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and feel as if you are off the beaten track.
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| from Piazza
S. Marco to the Rialto Bridge |
 The
'drawing room of Europe', as Napoleon described Piazza San Marco,
is the focus of venetian life. The elegant piazza is lined with
historical cafés, where you'll have the most expensive
cup of coffee in the city, but it will be well worth it.
Byzantine rubs shoulders with Gothic, Roman Classical, late
Renaissance; it covers 1000 years of Venetian history. The vertically
challenged emperor ontended to add to the furnishings of this
open air drawing room with a statue of himself in the centre
of the western wing. It was never erected: the Venetians have
always kept the square clear of public monuments and statues.
This is typical of Venice, where history is always communal
rather then personal.
 Piazza
San Marco is linked to the Rialto by the busiest, richest and
narrowest of shopping streets: the Mercerie. The name is plural,
since it is divided into five parts: the Merceria dell'Orologio,
di San Zulian, del Capitello,
di San Salvador and 'del 2 Aprile'. The name means "haberdashers",
but we knowfrom John Evelyn's 1645 account of 'one of the most
delicious streets in the world' that the luxury textile emporia
were flanked by shops selling perfumes and medicines too.
Not to be missed
Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace)
Basilica di San Marco (Saint Mark's Basilica)
Piazza
San Marco (Saint Mark's Square)
Torre dell'Orologio (Clocktower)
Museo Archeologico (Archaelogical Museum)
Biblioteca Marciana/Libreria Sansoviniana
Museo Correr (Correr Museum)
La Zecca
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| from the Rialto
to the Accademia Bridge |
 The
route from the Rialto to the Accademia passes through a series
of ever larger squares. from cosily cramped Campo San Bartolomeo,
the well marked path leads to Campo San Luca with its bars and
cakeshops. Beyond this is Campo Manin, leader of the 1848 uprising
against the Austrians. An alley to left of this campo will lead
you to the Scala del Bovolo, a striking Renaissance spiral
staircase. Back on the main drag, the busy Calle della Mendola
takes you into broad Campo Sant'Angelo with its dramatic view
of Santo Stefano's leaning tower; off Calle della Mendola to
the right is the gothic Palazzo Fortuny, once home to
the fashion designer Mariano Fortuny.
Just before the Accademia Bridge, Campo Santo Stefano
is second only to Piazza San Marco in the sestiere size.
On the Grand Canal to the north-west of Campo Santo Stefano
is Campo San Samuele, with a deconsacrated 11th century church
and the vast Palazzo Grassi, now an exhibition centre.
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| from the Accademia to
Piazza San Marco |
The route from Santo Stefano back to Piazza
San Marco zigzags at first, passing through small squares, including
Campo Santa Maria del Giglio (aka Santa Maria Zobenigo)
with the most boastful church-facade in Venice. It winds past
banks and hotels, along with a few top-dollar antique shops,
to end in wide Via XXII Marzo, with an intimidating view of
freshly restored baroque statuary of San Moisè.
To the left from here are the gutted remains of Venice's once-glorious
opera house, La Fenice. Press on and you are ready for
the greatest view in the world: Piazza San Marco from the west
side.
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| Paola -
Guide editor |
 Calle
del Fontego dei Tedeschi (Streets of the Germans shop).
The Venetian Republic welcomed strangers and allowed individual
foreign communities to have shops for their merchants and ambassadors
('fontego' is itself an Arabic corruption of the Italian 'bottega'
or 'shop').
Piazzetta
dei Leoncini. On the north side of the basilica is this
smal square, named after two small marble lions that have been
rubbed smooth by generations of children's bottoms. The large
palazo at the fae end of the square is the 19th century residence
of the patriarch (cardinal) of Venice.
Calle
dei Bombaseri. This street contained the shops and workshops
of the cotton manufacturers ('bombaso': Venetian dialect for
'wad of cotton').
Riva
del Carbon. This was the only place in Venice in which the
law of 1537 permotted cola to be unloaded. |
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This
sestiere is the heart of the city. But its sights are not confined
to Piazza San Marco itself. Three mail thoroughfares link the key
points of San Marco, forning a rough triangle: one from Piazza
San Marco to the Rialto Bridge, one from the Rialto to
the Accademia Bridge, and one from the Accademia to Piazza
San Marco. Even in this busiest of 'sestieri', it is possible to
stray into the centre of the triangle 
