Venice has an incredible variety of art in its museums, from Renaissance paintings hung below elaborately carved ceilings to masterpieces of modern art. Below is a list of the biggest and best museums in Venice and a summary of what to see in them. To maximize your visit to the Venice museums, consider purchasing the Museum Pass, which is valid for entry to the first three museums listed below, as well as several other minor museums. Separate admission fees are required to enter the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Galleria dell’Accademia.
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Ducal Palace
Direction
Piazza San Marco, 1, 30124 Venice VE, ItalyGet directions
Telephone
+39 041 271 5911
Web
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Also called Palazzo Ducale, the Doge’s Palace sits right on Piazza San Marco and is, in fact, an exhaustive collection of smaller museums, a courtyard, and a treasure trove of exaggerated ornamentation, including frescoed walls, gilded ceilings, and statues. and intricately carved friezes. Part of the palace and part of the fortress, the Doge’s Palace housed both the home of the Doge and, for a time, the city prison. Visitors to the Doge’s Palace can see the opulent apartments of the Doge, where there are paintings by artists such as Veronese, Titian and Tintoretto, and the prisons, some of which are accessed via one of the most famous bridges in Venice: The Bridge of the Sighs.
Tip: To avoid the large number of tour groups, visit the Doge’s Palace right at opening hours.
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Correr Civic Museum
Direction
Piazza San Marco, 52, 30124 Venice VE, ItalyGet directions
Telephone
+39 041 240 5211
Web
Visit the website
Also located in Piazza San Marco, the Correr Museum is dedicated to the civic history of Venice. The museum is named after the Venetian aristocrat Teodoro Correr, whose last will and testament bequeathed many of the items in the collection, including paintings, drawings, copper plates, coins, stamps, and classical antiquities. Of particular interest in the Correr Museum are the fine marble sculptures by Antonio Canova and the many paintings and drawings of the Venetian cityscape that has changed over the centuries. The entrance to the Correr Museum is included with that of the Doge’s Palace.
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Ca’Rezzonico
Direction
Dorsoduro, 3136, 30123 Venice VE, ItalyGet directions
Telephone
+39 041 241 0100
Web
Visit the website
The largest repository of 18th century art in Venice is in the Ca’Rezzonico, named after the patrician Rezzonico family. Its former Baroque palace on the Grand Canal displays three floors of decadent paintings, sculptures and furnishings, as well as four rooms containing important works by Giambattista Tiepolo. Other highlights include the palace’s grand staircase and the Portego Gallery, which contains portraits and landscape paintings by Venetian artists from the Settecento.
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Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Direction
Dorsoduro, 701-704, 30123 Venice VE, ItalyGet directions
Telephone
+39 041 240 5411
Web
Visit the website
Most of the works of art in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, among the most important modern art museums in Italy, were acquired by the American socialite Peggy Guggenheim, who was a patron of the arts throughout her life. The museum contains works by the most famous European and American artists of the first half of the 20th century, including Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, and Alexander Calder, and also hosts special exhibitions throughout the year. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is housed in Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, the former Guggenheim home on the Grand Canal, not far from the Galleria dell’Accademia.
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Academy Gallery
Direction
Campo della Carita, 1050, 30123 Venice VE, ItalyGet directions
Telephone
+39 041 522 2247
Web
Visit the website
Not to be confused with the Academy of Florence, which is home to Michelangelo’s David and a wealth of Tuscan art, the Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice boasts its own impressive treasures, most of which are of Venetian heritage. The greats of Venetian painting from the 14th to the 18th centuries are represented, including Paolo Veneziano, Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Titian and Tiepolo.
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Venice Museums Pass
Save time by purchasing a Venice Museum Pass from Select Italy. The San Marco Square Pass includes entry to the four main sites in Piazza San Marco, plus an additional museum. The Museum Pass gives access to 11 museums, including two on the islands Murano and Burano. The cards are valid for three months from the date of collection.
