Basilica di San Marco

La Basilica di San Marco, proprio accanto a Piazza San Marco e non lontana dal Palazzo Ducale, è la più famosa delle chiese di Venezia e uno degli esempi di architettura bizantina più noti al mondo. Oggi la basilica è considerata un monumento vivente all'eredità delle culture bizantina, romana e veneziana che hanno plasmato Venezia stessa.

St. Mark's Basilica is an active church with regular Mass services, not only a museum -- modest dress covering shoulders and knees is enforced at the door, and visitors arriving underdressed are turned away rather than merely asked to cover up.

Photography is not permitted inside the basilica, a rule meant to protect the mosaics and preserve the atmosphere of a working place of worship -- it's enforced by staff throughout the nave.

Piazza San Marco is one of Venice's most crowded public spaces, and moving through it and the basilica's entrance calmly, rather than rushing, reduces pressure on an area that floods easily during acqua alta and already strains under heavy foot traffic.

The Basilica di San Marco can be reached by water-bus lines from both the railway station and the Piazzale Roma. By foot, the journey takes around forty minutes from either place. The basilica is open from approximately 10 am to 5 pm each day. Guided tours are available every day (excluding Sundays and holidays) from April through October (reservations are required for groups).