Venezia - Descrizione

Venice.

Venice in brief:

Venice is built on 117 islands; it has 150 canals and 400 bridges. The hub of public life is Piazza San Marco, where tourists and citizens sit on the terraces of the famous Florian, the best-known café, and Quadri Cafés.

The shops in San Marco have sumptuous window displays of lace, jewellery, mirrors and the famous glassware from Murano. The Mercerie, shopping streets, lead to the Ponte di Rialto.

Quartiere de’ Frari and Santa Maria Formosa have a certain peaceful charm with their brick façades and silent canals. Meals in the trattorie are among the attractions of Venice. They consist of seafood accompanied by the pleasant local wines.

For centuries gondolas have been the traditional means of transport in Venice. Now they are the quintessence of Romantic Venice.

St. Mark’s Basilica:

Built on the plan of a Greek cross, the St. Mark’s Basilica is crowned by five bulbous domes. The five large doorways are adorned with variegated marbles and sculptures.

Behind the altar is the exquisite Pala d’Oro, a gold, enamel and jewel-encrusted altarpiece, a masterpiece of Gothic art.

Venetian painting:

The Venetian school of painting is characterized by the predominance of colour over draughtsmanship, and a sense of light. The Venetian paintings are exemplified by the Bellini family and their pupil Carpaccio.

The Renaissance came to a glorious conclusion with four great artists: Giorgione, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto.

Galleries and churches housing masterpieces of Venetian painting are: the Academy, with the most important collection of Venetian art; I Frari, a great Franciscan church with an Assumption of the Virgin by Titian; and Scuola di San Rocco, decorated with scenes of the Old and New Testaments by Tintoretto.