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Museums in Venice: Tickets and Tours

Museums in Venice: Tickets and Tours

Famous American heiress Peggy Guggenheim once said: “To live in Venice or even to visit it, means that you fall in love with the city itself. There is nothing left over in your heart for anyone else.”

This speaks volumes for the wealth of Venice’s culture, with its numerous museums, art galleries and La Biennale. So explore the best museums in Venice, from historic palaces to art galleries, filled with masterpieces.

Doge's Palace

Doge's Palace is formerly palace is located on the edge of St. Mark’s Square, and is now a public museum. Here you can wander through beautiful loggias and halls to see Venice’s past regal status on display. For hundreds of years, Venice was a prosperous independent republic led by a Doge as the head of government.

As far back as 810, the Doge decided on a new palace for his stately position and relocated his state house and apartments to the Rialto area. Over the centuries, it has been rebuilt several times in grander style than before.

Correr Museum

Located in St. Mark Square since 1922, the Correr Museum occupies the site of the Napoleonic Wing. The original building dates from the years when Venice was part of the Kingdom of Italy (1806-1814). The site was previously occupied by the 16th-century San Geminiano Church.

The wing was originally designed as home for the new sovereign, and served as official residence of the Hapsburg Court. It later became the residence of the King of Italy.

The Venetian painter Giuseppe Borsato did the interior decoration and the frescoed ceiling of the Main Staircase was decorated by Sebastiano Santi in 1837/38.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is one of the top attractions in the city. The collection comprises Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism, and you can admire the work of famous modern artists such as Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Jackson Pollock.

Peggy Guggenheim was an enthusiastic art collector who called Venice home for three decades. The collection is housed in a unique 18th century palace on the Grand Canal, with a low stone façade and mansions on every side.

The museum offers guided tours of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, the Schulhof Collection, and the sculptures in the Nasher Sculpture Garden.

The Accademia Gallery in Venice houses the best collection of period Venetian art, as well as the famous Leonardo da Vinci drawing of the Vitruvian Man. The prosperous Venetian Republic had lots of money to decorate the noble palaces that arose along the city’s picturesque canals.

The Galleria is therefore today home to some of the best painting and sculpture collections in the world. This includes sculptures such as David by Michelangelo and a great collection of Italian masters including Canaletto, Titian and Botticelli.

The museum also houses musical instruments that once belonged to the grand dukes of Tuscany, Medici and Lorraine.

Leonardo da Vinci Museum

The Leonardo da Vinci Museum is located at the Scoletta di San Rocco, in front of the Scuola Grande, where you can marvel at the genius of the great man.

You will experience the brilliance of Da Vinci’s mind through interactive machines, educational laboratories, anatomical studies and his most important paintings. The Leonardo Interactive Museum is a must for people who are interested in Da Vinci's life, his drawings and inventions.

Ca' Pesaro Museum

Ca' Pesaro Museum, a former palace on the Grand Canal, was built by the wealthy Pesaro family in the 17th century. They were avid collectors of art, which included commissioned works by Titian and Tintoretto.

When the palace was sold, the collection changed ownership, and the last owner donated the building to the City for a museum of modern art.

The central hall exhibits works that the City has acquired at Biennales since 1950 and there are also paintings by masters such as Chirico, Mirò and Kandinsky.

Querini Stampalia Foundation

This house-museum once was the home of the noble Querini Stampalia family. The museum is extraordinary in its perfectly preserved appearance and personal treasures like globes and porcelain figures.

With its sculptures and rich fabrics, Querini Stampalia Foundation presents a look at the life of an aristocratic Venetian during the 1800s. The exhibition includes an extensive art collection of more than 400 paintings, including masterpieces by Bellini and Tiepolo.

Scuola Grande di San Rocco

A group of wealthy Venetians joined forces in 1478 to establish a brotherhood dedicated to San Rocco, believed to protect people against the plague.

They built their meeting hall next to the church that kept San Rocco’s remains and commissioned masterful Tintoretto to decorate their new building. He created more than 60 works for the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, based on the Old and New Testaments.

This resulted in an awesome series of rooms holding some of Tintoretto’s best work, and also masterpieces by among others, Titian and Tiepolo.

Palazzo Fortuny

The former palazzo home of the eclectic Spanish designer/artist Mariano Fortuny once belonged to the well-known Pesaro family. Fortuny transformed the building into an atelier, workshop and painting studio for his various pursuits.

Today, the museum displays paintings and textiles that Fortuny amassed over time, as well as contemporary exhibitions conveying the history of Fortuny and the palace.

François Pinault Collection

The François Pinault Collection at Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana constitutes one of the world’s most important private collections of 20th and 21st century art.

Most of the 3,000 pieces are permanently displayed between two museums – Punta della Dogana, once the Customs House, and Palazzo Grassi.

Japanese architect Tadao Ando remodeled the interiors of both buildings to create sleek looks compatible with modern-day masterpieces.