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Venice for Free
Sixteen free sights and experiences in Venice, Italy
Basilica di San Marco - Let's just come out and say it: there simply is no church in Europe more lavishly decorated, more exquisitely mosaicked, more glittering with gold than San Marco, the cathedral of Venice. Built in the 11th century, this medieval basilica topped by a quintet of Byzantine domes is swathed inside in 40,000 square feet of glittering golden mosaics... 
The Grand Canal - The Grand Canal is Venice's main artery and primary boulevard, a two-mile ribbon of water plied by hundreds of ferries, gondolas, garbage scows, speedboats, and small commercial craft daily. This inverted S-curve of a canal is lined with more than 200 of the most gorgeous Venetian palazzi (palaces), called home by a legion of ex-pats like Wagner, Byron, Robert Browning, Hemingway, Proust, Henry James, and Ruskin...
Dancing on Piazza San Marco - The living room of Venice is a year-round carnival, one of milling tourists, the glittering mosaics of St. Marks' cathedral, kids feeding an endless supply of pigeons, locals relaxing at outdoor café tables under 16th century arcades, and couples caught up in Venice's romance dancing on the cobblestones...
Tramping around Torcello - Wander in the footsteps of Hemingway on this swampy, half-deserted island in the northern Lagoon with a remarkable mosaicked medieval church...
Strolling around Burano - Sleepy but vibrant Burano is the fishing village version of Venice, where little old ladies still hand-tat old fashioned lace in the doorways of tidy little houses, each painted in a glorious cacophony of colors that's reflected in the gently rippling waters of quiet canals...
Getting lost - You're going to get lost anyway in Venice's incomprehensible tangle of alleys and sudden dead-ends into canals; might as well enjoy it...
I Frari - This otherwise plain medieval church is adorned with works by Titian, Giovanni Bellini (that's his 1488 Madonna and Child pictured on the left), and the only work by Donatello in Venice—not to mention that among the grandiose tombs are those of Venetian masters Canova and Titian...
Il Redentore - This geometrically precise church designed by Neoclassical master Andrea Palladio, and pretty much the only reason tourists ever trek out to the isolated island of Giudecca. The interior is done in grand, austere, painstakingly classical Palladian style in keeping with a church commissioned by the city in thanks for being delivered from the great plague of 1575–77, which claimed over a quarter of the population...
San Giorgio Maggiore - Nearly every visitor to Venice snap a picture of it, yet barely a handful ever board the vaporetto to visit this Palladio-designed church on its own little island in the Bacino San Marco, where the Grand Canal empties out in front of Piazza San Marco. This is a shame, since they're missing a Venetian architectural glory decorated with works by Tintoretto, Carpaccio, and Jacopo Bassano—plus spectacular views from the bell tower...
Watching gondolas be made at the Squero di San Trovaso - One of the few remaining gondola boat yards in Venice, just a few hundred yards from the Accademia, where you can watch these master boat builders ply their ancient craft...
Rialto Bridge - A felicitous Renaissance arch of marble across the Grand Canal lined by tiny (overpriced) boutiques; the place to get the perfect shot of the Grand Canal and its chaos of boat traffic...
Rialto Market - A crowded market of fish, veggies, and souvenirs in the San Polo district...
Santa Maria della Salute - This majestic and compact 17th-century baroque jewel decorated with works by Titian, Luca Giordano, and Tintoretto proudly reigns at the tip of Dorsoduro, almost directly across from Piazza San Marco where the Grand Canal empties into the wide Bacino San Marco basin. A grateful Venice commissioned La Salute in 1631 after surviving yet another plague thanks to the divine intervention of the Virgin Mary of Good Health (La Salute)...
San Simeone Piccolo - Not an important church, but it begs to be identified since its green-oxidized copper dome is the first thing nearly every visitor sees—right across the Grand Canal from the train station. Rebuilt in 1718–38 by Giovanni Scalfarotto on the site of a 9th-century church, San Simeone holds the quirky status of being the only church in Venice to celebrate Mass in Latin daily...
The Jewish Ghetto - The historic Jewish Ghetto, first of its kind in Europe and still home to Venice's tiny Jewish population, is the only bit of Venice with medieval "skyscrapers." To really appreciate the history and culture, though, you will have to pony up some dough for a tour of the synagogues via the local museum of Jewish life and history...
Browsing the glass workshops - Sure, buying will cost you a pretty penny, but it's free to browse, and to watch the artisans hand-craft trinkets at their desks (for the bigger stuff, and proper glass-blowing facilities, hop a ferry to the island of Murano).
Related pages
- Discounts in Venice (getting some sighs closer to free)
- Venice parks
- Gondola rides across the Grand Canal for under $1
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This material was last updated February 2011. All information was accurate at the time.
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