Venice

This time we park our limousine, car with driver and we continue the visit on foot with an “escort service”

San Marco Square is the heart of Venice, the destination of the tourists coming from all over the world. The square has a trapezoidal shape. It is delimitated at east by the San Marco basilica, at north by the Procuratie Vecchie Palace, at south by the Procuratie Nuove Palace, at west by the Napoleonic Palace. In the wide open space sourrounded by the historical palaces tourists from all over the world pass by and take beautiful pictures. The San Marco basilica in Venice is dedicated to the patron Saint of Venice, San Marco the Evangelist, and it is the holy sepulchre of Venice since when the Saint's relics where brought here from Alessandria of Egypt on 800 a.d.. Over the central portal there are the celebrated bronze horses. The internals have beautiful mosaics. From the church it is possible to get into the Gallery and Museo Marciano, where the tourist can see the treasure with many precious finds coming from Constantinopulis. Palazzo Ducale was the Venetian Dogi residence and the seat of the Repubblica Serenissima government, as well as the court and the prison. Ponte dei Sospiri was the bridge that put into communication the court room of Palazzo Ducale with the new prisons. The name today sound sentimental and it is the background of the tourists' gondola rides, but it actually derives from the transit of the sentenced prisoners suffering from nostalgia when they had the chance to see the Venetian scenery for the last time. Ponte di Rialto is the biggest Venice bridge that crosses the Canal Grande. Once it was called Ponte della Moneta, because it was built in the proximity of the Venice mint and the activities of the venetian bankers took place here. Its elegant shape is subdivided into 12 double arcades that today host commercial and tourist activities.

Venice Lagoon isles

Around Venice into the lagoon there are some isles of great glamour: Murano, Burano, San Giorgio Maggiore, Torcello and the Venice Lido beach.

Burano is a small town full of coloured houses where the Venetian tradition of the glass working is preserved. The isle of San Giorgio Maggiore faces San Marco square and it is an isle where there are no hotels but it is a place dedicated to the religious meditation. There the are the Palladio church and the Benidictine Monastery.

The Torcello isle is very interesting for those who want to know more on the Venice origins. It is one of the first inhabitated cores of the Venetian Lagoon. Today the isle is almost uninhabited and there are the remainders of a basilica.