Often seen as the living testimony of Venice's links with Byzantium, St Mark's basilica is also an expression of the city's independence. In the Middle Ages...

In its 15th-century heyday, the façade of this pretty townhouse on the Grand Canal must have looked a psychedelic treat: the colour scheme was light blue...

This grandiose palazzo was built in the second half of the 17th century for the Pesaro family, to a project by Baldassare Longhena. When Longhena died in...

At almost 99m (325ft), the Campanile is the city's tallest building, originally built between 888 and 912. Its present appearance, with the stone spire and...

From behind the church of San Martino, on Burano, there is a view across the lagoon to the idyllic monastery island of San Franceso del Deserto. The island,...

By the girls' orphanage of the same name, the church of La Pietà was famous for its music. Antonio Vivaldi, violin and choir master here in the 18th...

The Mint, designed by Sansovino, was completed by 1547. It coined Venice's gold ducats - later referred to as zecchini, whence comes the English word...

Founded in the 13th century by Doge Renier Zeno, the oratory is a sort of primitive scuola, with the familiar square central meeting hall but without the...

An unobtrusive side door halfway down the right wall of the nave in San Marco leads straight into the courtyard of the Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace)....

Built towards the end of the 17th century to a design by Antonio Gaspari, Palazzo Zenobio's broad façade and two wings extending backwards, making it...

Until 1807, San Pietro in Castello was the cathedral of Venice, and its remote position testifies to the determination of the Venetian government to keep...

Begun in 1670 to plans by Baldassare Longhena, the building housing this scuola run by the Carmelite order was spared the Napoleonic lootings that dispersed...

The schiavoni were Venice's Slav inhabitants, who had become so numerous and influential by the end of the 15th century that they could afford to build this...

Used frequently during the day for conferences and in the evening for concerts, this scuola in 2009 began allowing visits at other times. Check the website...