St. Mark's Basilica ★★★

Basilica di San Marco / St. Mark's Cathedral ★★★
Piazza San Marco
Vaporetto: San Zaccaria, San Marco-Giardinetti, or San Marco-Vallaresso
tel. +39-041-270-8311 or +39-041-522-5205
www.basilicasanmarco.it
Book a tour: Viator.com or Context Travel
Open 9:45am–5pm (Sunday 2–5pm, or 4pm winter)
» In winter, Museo di San Marco closes 15 min. before church; Pala d'Oro and Tesoro close 30 min. before church

Church: free
Museo, tesoro, pala d'oro: Small adm each

• Free summer tours: The cathedral runs free guided tours from April to October, usually around 11am Mon-Sat, which include a Biblical reading of some of the mosaics. Check signs posted in the atrium for specifics, or call tel. +39-041-241-3817 (sometimes they will add a tour simply if you call to request one).
• Guided tours: The rest of the year (or for more departure times), you can get a private guided tour of St. Mark's:
  • Context: Venice and the East
  • Skip the Line: Venice Walking Tour with St Mark's Basilica
    
  • Skip the Line: Best of Venice Walking Tour including Basilica di San Marco
    
  • The Golden Basilica
    
  • Skip the Line: St Mark's Square Highlights Tour
    
  • The Doge's Dominion: St. Mark's Basilica and the Palazzo Ducale
    
  • One-Day Venice: An Introduction to the City
  • The Power of the Past: A Small Group Tour
    
  • Skip the Line: Venice in One Day
    
  • Small-Group Tour: Best of Venice Walking Tour and Grand Canal Water Taxi Ride
    
  • Venice Shore Excursion: Small-Group Best of Venice Walking Tour and Grand Canal Taxi Ride

Planning your day: They'll try to shuffle you through in 20 minutes, but take your time, pop into the side chapels, behind the altar, and up to the Marciano Museum, sit on a pew and just admire the view, and plan to spend at least an hour to 90 minutes. Venice itineraries

San Marco Ground Rules:

1. Dress appropriately—no bare shoulders or knees (i.e. no shorts, short skirts, or tank tops).
2. Keep respectfully silent (this is, after all, a church).
3. This brings a disappointed groan out of everyone, but positively no photography is permitted. I know. It makes me angry, too.

Large bags are no longer allowed inside the basilica, and a free left luggage office has been established at Ateneo San Basso in Calle San Basso 315A on Piazzetta dei Leoni (to the left of the church facade).

Oddly (and terribly inconveniently), the bag drop opens after the basilica and closes early: Mon-Sat 10am–4:30pm, Sun 10am–4pm.

My favorite time to visit St. Mark's? On Sunday for the 6:45pm—for mass.

Mass? Yep. While the priest drones in singsong Latin at the altar, incense swirling around him from a swaying censor, you can sit in silence for an hour getting a crick in your neck.

That's because, only during the evening mass, the 40,000 square feet of glittering mosaics —which appear smoke-stained and shadowy by day—are illuminated to their full glittering glory. (They switch on the lights at other times, too, but this is the only reliable weekly one.)

Only one rule: Tourists are not allowed, so you must be discreet, arrive on time, stay in your pew, and sit quietly through to the end. Even if you are not devout (or not a Christian), this counts as a bona fide Italian cultural experience.

Though the lights are not switched on, regular masses are also held Mon-Sat at 7am, 8am, 9am, 10am, 11am, noon (except July-Aug), and 6:45pm, and Sunday at 7am, 8am, 9am, 10:30am, noon, 5:30pm (Vespers), and—the best, with illumination—6:45pm.

Sights nearby
★★★ Piazza San Marco [square]
★ Campanile di San Marco [bell tower]
★★★ Palazzo Ducale [palace/museum]
★★★ Grand Canal [sight]
Museo Civico Correr [museum]
Bacino Orseolo [gondola parking lot]

Where to eat nearby
★★★ Bistrot de Venise [meal]
★ Da Aciugheta [meal/pizza]
★★ Osteria a la Campana [light meal]
★★ Vino Vino [light meal]
Rosticceria Teatro Goldoni [light meal/snack]

Hotels nearby
RR Hotel Danieli (splurge)
RR Hotel ai do Mori (moderate)
RR Hotel Violino d'Oro (moderate)
RR Hotel Metropole [premier]
RR Hotel La Residenza [cheap]
RR Foresteria Valdese [super-cheap]
RR Hotel Caneva [super-cheap]


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