You’re in Venice just for one day? Then this list is perfect for you. In one day, you can see the most important at least from the outside. Forget museums as queues are too long and everything would feel quite stressful.
According to our information there are 300 Palazzi, 117 churches and more or less 40 museums in Venice. If you want to see everything you should definitely stay longer than one weekend. Or even more than a week.
For those of you, who don’t have so much time, here are the Top 5 you have to see in Venice.
Bridge of Sighs
This is an enclosed bridge connecting the New Prison with the Doge’s Palace. It was built in the 16th century. It was Lord Byron giving the Bridge its name. It’s said that prisoners would sigh when having a look outside the window for the last time before they were brought into their cells. It’s usually not that white-blue surrounded like on our picture. It was just a commercial.
At Mark’s Square/ Piazza San Marco
We love to call it the ‘Pigeon Square’. Possibly this place is home to most pigeons in the world. Don’t be surprised if something is plopping down.
St. Mark’s Square is the cities landmark and really impressive. Grandiosity, decadence and style until the eye bursts. It’s not easy to make a photo of the whole square. But you should at least try.
What you can see in the picture (from left to the right): the Biblioteca Marciana, the Campanile, the Watch Tower, the Basilica di San Marco and the Doge’s Palace.
If you’re searching for calm, Venice’s most crowded place is not an option.
Rialto Bridge
We moved on to Rialto Bridge and we felt like everything was becoming narrower. These alleys are not made for huge crowds or at least for claustrophobic people.
The Rialto Bridge leads over the Canale Grande and is the most photographed motive after St. Mark’s Square. It’s located in the trading centre Rialto.
The first tries to build a bridge over the Canale Grande were made in the 13th century. In 1507, the decision was finally made to build a stone bridge after the wooden version of the bridge was broken under the weight of a wedding party.
The alleys of Venice
One prettier than the other. One narrower than the other. All the small bridges leading over the canals were so dreamy. You should definitely do more in Venice than just see the main sights. The many side alleys are perfect for that.
Jewish Quarter
It was interesting to see how areas became tourist free here in Venice bit by bit. You can finally see locals and the hood is less pimped with Gondoliere and all the typical Venice views.
The Gheto Novo and the Gheto Vecchio are connected with a bridge. These places don’t seem to be interesting for tourism. There are no beautiful sights like in the other parts of Venice. As we’re little bit of history nerds, we wanted to combine this with seeing a not touristy place.
Just like everywhere in Europe, it wasn’t easy for Jews in Venice. Between the 16th and 19th century, they had to live in Ghetos. But they enjoyed high standards of legal certainty like nowhere else in Europe. During fascism, those who still lived in the Ghetos were deported by the German Nazis in 1943 and murdered. Nowadays there’s just a small Jewish community living here.
As it was forbidden to build synagogues on Venetian ground, they were built in normal buildings or at rooftops. And as we didn’t know before, we probably just passed by without knowing. What a bummer!
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