EspañolUpdated 12/20/2025
Venice, 10/22/2025 - 10/31/2025
Impressions: This city should be impossible. The whole thing is a foot or three above sea level but they manage storms and flooding by running canals everywhere. I was told the city was never conquered until relatively recent times because it's impossible to get a warship close unless you know exactly where to go, and only the Venetian fisherman knew that.
On 10/23 I saw more in half a day here than I did in 2 or 3 days in other places. The amount of amazing stuff squeezed together in a small space is... I don't want to say unequaled, but in my experience at least it is.
Tintoretto overload! Apparently he had a monopoly on the biggest projects because he's everywhere; you can't throw a rock without hitting one of his works. If you like him this city is your holy grail. If you don't... why are you even reading this? You should know by now what I'm all about. 😜
Stay away from: Trattoria Le Colonete. Overpriced mediocre food with waitstaff that collects plates before you've even finished chewing the last bite. They also try and scam you into tipping (which isn't done in Italy). We should have known better, as close to San Marco as it is, but we were hungry and tired.
The Accomodations
A basic and "well-loved" one bedroom place that's a 5 minute walk from the Ponte Rialto and maybe 10 from Piazza San Marco. Location is everything and this one is key so inconveniences like a broken stove burner and an ongoing hunt for mosquitos shall be overlooked. I don't get the mosquitoes though - all the windows have screens, why don't people use them? The mosquitoes here are both agile and sneaky. Somehow they find their way in every morning and evening, even with the screens in place and everything sealed up tight.
Chiesa di San Salvador, 10/22/2025
You already know the drill. It's a church, the doors are open, you have to go in. This one is right around the corner from the apartment so I will henceforth think of it as "my" church.
Chiesa Santa Maria Mater Domini, 10/23/2025
As usual, just passing by...
Ca' Pesaro Modern Art Gallery, 10/23/2025
Normally I'd avoid a modern art museum but in this case modern means anything after 1850 or so and there's plenty of great work to see... of which this museum has plenty. And since it was a palace before it was a museum it has some pretty epic frescoes.
Tommaso Calabro Gallery, 10/23/2025
Chiesa di San Polo, 10/23/2025
This one wasn't even on my radar but I walked by and you know the rule. Of course there's a Tintoretto painting in your face as soon as you walk in. For €3.50 you can go into the Oratorio, so I figured why not, not knowing what to expect. Well of course there's a whole set of work by Tiepolo, a full Stations of the Cross and a couple additions. Whatever, Italy.
View Stations of the Cross (plus bonus paintings) by Tiepolo
Chiesa di San Pantaleon, 10/23/2025
"Hey, I'm just a little church in Venice, how about I try and rival the Sistine Chapel? Only... darker, let's fill it with Wizard of Oz flying monkeys!" Okay, I imagine they're supposed to be angels but they're kind of scary.
In the Venetian language (which is either a dialect of Italian or its own language depending who you ask), Pantaleon is translated as Pantalon, which means trousers or pants in both Italian and Spanish. Funny but true.
Galeries Bartoux, 10/23/2025
The kind of place I don't normally enter because it makes me feel inadequate knowing I'll never be able to afford any of the work inside. But geez how could I not? That said the imagery of the women is technically outstanding but I feel like I'm looking at a Vogue cover or something...
Chiesa di Santa Maria del Giglio, 10/23/2025
Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore, 10/24/2025
It's on an island a 5 minute vaporetto ride from San Marco. There are a couple nice pieces inside but there is some absolutely epic wood carving. And the views back at the main part of Venice, both from sea level and atop the bell tower, and fantastic.
Chiesa Santa Maria della Pietà , 10/24/2025
Chiesa di San Zaccaria, 10/24/2025
The main church and the huge wall-sized paintings are free; there is paid admission to the crypt which Google said wasn't worth it. Unfortunately all my photos that demonstrate the elaborateness of the place are a blurry mess so I'll only show the decent ones here. If you're in town go - it's worth it!
Chiesa di San Giorgio dei Greci, 10/24/2025
A Greek orthodox church! Who'd have thought. It appears this is on land that officially belongs to the Greeks, sort of like an embassy. You can see it in the art - much more Byzantine looking.
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, 10/25/2025
I saw this one looking out from San Marco and just based on its appearance from across the lagoon I was like "I need to go there." The main church is free but you can pay to see the sacrestia and/or go up outside the dome. I did both; the dome offers another awesome panoramic view of Venice, and the sacrestia is filled with paintings by BOTH Titian and Tintoretto. Sounds like a can't-lose to me!
Galleria di Palazzo Cini, 10/25/2025
I would say they overcharge based on the size of this one. €10 for a pretty small museum with a limited collection; you'd think for the money they could turn some lights on. Not to say they didn't have anything good! In fact I found a new painter to follow, Antonio Guardi.
Chiesa di San Trovaso, 10/25/2025
Italian church. Paintings worth looking at. Of course.
Perpetuo by Veronika Psotková, 10/25/2025
I think as part of the Biennale there are installations and exhibitions all over the city. This one was in a church with open doors so I had to follow the church rule. The figures obviously call to mind Renaissance sculpture (so nicely done there) but the crazy part is that they're made of wire - single-filament wire looped/shaped over and OVER to create these figures. Zoom in to get an idea.
Chiesa di San Sebastino, 10/25/2025
A bunch of work by Veronese just to switch things up from Titian and the various Tintorettos.
Galleria dell'Accademia, 10/26/2025
One thing this trip has done is increase my awareness and appreciation for Veronese and Tintoretto. Here in the Galleria dell'Accademia there's a heaping helping of both, and geez the works of theirs they have on display... In addition, I made a new friend, Pietro Belloti, who was a pretty excellent portrait painter from the late 1600s.
Scuola Grande di San Rocco, 10/26/2025
This one wasn't even on my radar so thanks to some friends and their Chat GPT assisted research for uncovering this place. Tintoretto overload! This was a private club, maybe something like the Masons, Lions, or Rotary Club. In theory the gentlemen organized to worship and do good works, so they commissioned Tintoretto to create a bunch of gigantic paintings and a whole ceiling, because that's what you did back then if you were rich beyond belief. Well they certainly got what they paid for! I don't really have words to express how insane this place is but even the friends that aren't especially into art were blown away.
What amazes me is the amount of work Tintoretto produced! Granted he had 4 children that helped, none of them quite as skilled as him (he set a pretty high bar), so he had quite a workshop behind him. But still... how does one guy (more or less) produce this much work, even over a lifetime? He must have been a total workaholic.
Chiesa Parrocchiale dei Santi Apostoli, 10/26/2025
There's a nice one by Contarini but the highlights in my photo are so bad I can't even show it.
Basilica di San Marco, 10/28/2025
Another example of the donations of the faithful going to a good cause! No wonder Martin Luther went postal. The whole ceiling of the basilica is a series of mosaics, all of them gold plated. In addition there's a gold altarpiece that they say is the only one like it in the world that's still intact and in its place.
The overall effect is beyond impressive but not really my thing.
Palazzo Ducale, 10/28/2025
This, on the other hand, is my kind of thing! Another Tintoretto overload, to the point where's he's starting to get on my nerves. Did the guy never sleep? Or was he just an amazingly fast painter? Or both? Either they paid artists poorly back then (some things never change) or he was the richest artist north of Rome. I guess I'm going to have to buy a book about him (or just check Wikipedia) to find out.
In any event the massive halls here put the Scuola di San Rocco to shame, in fact they put anything else art-wise I've seen in my life to shame (keeping in mind I haven't yet been to Florence or Rome). Even Tintoretto wasn't fast enough to do the WHOLE thing so they threw a couple bones to Veronese and other assorted greats to fill things out.
The way it works is you pass through a series of chambers, each more spectacular than the last. One of our group was ahead of the rest of us and he came back before the final grand hall to tell us "This next one's just to bust your balls." Which it was - just when you thought it couldn't get any more elaborate and over the top, the grand hall takes it to another level.
Time for the most over the top art ever
Chiesa di San Moisè, 10/29/2025
They have a painting by Tintoretto (who doesn't) but the lighting was really bad and there's enough of him in these parts already. Some of the other (unattributed) paintings look really good though!
Museo Correr, 10/29/2025
More of a typical palace-type deal with ornate everything, a weapons and armor collection, blah blah blah. It's attached to the archeological museum and the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, which is where they hide the good stuff. The big hall there is nothing compared to the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and especially the Palazzo Ducale, but it's cool on its own terms.
A little more art from the Museo Correr
Museo Fortuny, 10/29/2025
A suggestion from a colleague. Reminds me a little bit of the Isabella Stuart Gardner museum in Boston - a mansion setup to resemble how it was when the eponymous donors lived there. Mr. Fortuny was a bit of a Renaissance man in his own right, but during the late-ish 1800s into the 1900s. Painter, photographer, printmaker, set designer, inventor... nice!
Scuola Grande di San Marco, 10/30/2025
After seeing the majesty that is the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, I decided to take a look at some other Scuole. Here I met a volunteer who regaled me with reasons why this scuola is the most important in Venice. Part of it has to do with when the Venetians, um, obtained San Marco's remains from the Eastern Orthodox church in Egypt 800 years after his death. He also claimed it was the first one to be founded in Venice.
That all might be true but if one is to judge by the elaborateness and size of the respective buildings, and by the work on display, I have to give it to San Rocco (sorry my friend!). San Marco has 5 Tintorettos (of course) but to me only one of them was worth photographing.
Scuola Dalmata dei Santi Giorgio e Trifone, 10/30/2025
This one seems to be using the term scuola to ride on the coattails of Saints Rocco and Marco. Elaborate in its own way but tiny and humble in comparison.
Chiesa di San Antonin, 10/30/2025
Arsenale di Venezia, 10/30/2025
The city's shipyard and a naval base.
After Venice, a week off before returning to Bologna!