Romantic Evening Gondola Ride on the Grand Canal

“The most beautiful road in the world”, this is how the Grand Canal is known as. Gondola serenades have always been part of Venetian culture, an unchanged tradition for an unchageable city. If you look around, what you will see is almost exactly what a nobleman in the 18th century might have looked upon, and before him a Renaissance courtesan and before him a merchant in the Middle Ages.

Once one of 7 major theatres in the city, today the Fenice is Venice’s one and only opera house. It is surely a jewel among European theatres, and began to shine from the beginning, as the best composers of the age wrote and performed their operas here, among which Bellini, Donizetti and Rossini. But it was Giuseppe Verdi who is most attached to the Fenice and to Venetian memory.

The Gritti Palace takes its name from the Gritti family, an old Venetian family, the most important member being Andrea Gritti, who was Doge of Venice in the Renaissance, and led the Venetian armies against the League of Cambrai, composed by France, Spain, Holy Roman who attempted to stop Venice’s expansionist goals in France.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection, one of the most important art collections in the world. Peggy Guggenheim, originally from New York, arrived in Venice in 1949 and began to satisfy art addiction buying this wonderful building where she displayed invaluable artworks to the world. The beautiful terrace you see is where Guggenheim sun-bathed regularly looking onto the Grand Canal.

Here, as you come into the Grand Canal you are opened to the church of the Madonna della Salute. The first thing that strikes a viewer is how imposing the church is, strategically placed at the entrance of the Grand Canal looking out onto the rest of the city in every direction, thanks to its circular shape. Today, ever 21 November the city celebrates the Madonna della Salute in memory of the end of the plague

From your gondola, you will see the basin of St. Mark's and the marvelous bell tower with the base of its incredible square.