The Canal Grande and more: if you return to the Lagoon, it is worth knowing which museums to visit in Venice. Italo’s top three are international, marine and glass showcases.
Venice is famous for the Lagoon and the canals crossed by gondolas, for the magnificent St. Mark’s Square and for the Film Festival. For a romantic getaway stay or a family break, if you are looking for itineraries to explore art, history, or culture in the Veneto capital, you will find an immensely rich heritage. The intoxicating mix of sublime graphics, great payouts and generous bonuses will take your breath away. So where to begin? Italo has selected for you a special top-three list of museums to visit in Venice, even with a one-day return trip.
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection
© David Heald – Peggy Guggenheim Collection Venice
This museum, located on the Grand Canal, displays masterpieces by some of the most celebrated artists of the 20th century, such as Picasso, Braque, Duchamp, Magritte, Kandinsky, Miró, Dali, Ernst, and de Chirico.
It is one of the three most famous Guggenheim museums in the world, along with that of New York and Bilbao. This one has the unique distinction of being housed in what used to be Peggy Guggenheim‘s Venetian home: in addition to the paintings, you will be able to admire her good taste in furniture because all the furniture is the original one she chose.
© David Heald – Peggy Guggenheim Collection Venice
The museum is open every day, except Tuesdays and 25 December, from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm. You can reach it by vaporetto or on foot, with a scenic walk in the Dorsoduro district. Small tip: if you visit it in the afternoon, and you want to treat yourself to a delicious snack, nearby is Tonolo, one of the best pastry shops in Venice during Carnival and not only 🙂
The manual arts: the Murano Glass Museum
Imagine having the power to shape incandescent matter and transform it into gentle, perfect shapes just by blowing. This is the ancient art of Murano’s glassblowers.
© Murano Glass Museum
A technique that is unique in the world born on this small island in the Venice Lagoon and handed down through the centuries to the present day. The museum, which celebrates the art and history of glassmaking, showcases works ranging from remnants of Roman origin, dating back to the era between the 1st and 4th centuries AD, to contemporary achievements.
© Murano Glass Museumo
It is open all year except for Christmas and New Year. From April to October, it can be visited from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm; from November to March, from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm. And if you got a little hungry after your visit, why not try the “chicheti” in one of Venice’s famous Bacari?
In the lagoon with children: the Natural History Museum
© Museum of Natural History Venice
How big is a whale? How does underwater life reproduce? Venice’s Museum of Natural History will answer this and many other questions: it has a collection of over 2 million pieces and a strong teaching vocation.
We recommend you to visit it, especially if you travel with children. They will be absolutely amazed by the original skeletons of the blue whale and sperm whale in the Cetacean Gallery. What’s more, they will learn while having fun in the Tegnùe Aquarium: a 5-meter tank designed specifically to explain how life works underwater to young and old alike. Don’t miss it！
© Museum of Natural History Venice
The Museum has different opening hours during the year:
- From 1 June to 1 November is open from 10 am to 6 pm
- From 2 November to 31 May, it is open from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm (Tue-Fri), or from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm (Sat-Sun).
It is always closed on Mondays, Christmas Day, and 1 January.
Getting to Venice by train
Reaching Venice by train is not only practical and fast but quite striking: at a certain point, the convoy leaves the mainland and glides over the water to Santa Lucia Station. Italo provides many trains to Venice every day from Milan, Bologna, Florence, Naples, Padua and Ferrara (starting from 11 December). From Rome, it will only take three and a half hours: what are you waiting for to pop over to the Lagoon?
