• Ride a gongola
  

  
  Gliding along Venice's canals in a gondola, propelled by a gondolier, is the quintessential romantic way of seeing the city. The pleasure does not come cheap, but the gondoliers are knowledgeable guides and will show you some fascinating and little-known parts of Venice. The Gondola Board has a few recommended itineraries.
  
  

• Grand Canal
  

  
  The Grand Canal is Venice's most important watery thoroughfare, its banks lined with Gothic palaces such as Ca' d'Oro and Ca' Foscari, Venetian-Byzanthine Ca' Forsetti and Ca' da Mosto, the Venetian-Baroque Santa Maria della Salute church, "fondaco" houses, and the Rialto Bridge Hundreds of boats are rowed up the canal during the Regata 'Storica on the first Sunday of September.
  
  

• Carnevale
  

  
  The world's largest and most extravagant masked ball, Carnevale has taken place in Venice since the Middle Ages and it occurs in February/March, finishing on Shrove Tuesday. Masks are a crucial part of the festivities and the last weekend sees the all-important contest for the 'most beautiful mask'. You can join the 3 million revellers either in the Piazza di San Marco, some of the smaller squares or a private costume party.
  
  

• Basilica di San Marco
  

  
  The Basilica di San Marco is the city's most famous cathedral, and a symbol of the city's wealth and power from the 11th century onwards. Its ostentatious design combines Byzantine domes and Egyptian marble walls, its reliefs are trophies from the Crusades from Palestine, Syria and Egypt, and the dome mosaics are made of 24-carat gold fused onto the back of glass. Book your entry ticket online to avoid queuing.
  
  

• Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace)
  

  
  The elegant Gothic Doge's Palace had been the seat of Venice's government for almost seven centuries. Visitors can see the Doge's sumptuous apartments, the Institutional Chambers and the Piombi prison under the palace roof which once held an infamous inmate - Casanova - and from which he famously escaped. The worthwhile Secret Itinerary tour shows you the rooms where delicate administrative work took place.
  
  

• Venetian Masters of Art
  

  
  Venice's grand masters are Titian, Tintoretto, and Tiepolo. See Tiepolo's immense frescoes at Ca' Rezzonico palace and the Basilica di Santa Maria della Pietà; the "Crucifixion" masterpiece by Tintoretto at the Scuola Grandi di San Rocco and Titian's "Assumption of the Virgin" at the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.
  
  

• Piazza San Marco
  

  
  Piazza San Marco, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". All other urban spaces in the city are called "campi".
  
  

• Rialto Bridge
  

  
  The Rialto Bridge is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal, and was the dividing line for the districts of San Marco and San Polo.
  
  

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