Gallerie dell'Accademia

If you want to understand why Venice changed the history of painting, come to the Accademia. Housed in the former church, convent and Scuola of Santa Maria della Carità at the Dorsoduro end of the Accademia Bridge, the galleries hold the finest collection of Venetian art in the world, arranged roughly chronologically from the gold-ground altarpieces of the fourteenth century to the luminous views of the eighteenth. The early rooms glow with Paolo Veneziano and the great altarpieces of Giovanni Bellini, whose soft light and tender Madonnas set the tone for everything that followed. Then come the masterpieces that draw art lovers from around the world: Giorgione's mysterious Tempest, a small landscape with a storm that still defies interpretation; Titian's dark, unfinished Pietà, painted for his own tomb; Tintoretto's dramatic canvases for the Scuola Grande di San Marco, including the Miracle of the Slave; and Veronese's vast Feast in the House of Levi, a Last Supper so crowded with dogs, dwarfs and German soldiers that the Inquisition summoned the painter in 1573, and he simply changed the title. Carpaccio's cycle of the Legend of St Ursula, a whole room of narrative paintings full of Venetian ships and pageantry, is a favourite with children and adults alike. The collection also owns Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, though the drawing is extremely fragile and shown only rarely. The galleries open Tuesday to Sunday, with entry free on the first Sunday of each month and for under-eighteens.

Planning the visit is easy compared with St Mark's. The galleries are open from Tuesday to Sunday through the day, with the ticket office closing an hour before the doors, and they are closed on Mondays; check the official site for occasional special closures, which the gallery announces there. The full ticket is moderately priced, with a token price for young EU citizens and free entry for under-eighteens. On the first Sunday of the month and certain national free days, entry is free and first-come, first-served, so expect a line. The official site names TicketOne as its only authorised online reseller, and booking ahead is wise on weekends and in spring and autumn. An audio guide is available and recommended.

How to see it: allow two hours and do not rush the first rooms, where the Bellini altarpieces are among the most beautiful paintings in Italy. The Tempest is small and easy to miss, so ask for it if you cannot find it. The big narrative canvases by Tintoretto, Veronese and Carpaccio reward sitting down in front of them; they are, among other things, wonderful documents of life in Renaissance Venice. Ground-floor rooms host temporary exhibitions, and the gallery runs occasional evening openings and a discounted Friday-evening ticket for young adults.

The Accademia sits at the heart of the so-called Dorsoduro museum mile, a short walk from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and the Salute, and a joint ticket arrangement with neighbouring museums has been offered; ask at the desk. A good art morning starts at the Accademia at opening, crosses to the Guggenheim for the twentieth century, and ends on the steps of the Salute. Afterward, walk back over the wooden Accademia Bridge for one of the classic views of the Grand Canal, with the Salute's dome framed at the end. Two more rooms deserve time. Titian's Presentation of the Virgin still hangs in the room it was painted for, the former meeting hall of the Scuola della Carità, so you see it in its original setting. And the great cycle of the Miracles of the True Cross, by Gentile Bellini, Carpaccio and their contemporaries, shows Venice as it looked around 1500: Gentile's procession fills Piazza San Marco, and Carpaccio's miracle at the Rialto includes the old wooden Rialto Bridge, with its drawbridge, long before the stone one you cross today.