Venice: Grand Canal by Gondola with commentary

About this activity

See the boat

+6

What is included

Itinerary

1. 1
   Stop 1

   5 min - We will pass trough the Gran Canal terrace of Ca Giustinian, one of the oldest Palace overlooking the Canal Grande.

2. 2
   Chiesa di San Moise

   Close to San Marco Square, in front of St Moise (Moses) Church and the Gondola station, the guide will introduce you in the elegant and romantic world of the Gondolas.

3. 3
   Teatro La Fenice

   Once one of 7 major theatres in the city, today the Fenice is Venice’s one and only opera house. It is surely a jewel among European theatres, and began to shine from the beginning, as the best composers of the age wrote and performed their operas here, among which Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini. But it was Giuseppe Verdi who is most attached to the Fenice and to Venetian memory.

4. 4
   Canal Grande

   The most beautiful road in the world”, this is how the Grand Canal is known as. If you look around, what you will see is almost exactly what a nobleman in the 18th century might have looked upon, and before him a Renaissance courtesan and before him a merchant in the Middle Ages.

5. 5
   Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute

   Here, as you come into the Grand Canal you admire the church of the Madonna della Salute. The first thing that strikes a viewer is how imposing the church is, strategically placed at the entrance of the Grand Canal looking out onto the rest of the city in every direction, thanks to its circular shape. Today, ever 21 November the city celebrates the Madonna della Salute in memory of the end of the plague

6. 6
   Punta della Dogana

   Punta della Dogana separates the Grand Canal from the Giudecca Canal. For its strategic location it was the house of the Custom and of the Salt Warehouses. During the fifteenth century, the Sea Customs House, which had previously been near the Arsenale, was transferred to the western point of Dorsoduro borough.

7. 7
   San Giorgio Maggiore

   You will have a view of the Island of san Giorgio Maggiore, with its beautiful Renaissance Church built by Palladio in the Renaissance and the belltower resembling the bigger one in St Mark’s Square. The island was once known as the Island of Cypress Trees before it became an important Benedectine monastery.

8. 8
   Giardini Reali

   At the end you will enjoy a wonderful overview of Saint Mark’s Square. This is a spot which painters from all over the world have tried to capture in its uniqueness, but we can only recommend that you sit back and take it all in.

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