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All Italy Venice

The Atlas Obscura Guide To Venice

34 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Venice, Italy

Updated July 17, 2024

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Unusual Attractions in Venice

Libreria Acqua Alta

Venice, Italy

Libreria Acqua Alta

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.
The Mad Colored Houses of Burano

Venice, Italy

The Mad Colored Houses of Burano

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.
The Flooded Crypt of San Zaccaria

Venice, Italy

The Flooded Crypt of San Zaccaria

As can be expected from a centuries old church built in a canal city, the undercroft of this house of worship is beautifully flooded.

Venice, Italy

San Servolo Insane Asylum Museum

Venice's "Island of the Mad."
View from across Piazza San Marco.

Venice, Italy

St. Mark's Clock Tower (Torre dell'Orologio)

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.

Venice, Italy

Scala Contarini del Bovolo

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.
Monument to Antonio Canova.

Venice, Italy

Tomb of Antonio Canova

A sinister pyramid in the Frari contains the heart of the famous neoclassical sculptor.
Lazzaretto Nuovo

Venice, Italy

Lazzaretto Nuovo

The plague quarantine island home to the alleged "Vampire of Venice."
See All 34 Things To Do in Venice

Cool Places to Eat & Drink in Venice

Lido, Italy

Vartanush

Armenian monks at an island monastery in the Venetian Lagoon make a rare rose petal jam.
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Explore Venice, Italy

Sacred Spaces 5
History 5
Architecture 5
Islands 5
Churches 5
Statues 4
Art 4

Venice Leaderboard

Places Added

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Places Edited

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    16
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    10
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    8
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Places Visited

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Stories About Venice

Jacopo Guarana’s fresco ‘Concert of the Putte’ (1776-77).

The Lost Aria Rediscovered in Venice's Ospedaletto After 250 Years

A fresco at the historic refuge leads a musicologist to a composition not heard for centuries—and the determined young women who once performed it.
by Marica S. Tacconi
December 11, 2023
This 22-foot-long, papier-mâché rat known as Pantegana helps to kick off Carnival. For centuries, rats were blamed for carrying diseases to port cities, making the rodent an unlikely emblem for Venice, but Pantegana is beloved in the city where rats, which can be surprisingly strong swimmers, are one of the city’s most plentiful, non-human residents.

In Venice, Carnival Is a Visual Feast of 18th-Century Splendor

Every February, millions of people flock to Venice for Carnival, but few know the festival’s true origins.
by Sarah Durn
February 16, 2023
This 1833 painting by Alexandre Hesse in the Louvre in Paris depicts the funeral rites of the painter Titian after his death from plague.

Venice Is Almost One Big Plague Graveyard

A city built on water was always going to struggle with burials—especially when a deadly pandemic came to town.
by Vittoria Traverso
October 27, 2022
Paolo Olbi in his workshop in the 17th- and 18th-century Palazzo Ca’ Zenobio in Venice.

Keeping the Centuries-Old Tradition of Venetian Bookbinding Alive

Inspired by a 15th-century editor, Paolo Olbi pushes to keep this from being the last chapter.
by Vittoria Traverso
July 29, 2022
The volunteers of Laguna nel Bicchiere tend to their vines.

The Winemakers Bringing Viticulture Back to Venice

In the unlikely lagoon environment, long-lost grapes grow once again.
by Eric Millman
July 8, 2022

How World War I Turned Soldiers Into Tourists

A new exhibit reveals the wondrous sights service members found away from the trenches.
by April White
November 8, 2021
The graffiti of the bastazi includes recounting of historic events.

A Secret History of Venice Is Written on the Walls of Its Quarantine Stations

A look inside the Mediterranean trading power, courtesy of its hard-working 16th-century porters.
by Federico Formica
September 21, 2021
In November 2019, water breached the basilica.

How Can a Basilica Stay Dry Amid Venice's Rising Waters?

The race is on to save St. Mark's—and its marble—from damaging, salty floodwaters.
by Rebecca Ann Hughes
April 20, 2021

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