’ (new) because it was the second Venetian church named after the apostle.
- Ruga Giuffa Sant'Apollonia
Ruga Giuffa Sant’Apollonia runs through Castello from Ponte di Canonica to the campo of Santi Filippo e Giacomo, behind the Bridge of Sighs.
- Ponte di Canonica
Behind the Basilica, where the Ruga Giuffa di Sant’Apollonia meets the Fondamenta de la Canonica (a canalside walkway), a solid stone bridge crosses the Rio di Palazzo - here also called the rio de Canonica (a Venetian canal).
- Chiostrino di Sant'Apollonia
Thirty paces from the crowded parvis of the Basilica, behind the apses of San Marco, a discreet threshold opens onto one of the most surprising places in Venice: the Chiostrino di Sant’Apollonia (chiostrino means small cloister), the only Romanesque cloister surviving in the city.
- Chiesetta di San Teodoro
Behind the apse of the Basilica, in a little courtyard where few ever come, hides one of the smallest and most significant churches in Venice: the chiesetta (little church) of San Teodoro.
- Doge's Palace
For almost a thousand years the fate of Venice was decided from this palace.
- Palazzo Trevisan Cappello
Behind the Doge’s Palace, on the canal that descends from the Bridge of Sighs, stands a palace that can rival the nearby Basilica for richness: Palazzo Trevisan Cappello, one of the most sumptuous private dwellings of the early Venetian Renaissance, with a facade entirely clad in polychrome marbles, porphyry discs and geometric inlays.
- Church of San Basso
Wedged between the buildings of the Clocktower, with its flank turned towards the Basilica, the little church of San Basso is one of the oldest in Venice: it was commissioned in 1076 by the tribunician Elia family, dedicated to St Sabbas the abbot and then to Bishop Bassus, martyr of Nice.
- St Mark's Square
It is the only space in Venice called ’Piazza’ - all the others are campi (Venetian squares) - because it wanted to be unique even in name.