Venedaw

A trip to Venice wouldn't be complete without hopping aboard a vaporetto for the ride across the lagoon to Murano, home of Venice's fabled glass workers. They were sent here in the 13th century in hope of decreasing the risk of fire from one of the glass furnaces sweeping through Venice's tightly compacted center.

Or so they claimed. Just as likely, it was to keep the secrets of glassblowing a Venetian monopoly. This was no small matter to the Venetians, whose Council of Ten decreed in 1454: "If a glassblower takes his skill to another country to the detriment of the Republic he shall be ordered to return; should be refuse, his nearest relatives shall be thrown into prison so that

The delicate marble filigree by Bartolomeo Bon seems too lace-like to be carved of stone, and you can only imagine the impression this façade must have made covered in its original paint and gold. Along with the Porta della Carta in the Palazzo Ducale, also created by Bartolomeo Bon, this is considered the most perfect example of Venetian Gothic.

You can admire the interior, too, as this palazzo is now an art museum, restored to provide both a setting for the art works and a look at the way wealthy Venetians lived in the 15th and 16th centuries. The connoisseur responsible for saving the palace, Baron Giorgio Franchetti, gave his art collection to the state in 1922, with works by Titian, Mantegna, Van Dyck, Tullio Lombardo, and Bernini.

The name La Fenice (The Phoenix), chosen at the constriction in 1792, proved prophetic, as like the mythical phoenix, it has risen from the ashes. The theater has been destroyed by fire three times, the last one, in 1996, leaving only the outer walls standing. Each time, it has been rebuilt, and continues to be one of the world's great opera houses.

Throughout its history, but particularly in the 19th century, La Fenice saw the premiers of many of the most famous Italian operas, including those of Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi, and today schedules opera and ballet performances and musical concerts.

This impressive white marble building was built between 1515 and 1560 to house a charitable society dedicated to San Rocco. Soon after its completion, the great 16th-century Venetian artist Tintoretto won the competition to paint a central panel for the ceiling of the Sala dell'Albergo by entering the building and putting his painting in its intended place before the judging, much to the irritation of his rival artists.

One of the most photographed churches in Venice, Santa Maria della Salute has a postcard setting, rising at the tip of a peninsula across from the Doge's Palace.

The monumental Baroque church was built as thanks for the end of the plague of 1630. But the fragile land wouldn't support its tremendous weight, so its architect, Baldassare Longhena, had more than a million timbers driven into the floor of the lagoon before he could erect the church.

Standing like a giant exclamation point above the expanse of Piazza San Marco, the Campanile is not the first to stand here. The original one, erected as a lighthouse in 1153, collapsed dramatically into the piazza in 1902, and was rebuilt on a firmer footing. Also rebuilt was the Loggetta at its base, a small marble loggia completed in 1540, where members of the Great Council assembled before meeting in the sessions.

In the loggia at the base, you can see Sansovino's four bronze masterpieces between the columns, all of which were rescued from the rubble after the collapse. The Campanile has a grimmer side to its history: in the Middle Ages, prisoners, including renegade priests, were hoisted halfway up the outside in cages, where they hung suspended for weeks.

To one side of the basilica, facing onto Piazza San Marco, is one of Venice's most familiar icons, a clock tower surmounted by a pair of bronze Moors that strike the large bell each hour. The face of the clock shows phases of the moon and the zodiac in gilt on a blue background, and above the clock is a small balcony and a statue of the Virgin.

Above that, the winged Lion of St. Mark and mosaic of gold stars against a blue background were added in 1755 by Giorgio Massari. The tower itself is from the 15th century and typical of Venetian Renaissance architecture. Through an arched gateway at its base runs one of Venice's busiest streets, the narrow Calle Mercerei.

Once the only bridge across the Grand Canal, Rialto Bridge marks the spot of the island's first settlement, called Rivus Altus (high bank). Built in 1588, some 150 years after the collapse of a previous wooden bridge, this stone arch supports two busy streets and a double set of shops.

Along with serving as a busy crossing point midway along the canal, it is a favorite vantage point for tourists taking - or posing for - photos, and for watching the assortment of boats always passing under it.

Sweeping through the heart of Venice in a giant reverse S curve, the Grand Canal is the principal boulevard through the city, connecting Piazza San Marco, Rialto Bridge, and the arrival points of the rail station and bridge from the mainland.

Only four bridges cross its 3.8-kilometer length, but stripped-down gondolas called traghetti shuttle back and forth at several points between bridges. The Grand Canal was the address of choice for anyone who claimed any influence in Venice. Palaces of all the leading families open onto the canal, their showy Venetian Gothic and Early Renaissance facades facing the water, by which visitors arrived.

Visitors arriving in Venice once stepped ashore under the façade of this extraordinary palace. They couldn't have failed to be impressed, both by its size and the finesse of its architecture.

If they were received inside by the Doges, the impression would only strengthen as they entered through the Porta della Carta, a perfect example of Venetian Gothic at its height, and ascended the monumental Scala dei Giganti and the gold-vaulted Scala d'Oro to be received in what many consider to be the palace's most beautiful chamber, Sala del Collegio.