Sophisticated Italy proposes the following half or full day special interest tours in Venice, fascinating city between sea and sky.
DISCOVER VENICE (4 hours)
Discover Venice by visiting the main highlights of this fascinating city. Begin at St Mark’s Square, the former political center of the Venetian Republic, including a peek inside St Mark’s Basilica. Stroll the passageways of Venice and discover urban development including a visit to the busy central area of Rialto.
VENICE’S HIGHLIGHTS (4 hours)
St. Mark’s Basilica, the Doge’s Palace, the Bridge of Sighs and the Prisons A must for any visitor to Venice – St. Marks Basilica with its golden mosaics and its marble floor introduces the visitor to Venice’s intrinsic links to Constantinople. A visit to the Doge’s Palace, seat of Venetian power for 900 years, then across the famous Bridge of Sighs to the Prisons and then one last view at the Giants’s staircase.
SECRET ITINERARY OF THE DOGE’S PALACE (4 hours)
Your guide will meet you at the Hotel. You will walk to the Doges Palace to do your Special tour of the “secret itinerary” of the Doges palace. You will visit rooms and places that are special and not seen on the regular Doges palace tour. It is real fun for the kids. The palace was a symbol of Venice’s power and glory, the residence of the Doges (the rulers of Venice) and the seat of the government and law courts as well as being a prison. Following this tour you will have a tour of St. Mark’s Church.
FROM GOTHIC TO THE RENAISSANCE (4 hours)
Explore Venice’s architectural development between the end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century. The highlights of this pleasant architectural walk include St. Zaccaria, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, the Colleoni Monument and Santa Maria dei Miracoli.
500 YEARS OF VENETIAN PAINTING (4 hours)
Visit the world famous Accademia Galleries, featuring Venetian paintings from the 14th to 18th Centuries, including masterpieces by Bellini, Giorgione, Carpaccio, Tiziano, Tintoretto, Veronese and Tiepolo.
ARCHITECTURE THROUGH THE AGES: FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO NEOCLASSICISM (4 hours)
A survey of 3 Venetian masters whose creations characterize the Venetian skyline: the Church of St. George the Great (on the island of the same name), designed by Palladio; the huge Salute Basilica, the most innovative and ambitious jewel of the Venetian Baroque, and along the Zattare, the 18th century Santa Maria dei Gesuati by Giorgio Massari.
A VENETIAN PALAZZO: CA REZZONICO AND THE 18TH CENTURY (4 hours)
Visit one of the most flamboyant residences on the Grand Canal, inviting the visitor to relive the splendors of one of Venice’s great patrician families. Designed by Baldassare Longhena and completed for the Rezzonicos by Giorgio Massari (who added a Ballroom to the original plans), the Palazzo – where Robert Browning lived and died–has frescoed ceilings by Tiepolo, original 18th century furniture, glass chandeliers and ceramics plus the only outstanding Canalettoes in Venice.
PALLADIO’S VENICE (4 hours)
Walking in the footsteps of Goethe and Indigo Jones, lovers of classical art and architecture will see the following major works of Andrea Palladio: St. Giorgio Maggiore, the monastery island facing St. Marks Square and the majestic Church of the Redentore on the Island of Giudecca.
THE GUGGENHEIM IN VENICE (4 hours)
Peggy Guggenheim’s Palazzo on the Grand Canal now houses her world-famous collection of modern masterpieces. A great American museum with a very special Venetian flavor.
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