Venice Vacations

Al Covo has made a name for itself in international gourmet circles (and among celebrities) for being dedicated to honouring and preserving local ingredients and lagoon recipes, like the classic Sarde in Saor.

The Osteria di Santa Marina might seem at first glance like another casual eatery, but the drama comes out in their dishes. They’ve reinvented homemade Venetian classics using unusual flavour combinations like shrimp and chestnut.

To learn more about Venice's attractions and secrets, click here.

One of the best-known examples of Italo-Byzantine architecture, St. Mark’s Basilica was originally built in AD 828 over the corpse of St. Mark which had been stolen from Alexandria by Venetian merchants. The church has stood in his honour on this site ever since.

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a showcase of surrealism, futurism and abstract expressionism displayed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. Tourists can wander around the late heiress’s home and enjoy works by her ex-husband Max Ernst, (himself a former lover of Jackson Pollock), Yoko Ono and many others.

Cliché or not, a trip to Venice is incomplete without a gondola ride. There may be no more romantic way to see sites like the Rialto Bridge and the Palazzo Barberino along the Grand Canal, especially since most tours include a serenade of traditional Italian canzoni.

Venice is arguably even more captivating by night than by day, though those who take the Ghost Walking Tour may attribute their chills to the spooky Venetian tales told rather than to the shadowy splendour of the city after dark.