Best Museums in Venice

Welcome to my guide that looks at some of the best Museums in Venice.

Venice is one of the world’s most visited cities, not only for the immense artistic, architectural and historic heritage you can admire as you walk around but also for the art treasures preserved inside Venice’s museums, churches and palaces.

The Gallerie dell’Accademia, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Ca’ Pesaro and Ca’ d’Oro are just some of the most prestigious art museums of the city.

If you happen to be visiting Venice in winter, or are unlucky enough to be here on a rainy day, or with acqua alta taking over, visiting museums in Venice is the best way to spend time indoors and learn more about Venice’s history and culture.

Museums in Venice

When it comes to museums here, there are 11 civic museums (managed by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia), various state museums and privately owned museums or managed by foundations, religious bodies and associations.

Venice has more than 40 exhibition venues open to the public and with this guide, I’ll introduce some of the best museums in Venice that you can visit during your stay.

Is it worth buying a museum pass in Venice?

Whether you’re still planning a trip to Venice or you’re already there, you might want to consider getting yourself a museum pass. But what is that I hear you ask?

The Venice museum pass is a tourist card that allows access to museums to the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia and other city attractions while saving money.

There are 5 museum passes you can purchase. See the table below which covers the name of each pass, a list of museums included and current prices.

*Civic Museums of Venice: Correr Museum, Archaeological Museum, Monumental Rooms of the Marciana Library, Cà Rezzonico, Palazzo Mocenigo, Carlo Goldoni’s House, Ca’ Pesaro + Oriental Art Museum, Glass Museum in Murano, Lace Museum in Burano, Natural History Museum, Fortuny Museum.

Notice that there’s no entry ticket solely for the Doge’s Palace, you must buy the St. Mark’s Square ticket that allows you to visit other museums in St. Mark’s Square.

This means that if you want to visit Doge’s Palace, you have no choice but to purchase the St. Mark’s Square museum pass (or another pass if you want to visit more museums and attractions). However, you can actually save yourself some money by purchasing the pass for 25 euros, 30 days before your visit.

It’s really worth getting the museum passes listed above because you can save a lot of money and visit the most important museums in Venice and other islands.

But ask yourself: do I actually have time and interest to visit all of them (or at least a good portion of them)? I suggest getting the St. Mark’s Square pass or the St. Mark’s city pass if you’re thinking of spending 2 or 3 days in Venice in total.

The other museum passes only if you’re staying for longer. This is how much you can save by getting the Museum pass, one of the most popular city cards.

Please see the table below:

If you were to pay all single entrances you would end up paying 104 euros. Thanks to the museum pass you can actually save 64 euros. Bargain!

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Best Museums in Venice

With no further ado, let’s begin to take a look at some of the best museums in Venice. I think you should seriously think of adding these to your itinerary!

The map above shows you the exact location of the each Venice Museum listed below. You can even download the map or add them on to your own itinerary.

Let’s start with one of my all time favourites…

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is one of the most prestigious art museums in Italy. The museum holds a big collection of 20th century European and American art works collected by the famous avant-garde patron Peggy Guggenheim.

During your visit you can expect to see works by artists like Dalì, Pollock, Chagall, Magritte, Picasso, De Chirico and there are always temporary exhibitions during which you have the chance to learn more about iconic artists of the past and explore the work of new emergent artists of international level.

Get your ticket in advance and avoid long queues at the entrance. The museum venue is Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, an 18th century building with a neoclassical façade overlooking the Grand Canal, former house of Peggy Guggenheim. You can also have a drink or even lunch at the on-site Museum Cafè.

📍 Location: Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Dorsoduro 701, I-30123 Venice

Museo Correr

The museum exists thanks to the Venetian noble Teodoro Correr, a great art enthusiast that had his collection first in Palazzo Correr then in the Fondaco dei Turchi. It was finally moved to the Procuratie Nuove in St. Mark’s Square.

The Correr Museum houses the Historical Collections, the Picture Gallery and the Risorgimento Museum. The Historical Collections occupy the museum’s first floor.

Inside there are paintings ranging from the 15th to the 19th century, and sculptures such as Canova’s Daedalus and Icarus. Other rooms contain artefacts belonging to the Doges, period costumes, portraits, numismatic collections, official symbols of the Serenissima and reproductions of the St. Mark’s.

On the second floor, you can visit the Risorgimento Museum, dedicated to the history of the city and with an exhibition mainly composed of paintings.

The Picture Gallery is on this floor too and hosts paintings of Venetian school. You can admire art works, such as the Dead Christ supported by two angels by Bellini, the Pietà by Antonello da Messina and the Two Venetian Ladies by Carpaccio.

You can visit the Correr Museum together with the other museums in St. Mark’s Square by purchasing one of the Venice museum passes listed in the table above (simply click on each link to look at the pass inclusions).

📍 Location: St. Mark’s Square, 52, 30124 Venezia VE

Natural History Museum

Instead of the aforementioned Correr Museum, in Fondaco dei Turchi there’s now the Natural History Museum. The collections currently include 2 million artefacts covering a time span of 700 million years, including zoological, entomological and botanical collections.

In addition to the scientific library, the ground floor houses two of the most important exhibition spaces: the Cetacean Gallery, with the skeleton of a whale and a young sperm whale, and the Tegnùe Aquarium, a 5 metre aquarium with typical marine species and invertebrates of the tegnùe ecosystem of the Gulf of Venice.

As you can imagine, this museum is a great space for children visiting Venice to explore and learn! In fact there’s the tour activity ‘Naturalisti al museo’ during which there are various tests to face to learn about the naturalist’s job.

Finally, there are 3 sections of the first floor dedicated to palaeontology, the evolution of naturalistic collectivism and the complexity of living species, their adaptation and evolution over the centuries. You can get the entry ticket to the museum for you and your family here then just show your ticket on arrival.

📍 Location: Salizada del Fontego dei Turchi, 1730, 30135 Venezia VE

Ca’ Pesaro

The Ca’ Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art is one of the most popular museums in Venice to visit. The collection includes important paintings and sculptures from the 19th and 20th centuries with masterpieces by Klimt, Chagall, Mirò, Kandinsky, Klee, Matisse and Moore.

There are some permanent exhibitions dedicated to Italian artists, such as Casorati, Sironi, Morandi and De Chirico.

There are 10 exhibition rooms on the first floor of the building and the second floor is for temporary exhibitions. Among the finest masterpieces in the art gallery there are: the Judith II by Klimt, and copies of the sculpture The Thinker by Rodin.

When you purchase the entry ticket for Ca’ Pesaro you can also access the ongoing temporary exhibitions and the Museum of Oriental Art. If you get the All Venice Pass or the Museum Pass, access to this museum is included, otherwise you can get the single ticket here and show your ticket on entering.

If you fancy a hot drink before or after your visit, you can go to the on-site Bar Cà Pesaro with a pretty impressive view over the Grand Canal.

📍 Location: Santa Croce, 2076, 30135 Venezia VE

Venice Lace Museum

The Lace Museum in Burano is based in the former Burano Lace School founded in 1872. There are over 100 precious Burano lace works, part of the school’s rich collection on display, as well as important testimonies of Venetian production from the 16th to the 20th century.

During your visit you will discover the different manufacturing techniques and see how the style has changed over the centuries. Starting from the first geometric decorations, as the technique has perfected over time, fashion trends introduced vegetal, floral and animal motifs.

The Burano lace maximum expression arrived in the 17th century, also considered ‘the golden century of lace’. If you visit the Lace Museum in the morning you can see the master lace makers at work, the custodians of this art handed down from generation to generation.

When you purchase some Venice museum passes or the museums of the islands pass (includes the visit to the Glass Museum in Murano) you get free entry to the Lace museum of Burano.

📍 Location: Piazza Baldassarre Galuppi, 187, 30142 Venezia VE

Museo Storico Navale

Lesser known than other museums in Venice, and based in the Castello district, the Historical Naval Museum of Venice is owned by the Italian Navy. It’s a 15th century building that used to be a granary at the time of the Serenissima Republic of Venice.

The museum develops over 4 floors, of which the first 3 house equipment from different maritime eras, including models of traditional boats or oriental ships such as Chinese junks.

You can also see friezes from ancient galleys, firearms and a copy of the Bucintoro, the state galley of the doges, on display.

The museum includes the Padiglione delle Navi, located in the ancient rowing workshop of the Arsenale, and the Church of San Biagio, a place of worship for the Venetian navy.

📍 Location: Riva S. Biasio, 2148, 30122 Venezia VE, Italia

Da Vinci Interactive Museum

The Da Vinci Interactive Museum in Venice is part of the monumental complex of the Scuola of San Rocco and located in the Scoletta Vecchia building, in the San Polo neighbourhood.

The museum is divided into 4 sections: earth, water, air and fire and you can observe the collection of machines designed by Leonardo da Vinci. You can also try some of them!

Models were created maintaining the proportions and sometimes the dimensions of Leonardo’s original drawings. Part of the museum is dedicated to the famous inventor’s projects and drawings that belonged to his anatomical studies including the reproduction of the Vitruvian Man (original can be seen inside the Gallerie dell’Accademia!).

You will also find Leonardo’s most famous paintings displayed through innovative backlighting technology. The high resolution screens allow you to admire the smallest details that are impossible to study in the originals. You can purchase your entry ticket to the Interactive Da Vinci Museum in advance to save time in Venice.

📍 Location: Scoletta di San Rocco, Campo S. Rocco, 3052, 30125 Venezia VE

Gallerie dell’Accademia

The Gallerie dell’Accademia is the most important art gallery of Venetian paintings in the world. It covers the 5 centuries of Venetian art history, more precisely from the 14th to the 18th century.

Inside you can admire masterpieces of great Venetian artists such as Bellini, Giorgione, Mantegna, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and Tiepolo.

My favourite painting is ‘The Feast in Levi’s House’ by Paolo Veronese located in room X, first floor and I highly recommend that you go to check it out.

The other 2 famous paintings attracting art enthusiasts are: ‘La Tempesta’ by Giorgione and ‘Pietà’ by Tiziano. The Gallerie dell’Accademia is a must-see attraction in Venice even if you only have the slighest interest in art.

There are 37 rooms and the complex develops in 3 historical buildings: the Scuola Grande della Carità, the Church of Santa Maria della Carità and the Convent of the Lateran Canons by Palladio. To save on precious time while in Venice, you can purchase your ticket from the official Gallerie dell’Accademia website.

📍 Location: Calle della Carità, 1050, 30123 Venezia VE

Venice Glass Museum

The Venice Glass Museum is located in Murano, the island famous for glassmaking production. It was founded in 1861 when it wasn’t still a museum but an historical archive aimed at preserving evidence of life on the island.

As a result of the expansion thanks to donations from local glass furnaces and the addition of a school, it finally turned into a museum.

While visiting the museum you can learn everything about the history of Murano glass from its origins in Roman times, to the golden age of the 14th and 17th centuries, up to the 20th century and contemporary creations.

It’s also possible to learn more about glassmaking techniques used in the past like crystalline glass, lattimo and ice glass techniques.

Since getting to Murano from Venice makes the perfect day trip, you can easily add this Museum to your plans. When you purchase some Venice museum passes or the museums of the islands pass, you get free entry to the Murano Glass museum.

📍 Location: Fondamenta Marco Giustinian, 8, Murano-Venezia

Ca’ d’Oro

One of the best museums in Venice to visit is the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti a Ca’ d’Oro. Not only for its breathtaking facade and external decoration, but much more.

It houses the important art collection of Giorgio Franchetti, who donated his collections and the beautiful late Gothic palace itself to the Italian government back in 1916.

At the Ca’ d’Oro museum you can admire coins, seals, medals, tapestries, paintings of the Venetian school, including the famous San Sebastiano by Mantegna, Venus in the mirror by Titian, 3 paintings by Carpaccio, various works of the Tuscan and Flemish school.

On top of that, you can see some Renaissance bronzes and sculptures, some fragments detached from the Fontego dei Tedeschi frescoed by Giorgione and Titian. Get your ticket from the Giorgio Franchetti a Ca’ D’Oro museum website.

📍 Location: Calle Ca’ d’Oro, 3934, 30121 Venezia VE

Museums in Venice

There’s an impressive amount of museums in Venice as well as exhibition spaces. It can really take a long time to visit all of them.

As you can see, they are all housed inside Venetian palaces, institutional buildings, former patrons’ houses and churches which offers an extra reason to visit them and admire their invaluable collections.

Based on your interest, and of course, the amount of days in Venice you’ll be spending, you can purchase a museum pass for your needs and save money.

Remember to review the table above for more information and purchase your pass.

I also recommend that you see my guide that covers the best time to go to Venice to understand when the most optimal time to visit these museums might be for you.

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