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Sestiere San Marco

Gondola stand in Bacino Orseolo

The sestiere of San Marco, west of Piazza San Marco to the Grand Canal, manages to be both the most pedestrian and the most glitzy quarter of Venice: local institutions such as Teatro La Fenice are here, among designer shops and swish hotels, but culture vultures will find meagre pickings – relatively, that is, since any city would give its eye-teeth for a few of its palazzi or works of art.

Ateneo Veneto

Two hundred year-old institute of Science, Letters and Art

Ca' Giustinian

Headquarters of the Biennale

Campo Manin

Square with one of Venice's newer lions

Campo San Bartolomeo

Leading to the Rialto Bridge

Campo San Salvador

Busy crossroads

Campo Santo Stefano

A major crossroads near the Accademia bridge

Campo Sant’Angelo

and the leaning tower of Santo Stefano

Mercerie (Marzarie)

North of Piazza San Marco

Palazzo Barbarigo Minotto

Chamber opera in the palace

Palazzi Barbaro

Henry James's favourite

Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti

The Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti

Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo

Of the Spiral Stair

Palazzo Corner (della Ca' Grande)

Now the Prefecture

Palazzo Corner-Spinelli

Now home to the Rubelli Textiles

Palazzo Fortuny

Former home of designer Mariano Fortuny

Palazzo Grassi

Neoclassical Palace of Contemporary Art

Palazzo Malipiero

Where Casanova once dallied, now used for exhibitions

Palazzo Pisani

Now the Conservatory of Music

Ridotto

The mother of all casinos

Riva del Carbon

For a rare stroll along the Grand Canal

San Bartolomeo

Venice's German church

San Beneto

Otherwise known as San Benedetto

San Fantin

Secretive Renaissance Church

San Luca

The church of Mozart's librettist

San Maurizio

Now a Museum of Music

San Moisè

Frosting in stone

San Salvador

A Renaissance gem with a famous treasure

San Samuele

Casanova's church

San Vidal (Vitale)

Carpaccio and Vivaldi concerts

San Zulian

The church of the proud scholar

Santa Maria del Giglio (Zobenigo)

'Insolent atheism'

Santo Stefano (San Stin)

Venice's most reconsecrated church

Scuola degli Albanesi

The Albanian confraternity

Scuola Grande San Teodoro

Now used for Vivialdi concerts

Teatro Goldoni

Venice's oldest surviving theatre

Teatro La Fenice

The Phoenix of Operas

The Old Woman with a Mortar

How to thwart a revolt

Text © Dana Facaros & Michael Pauls

Image by TracyElaine