Venice Art School Trip

Our guided walking tour begins at the iconic Rialto Bridge which spans the Grand Canal. The next stop is St. Mark’s Basilica and Square where musical bands play, and cafés spill out onto the piazza. You continue to the Doge’s Palace, famous for its gilded ceilings and paintings by Veronese, Titian, and Tintoretto. The tour ends at the Bridge of Sighs from which prisoners took their last look at Venice and sighed.

Peggy Guggenheim is famous for contemporary modernist twentieth century art from North America and Europe. Peggy Guggenheim was a niece of Solomon Guggenheim who founded the iconic gallery in New York and continued his support for the new wave artists in the fields of cubism, surrealism and abstract expressionism. Works by artists as diverse as Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock and Kandinsky can be seen here. The collection is housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni which is adjacent to the Grand Canal.

The Doge’s Palace is one of the most famous buildings in Venice. Situated on the Piazza San Marco, the palace was the seat of power for the Doge – the ruler of Venice – and the mighty Venetian Republic. Built in the Venetian gothic style the Palace is famous for its gilded ceilings and opulent apartments, decorated with works of art by Veronese, Titian, Bellini and Tintoretto. The Doge's Palace also contained the prisons, some of which were accessed via one of Venice's most famous bridges, the Bridge of Sighs.

The Galleria dell' Accademia is the essential visit to see the treasures of the Venetian Renaissance including art works by Bellini, Titian and Tiepolo. Among the highlights are the works by Paolo Caliari, better known as Veronese, including the monumental Feast in the House of Levi. Also of note are the collection of works depicting the Legend of St. Ursula by Vittore Carpaccio.

Ca’ Pesaro museum of modern art is set in a baroque marble palazzo facing the Grand Canal. The museum contains nineteenth and twentieth century paintings and sculptures by artists such as Rodin, Klimt, Chagall, Klee and Kandinsky. It also contains a section dedicated to Oriental art with a large collection of traditional Chinese and Japanese objects.

Try your hand at designing a traditional venetian mask at the Ca’ Macana mask making workshop. This Aladdin’s Cave is tucked away in a quiet back street but is one of Venice’s most famous mask makers, with an incredible array of exuberant styles and designs. The basic mask is supplied, and your students need to paint and decorate it to their own design. All the materials and protective clothing is supplied and at the end you can keep your mask.

Travel by vaporetto to the Island of Murano which is known for its glass blowing factories. You visit one of the most famous of these workshops, to see a glass-blowing demonstration and can explore some of the shops which sell the incredible creations. You then continue by vaporetto to the Island of Burano. Many of the houses on Burano are painted in vivid primary colours and the island is famous as a centre for exquisite lace making.

The Campanile or bell tower of St Mark’s Basilica is one of Venice’s principal landmarks. It appears in numerous works of art by the famed Venetian artist Canaletto, but today’s tower was actually constructed in the early twentieth century as a precise copy after the original tower spectacularly collapsed in 1902 during restoration work. An elevator whisks you effortlessly to the top for the best view in the city.

While in Venice you cannot miss a tour to St Mark’s Basilica, the very embodiment of the city. Built at the end of the eleventh century, the Basilica is a blend of both Italian and Byzantine styles and reflects the naval reach of the powerful Venetian Republic, known as La Serenissima. There is an option to visit the roof terrace where you have a sensational view across St. Marks Square. You can also see the bronze horses which were brought to Venice after the sack of Constantinople in 1204 and whose origins date to classical antiquity.

La Fenice – meaning ‘The Phoenix’ is widely regarded as the most illustrious Opera House in Italy. Dating originally from the late eighteenth century, its name derives from the fact that it has burnt down several times most recently in 1996, only to be rebuilt again. There are daytime tours of the building or you may be lucky enough to be in the city when there is a performance.