GMT + 1 (GMT + 2 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in September).

Euro (€) = 100 cents.

Language

Italian.

Venice is dominated by the Grand Canal and any sightseeing tour should begin with a trip down the city’s watery thoroughfare. The canal is lined with the palaces of wealthy maritime merchants, their glittering marble façades a testimony to the changing fashions in architecture – from Moorish palaces, their narrow windows picked out in gold tracery, to Renaissance façades, all curved arches and classical symmetry. The city’s main attractions include the golden domes of the Byzantine Basilica di San Marco (St Mark’s Basilica); the Palazzo Ducale (Doges’ Palace), once home of the elected leader of Venice, the Doge and the city’s political nerve centre; Venice’s most important art gallery, the Galleria dell’Accademia (containing works by Giorgione, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto) and the Ponte Rialto (Rialto Bridge). The glorious Gothic church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, constructed around 1330, is also worth a visit – the Venetian Renaissance painter, Titian, made his reputation and crowned his early years by painting the huge altar piece, The Assumption of the Virgin. The Scuola Grande di San Rocco (School of St Roch) is one of the many lay fraternities established in Venice for charitable works, and a series of masterful canvases by Jacopo Tintoretto decorate the interior. The Collezione Peggy Guggenheim (Peggy Guggenheim Collection of modern art) is probably the most distinguished of its kind in Italy.

Carnival masks, hand-painted fabrics, lace from the island of Burano and glass from the island of Murano. Emilio Ceccato, on Sottoportego di Rialto, San Polo, specialises in gondoliers’ outfits. Of the carnival masks, the best can be found at Emilio Massaro at Calle Vitturi in the San Marco district, where visitors can watch them being made.

Fegato alla veneziana (calves’ liver thinly sliced and cooked in butter with onions), baccalà alla vicentina (salt cod simmered in milk), radicchio rosso di treviso (wild red chicory with a bitter taste), cichete (Venetian tapas, such as marinated sardines), polpette (meatballs), seafood and tramezzini (delicate white sandwiches with outsized fillings). Local wines include Soave, Bardolino and Valpolicella.

www.port.venice.it or www.vtp.it/vtpuk

Venice Santa Lucia Station.

Venice Marco Polo Airport; a shuttle bus service runs from the airport to the cruise terminal and vice versa.

Europe and Italy

Hotels close to Marco Polo Airport include the Fly Hotel and the Antony Hotel. Hotels in central Venice include Hotel des Bains (Sheraton), Hotel Bauer, Hotel Sofitel, Hotel Daniele, Hotel Cipiriani and Hotel Amadeus.

Italy