Not to miss

Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Eccentric millionaire art collector Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) called the unfinished Palazzo Venier dei Leoni home for 30 years. She left behind, apart from her cherished dogs buried with her in the sculpture garden, a collection representing most of the major art movements of the 20th century. Works by Picasso, Dali and Miro make this an essential visit.

The east wing houses early Cubist paintings including Picasso's The Poet (1911) and Pipe, Glass, Bottle of Vieux Marc (1914), Georges Braque's The Clarinet (1912) and many other greats of 20th-century art. Interesting works from Spain include Dalí's Birth of Liquid Desires (1932) and fellow Catalan Joan Miró's Seated Woman II (1939).

Among the many paintings of Max Ernst, Guggenheim's husband and doyen of Surrealism, is the disturbing Antipope (1942). Other names to look for include: Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, Paul Delvaux, Alexander Calder, Juan Gris, Kurt Schwitters, Paul Klee, Francis Bacon, Giorgio de Chirico, Piet Mondrian and Marc Chagall.

Out in the sculpture garden are several pieces by Henry Moore and Jean Arp. The rear of the mansion hosts a separate collection of Italian Futurists and other modern artists from the peninsula, including Giorgio Morandi, Giacomo Balla and one work by Amedeo Modigliani. The west wing hosts temporary exhibitions.

St Mark's Basilica

St Mark's is one of the most spectacular houses of worship in the world, attesting to the Venetian Republic's former maritime and commercial might. Adorned with an incredible array of plundered treasures, it is a seething mass of domes and arches. The dress code requires knees, shoulders and upper arms be covered.

The basilica was modelled on Constantinople's Church of the Twelve Apostles and consecrated in 1094. It is famous for its golden mosaics, particularly those above the doorways in the facade and decorating the interior domes. If you can wrench your eyes away from their glitter, take time to admire the 12th-century marble pavement.

The basilica's many treasures include the gleaming Pala d'Oro altarpiece of gold, enamel and precious jewels. The Tesoro (Treasury) contains most of the booty from the 1204 raid on Constantinople, including a thorn said to have come from the crown worn by Christ.

On the loggia above the main door are copies of the delightful prancing horses that were also hijacked from Constantinople (the gilded-bronze originals are on display inside). The basilica's 10th-century campanile (bell tower) collapsed without warning on 14 July 1902, and was rebuilt brick by brick over the following 10 years. Take the lift to the top for some fabulous views over the rooftops and lagoon.

Gallerie dell'Accademia

Long the official arbiter of artistic taste in Venice, the 'Academy' is home to the finest in Venetian old masters, a veritable feast of High Renaissance, baroque and rococo. Although the city is dotted by works of the greats, this one-stop starburst represents a single, intense lesson in the greatness of Venetian high art from the 14th to 18th centuries.

In Room 2, Carpaccio's altarpiece, Crocifissione e Apoteosi dei 10,000 Martiri del Monte Ararat (Crucifixion and Apotheosis of the 10,000 Martyrs of Mt Ararat), is an extraordinary study in massacre and martyrdom. You stroll past works by the Bellinis, Mantegna and Cima da Conegliano until you are stopped in your tracks in Room 5 by rare contributions from Giorgione: La Tempesta (The Storm) and La Vecchia (The Old Woman). Both are centuries ahead of their time, the latter, in particular, presaging 19th-century portraiture. Major works adorn Room 10 and Paolo Veronese's Convito in Casa di Levi (Feast in the House of Levi) is one of the highlights. Also on display is one of Titian's last works, his disturbing Pietà. Carpaccio's extraordinary series of nine paintings recounting the life of Santa Orsola, in Room 21, is the collection's last high point.