St. Mark's Square
St. Mark's Square is really the heart of Venice, mostly because of its location on the banks of the grand canal, and because of the great number of beautiful, historical monuments located there. Politically and culturally, St. Mark's Square has always been a very important and strategical area in Venice. On the bank of the grand canal, first you will come upon the "molo",the pier for the great number of gondolas and vaporetti which stop at the square. As you keep walking you'll come onto the piazzetta, the square where you will find the two columns where the two symbols of Venice: St Mark's Lion and the statue of St Theodore, the patron saint of Venice, keep watch over the city. In the past, this square was used for public executions. The piazza St. Marco, is the only square that is called a Piazza, the others are simply called "campo". It's much more than a simple city square, it's a symbol. The square is now "covered" with tourists and its famous pigeons which are a very integral part of the site. The square is lined with the buildings called the Procuratia, which housed the offices and apartments of high placed officials in the Venetian government. The "procuratie vecchie" date back to the 9th century, and were rebuilt in the 16th century. The Campanile is a 314 ft. tower. You can climb to the top and look out over the city and the lagoon from its panoramic balcony for 10,000 lira. Built in the 9th century, the Campanile was used as a watch tower. Galileo also used the tower for his work. After the tower collapsed, it was rebuilt in 1902. You reach the Campanile by crossing the loggeta which was built in the 16th century.

St. Mark's Basilica
St. Mark's Basilica majestically symbolizes the lagoon and enshrines the city's history. Possession of the saint's relics enabled the Republic to establish its authority, from 828 onward, over Grado and Aquileia. In 1063, under Doge Domenico Contarini, it was decided to rebuild the church on the same Greek cross plan as the previous one. In 1096 it was finished, but the decorative work continued until the beginning of the 19th century. The model had been furnished by the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople (536-46); five domes covering the crossing and each of the arms, supported by large piers linked by arches. The light was thus directed towards the centre of the basilica, leaving the side aisles in comparative shadow.
The first patron saint of Venice was St.Teodoro. In 828 St.Mark the Evangelist substituted him when two merchants smuggled his mortal remains back from Alessandria (Egypt). St.Mark's remains were initially buried in a chapel in the Doge's Palace but later a church was built that was to be his perpetual resting place. The church later suffered damage from fire and was modified many times to adapt to Venice's evolution of power and wealth. This simple church evolved into St.Mark's Basilica. The modifications to the Basilica continued on through an entire century, therefore the results of the construction exhibit a mixture of different styles.

The Doge's Palace

The Doge's Palace, Venice, has façades which date from 1309-1424, designed by Giovanni and Bartolomeo Buon. The palace, started in the ninth century, several times rebuilt, and completed in the Renaissance period, forms part of that great scheme of town-planning which was carried out through successive centuries. The façades, with a total length of nearly 152 m (500 ft), have open arcades in the two lower storeys, and the third storey was rebuilt after a fire in the sixteenth century, so as to extend over the arcades. This upper storey is faced with white and rose-coloured marble, resembling ornate windows and finished with a lace-like parapet of oriental cresting.
The arcade columns, which originally stood on a stylobate of three steps, now rise from the ground without bases, and the sturdy continuous tracery of the second tier of arcades lends an appearance of strength to the open arches. The capitals of the columns, particularly the angle capital which was eulogised by Ruskin in The Stones of Venice, are celebrated for the delicate carving in low-grained marble.
The whole scheme of columned and pointed arcades, with its combination of carved capitals and long horizontal lines of open tracery, is of that unique design which can only be termed Venetian Gothic

The Grand Canal
Illustrating the uniqueness of Venice, this great 'road of water' is the most beautiful street in Venice. One can glide along the Grand Canal and be surrounded by the most opulent architecture. The atmosphere is absolutely unforgettable, as the splendour of the Grand Canal is unparalleled. To meander along the canal by gondola is literally to take a journey through Venetian history.
Unlike most Main Streets, Canal Grande does not go in a straight line; rather, it flows as though it were a woman's body, in curves.
Perhaps that is why it is always referred to as female. No matter how negative a person is about Venice, he/she cannot help but gasp on first seeing this magnificent body of water.

Rialto Bridge
The Rialto Bridge's 24-foot arch was designed to allow passage of galleys, and the massive structure was built on some 12,000 wooden pilings that still support the bridge more than 400 years later. The architect, Antonio da Ponte, competed against such eminent designers as Michelangelo and Palladio for the contract.
The bridge has three walkways: two along the outer balustrades, and a wider central walkway leading between two rows of small shops that sell jewelry, linens, Murano glass, and other items for the tourist trade.

Accademia Bridge
The Ponte dell’Accademia was built in 1854, during the Austrian occupation. One of the three bridges spanning the Canal Grande. The Austrians envisioned a wide bridge, enabling troops to move more quickly over the broad canal. Engineer Miozzi (who worked a lot in Venice during the first part of twentieth century) , realized a structure that first was maded with wood and later was reinforced with steel loosing its main peculiarity

Scalzi Bridge
Old Austrian bridge, on this part of Gran Canal, represented an age that was finishing. In this period of deep transformation, project by engineer Eugenio Miozzi was chosen to subsitute the rectilinear iron bridge (all the iron bridges in Venice had been built by Austrians).

Ca'd'Oro
This beautiful Gothic palace along the Grand Canal of Venice was originally covered in gold leafs, vermilion and ultramarine decorations. The palace reveals Moorish influence in its roof and sinuous pointed arches.
The only problem with the use of this building as an art museum is that the Ca' d'Oro is so opulent that its architecture and decor compete with the works. It was built in the early 1400s, and its name translates as "House of Gold," although the gilding that once covered its facade eroded away long ago, leaving softly textured pink and white stone carved into lacy Gothic patterns. Historians compare its majesty to that of the Ducal Palace. The building was meticulously restored in the early 20th century by philanthropist Baron Franchetti, who attached it to a smaller nearby palazzo (Ca' Duodo), today part of the Ca' d'Oro complex. The interconnected buildings contain the baron's valuable private collection of paintings, sculpture, and furniture, all donated to the Italian government during World War I.

The Bridge of Sighs
The Bridge of Sighs received its name in the 17th century, because the prisoners who passed through it on their way to the prison cells on the other side would most likely see the beautiful sight of the lagoon and the island of S.Giorgio and freedom for the last time. However, it was only in the 19th century that it came to be called the 'Bridge of Sighs' after Lord Byron's famous reference in his poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage "I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs, a palace and prison on each hand".
In reality, the days of inquisitions and torture were over by the time the bridge was built and only small time crooks were kept in the prison cells.
The prison building is older than the Doge's palace and was at one time used during the inquisition by the Church during the Middle Ages (when people were suspected of being witches or non believers and tortured).

Arsenale
By 1400, the Arsenal was already the world’s most extensive industrial complex, with 3,000 employees (known as “Arsenalotti”) and a production capacity which, by the 1500s, had reached no less than six galleys a month. This achievement was made possible by outstanding managerial talent and modern organisation of all aspects of production, from the procurement of timber to the preference for modular construction.
Over the course of the centuries, many major works were carried out, including the construction of laboratories, warehouses and, with the advent of gun powder, artillery rooms.The Arsenal represents a vast, striking and strategic area of the inner city covering about 32 hectares,of which 9 hectares are water, out of the total 670-hectare area of Venice, including the islands of Giudecca, Tronchetto, San Giorgio and the internal canals. The structure complex has represented the fundamental heart of the Venetian economy and civil history, so much so that in 1509 the Senate officially defined it as the "heart of the region of Veneto".

source: Sito Venicewelcome