Private Walking Tour in Venice: Uncover the Secrets of the City on Water

Highlights

• 2-Hour Private Tour
• Iconic Landmarks
• Hidden Gems

What's included

Itinerary

1. 1

   Piazza San Marco

   30min

   Piazza San Marco is in the heart of Venice. It contains its most famous buildings such as St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge's Palace. Napoleon called it “the world’s most beautiful drawing room”. Piazza San Marco was established during the ninth century, but adopted its current size and form in 1177, and was paved one hundred years later.

2. 2

   Venice

   20min

   Pass in front of the famous Bridge of Sighs. It is is one of the most known, photographed and admired landmarks of Venice. The “Ponte dei Sospiri” or “Bridge of Sighs” is an enclosed limestone bridge in baroque style located next to the Doge’s Palace in Venice. Venice is always described as a romantic city. Some say it is the most romantic city in the world. Therefore, it’s not a surprise that this bridge, thanks also to its evocative name, is so appreciated by couples who stop to take a picture of themselves kissing in front of it. However, there is something you might want to know: the sighs the bridge refers to are not of love, but of resignation and despair! In fact, for some, the Bridge of Sighs was the last bridge they would ever cross…

3. 3

   Canale Grande

   30min

   Marvel the view of the Grand Canal, its small canals and its famous gondolas. The Grand Canal is lined on either side by palaces, churches, hotels, and other public buildings in Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance styles. Grand Canal, Italian Canale Grande, main waterway of Venice, Italy, following a natural channel that traces a reverse-S course from San Marco Basilica to Santa Chiara Church and divides the city into two parts.

4. 4

   Venice

   Pass by

   From Grand Canal, through the “calli” cobbled streets, enjoy the lively life of the Venetian people. In Venice, calli, large calle, the diminutive, callette or calleselle are the streets, the streets that intersect the city forming the complicated maze in which it is easy to get lost. The width of the streets can vary from 0.60 mt. the destination to 6/8 meters of larger, that is precisely why they are called "Calle Larga": Calle Larga San Marco, Calle Larga XXII Marzo. In ancient times throughout the city was privately owned, but when they were granted permission to build new buildings, the Republic forced the owners to leave a passage, which became public, between a property and the other. For this reason, the distance between the houses was bare minimum, even on some occasions the houses were larger as a part of the road was projected onto the road itself.

5. 5

   Teatro La Fenice

   15min

   Stop near Venice’s opera house, La Fenice Theatre, built in 1792, became a major Italian music centre. The premieres of Gioachino Rossini’s Tancredi (1813) and Guiseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto (1851) and La Traviata (1853) at La Fenice were witnessed by their composers.…

6. 6

   Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute

   10min

   Find the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute is one of the best known in Venice, whose dome is visible from all over the city. It was constructed to celebrate the end of the plague in 1631.

7. 7

   Ponte di Rialto

   10min

   The Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) is the true heart of Venice. The current structure was built in just three years, between 1588 and 1591, as a permanent replacement for the boat bridge and three wooden bridges that had spanned the Grand Canal at various times since the 12th Century. It remained the only way to cross the Grand Canal on foot until the Accademia Bridge was built in 1854. The Rialto Bridge's 7.5-meter (24-foot) arch was designed to allow passage of galleys, and the massive structure was built on some 12,000 wooden pilings that still support the bridge more than 400 years later. The architect, Antonio da Ponte, competed against such eminent designers as Michelangelo and Palladio for the contract.

8. 8

   Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari

   Pass by

   The church with the full Italian name "Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari" is a large and famous Gothic church in Venice. The church of Frari is famous for its famous paintings and sculptures. Some of the many works of art in the Frari Church in Venice are well known. These include two paintings by the world-famous painter Titian from the beginning of the 16th century. They are the gigantic painting "Assumption" (size almost 25 m², also called Assunta) and the altarpiece "Madonna of the house Pesaro". Also the grave of the artist Titian is worth seeing in Frari Basilica. The graves of some important Doge's are in the Frari Basilica as well: a Doge was a head of state.

Before you go

Location