The basin between the Punta della Dogana and the Doge’s Palace is called Bacino San Marco. It offers a wonderful panoramic of some of the most picturesque places in Venice. As mentioned, one can see the Doge’s Palace which certainly takes centre stage. Facing it over the water is the Island of san Giorgio Maggiore, with its beautiful Renaissance Church built by Palladio in the Renaissance, with the belltower resembling the bigger one in St Mark’s Square. The island was once known as the Island of Cypress Trees before it became an important Benedectine monastery. Today it houses the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, the foundation for the preservation of Venetian culture and history.
Now if you look past the island, at the very end is the horizontal strip of land called the Lido, beyond which is the Adriatic sea, from where thousands of merchandise ships would come in to Venice, reaching the Punta della Dogana to either drop off or stock up on goods, which is how the Venetian Republic had come to be the ruler of the Mediterranean trade routes, and so, for a time, of the Western world.
Business aside, this is a spot which painters from all over the world have tried to capture in its uniqueness, but we can only recommend that you sit back and take it all in.
