Venice is the Queen of the lagoon from which the Venetians dominated the Adriatic for centuries, creating the most splendid of all the maritime republics. The city leaves us stunned by the variety of its beauties, to the extent that one asks oneself: is there any corner of this city not worth visiting? Spread across 118 small islands, the city still maintains the ancient quarters of old – the sestieri: Cannaregio, S. Marco, Castello, S. Croce, S. Polo and Dorsoduro, and includes the islands of S. Giorgio Maggiore and Giudecca.

The prevailing atmosphere is that of a city that manages to be a bridge between East and West: all of this bears witness to a cosmopolitanism and wealth of commerce without equal, and transmitted by the Venetians into both public works and private residences. This is certainly the case for St Mark’s Basilica, built in the IX century, and whose architecture of domes and mosaics was inspired by the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, and it is the case for all monuments in Venetian Gothic style, including the Doge’s Palace that, along with the basilica, dominates St Mark’s Square.

The splendour of Venice has lasted for centuries, giving rise to immortal works of art: from the Renaissance grace of the Rialto Bridge, to the classic eighteenth century beauty of the Church of Good Health (Chiesa della Salute), to the neoclassical equilibrium of the Fenice Theatre, one of the best-known in Italy and destroyed by fire in 1996. Innumerable museums and galleries (of which the “Accademia” and the “Museo Correr” are worth a mention) conserve an unrivalled artistic heritage.