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| The Accademia Bridge on the Grand Canal on New Year's Eve Day 2024 Photo: Cat Bauer |
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| Feast in the House of Levi by Paolo Veronese at Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice Photo: Cat Bauer |
But there is also a handful of museums in the historic center of Venice overseen by the Italian Ministry of Culture, the branch of the State government in charge of national museums. Throughout Italy, these museums are free to the public on the first Sunday of every month.
Figuring out which museums in Venice are operated by the Italian State and where they are located can be challenging. Here's some help:
6 ITALIAN STATE MUSEUMS IN VENICE FREE ON THE FIRST SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH
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| Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice - Photo: by concession of the Ministry of Culture |
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| Giorgio Franchetti Gallery at the Ca' d'Oro on the Grand Canal - Photo: Cat Bauer |
2. Giorgio Franchetti Gallery at the Ca' d'Oro - Ca' d'Oro, or Palazzo Santa Sofia, is an elegant, distinct palace in Cannaregio on the Grand Canal. It's one vaporetto stop past the Rialto Market on the other side of the canal. Ca' d'Oro means "House of Gold." Built in 1428, it is the best surviving example of Venetian Gothic architecture.
The last owner, Baron Giorgio Franchetti, bequeathed his considerable art collection along with his palace to the Italian State in 1916. The view of the Grand Canal from the loggia is impressive, and the mosaic floor of the courtyard designed by Franchetti himself is astonishing.
UPDATE: Although most of Ca' d'Oro is being restored, you have a short window of opportunity to see the recently restored Giovanni Bellini masterpiece Pieta (or Dead Christ Supported by Four Angels) on the first floor until January 6, 2026. The painting is visiting from the City Museum of Rimini after being restored by Venetian Heritage. It will then travel across the ocean to the Morgan Library in New York from January 15 to April 19, 2026, before returning home to Rimini.
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| Dead Christ Supported by Four Angels by Giovanni Bellini Photo: Cat Bauer |
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| Mosaic floor designed by Baron Giorgio Franchetti Photo: Cat Bauer |
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| Marciana Library on right - Photo: Veneto.Info |
In St. Mark's Square, things start to get complicated. Both the gilded monumental rooms of the Marciana Library, designed by Jacopo Sansovino, and the
Archaeological Museum are national museums under the supervision of the Italian
State. Both are located in Piazza San Marco in the enormous structure
that faces the Doge's Palace and then turns the corner at the Campanile and becomes the Procuratie Nuove.
To enter both museums, you normally have to go
through the Correr Museum, far down at the other end of Piazza San Marco in the Napoleonic wing, the structure that faces St. Mark's Basilica. The Correr is a Venetian municipal museum under the umbrella of the Venice
Civic Museums (MUVE). It is not part of the Italian Ministry of Culture. It is run by Venice. Therefore, it is not free on the first Sunday of the month.
However, during normal operations, the Marciana Library and the Archaeological Museum are included in the price of the ticket you pay to enter the Correr Museum because the layout is such that you can walk right through all of them. But not on the first Sunday of the month!
The Italian Minister of Culture is very clear:
“Domenica al museo”: free admission to the National Archaeological Museum of Venice and Monumental Rooms of Marciana Library (NOT Museo Correr) for everyone on the first Sunday of each month.
If you think Italian bureaucracy is convoluted, just imagine when it’s layered with an extra labyrinth of Venetian bureaucracy.
So, what are you supposed to do? Luckily, the Marciana Library has an impressive separate entrance through which you can also reach the Archaeological Museum. It is normally closed to the public, but open on the first Sunday of each month.
Across from the Doge's Palace, look for two enormous, draped female
figures guarding the entrance to an ornate door that says "Biblioteca
Nazionale Marciana Libreria Vecchia." There you will climb a monumental
staircase with wondrous treasures at the top.
IMPORTANT UPDATE!!! As of May 6, 2025, on free museum Sundays, you enter the Marciana Library through the newly reopened entrance to the Archaeological Museum. In other words, instead of going through the Marciana to reach the Archaeological Museum, you now go through the Archaeological Museum to reach the Marciana(!) See below.) [CAT TIP: Visit the Marciana before you visit the Archaeological, or you could end up going round in circles...]
UPDATE: As of May 6, 2025, the historic entrance to the Archaeological Museum at No. 17 Piazzetta San Marco reopens with its own ticketing. It's right across from the Doge's Palace and a few doors down from the entrance to the Marciana. The Agrippa Courtyard around the corner in the Procuratie Nuove has also reopened (see photo below in No. 4). If you enter through No. 17, you will end up in the Agrippa Courtyard anyway.
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| Reading room of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana Photo: Wikipedia |
3. Monumental rooms of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana - One of the earliest public libraries on the planet, the Marciana was founded in 1468 when the humanist scholar Cardinal Bessarion donated his collection of Greek and Latin manuscripts to Venice. However, it took Venice some time to build the library, which was designed by Jacopo Sansovino and constructed between 1537 and 1588.
In addition to paintings by Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese, you can marvel at Fra Mauro's original 1450 map of the world. The last will and testament of Marco Polo is here, dated January 9, 1323 M.V. (according to the Venetian calendar).
When you enter the vestibule at the top of the monumental staircase, look up. In the center of the ceiling, you will see one of my favorite paintings, Wisdom by Titian.
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| National Archaeological Museum of Venice- Agrippa Courtyard - Photo: Joan Porcel |
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| Domus Grimani - Sala della Tribuna at Palazzo Grimani - Photo: Venetian Heritage |
Let's start with this: the collection was first established in 1523 by Cardinal Domenico Grimani. His father, Antonio (who would go on to become the Doge), bought a plot of land in Rome where he was living in exile. During excavation for the foundations, a number of ancient sculptures were discovered, igniting the Grimanis' passion for collecting fine antiquities. At the end of the 16th century, Giovanni Grimani, Antonio's grandson, donated his collection to the Republic of Venice.
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| Samarian Woman at the Well by Luca Giordano Photo: Cat Bauer |
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| Wood, lacquer & painted ivory Chinese chess set from the 18th century Photo: by concession of the Ministry of Culture |
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| EGYPT. Journey to Immortality - Photo: Cat Bauer |
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| Eyes for a funerary Mask (664-332 BCE) Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze |
That's a fascinating question. While the ancient Egyptians believed that the soul needed a physical body to exist in the afterlife, they didn't necessarily believe that the soul was tied to the Earth in the same way we might think of a ghost being tied to a specific location.
Here's a breakdown of their beliefs:
While the soul might need a physical body to exist in the afterlife, it wasn't necessarily tied to a specific location on Earth. The Egyptians believed that the soul could move freely and experience the afterlife without being confined to a particular place.
Thank you, Gemini, but I am still not clear. The body is mummified and stationary. It is wrapped in linen and placed inside a sarcophagus. The soul is free and wandering around. Why was the body mummified? Does the mummy come back to life?
That's a great point! The Egyptians didn't believe that the mummy would come back to life in the physical sense. The mummification process wasn't intended to resurrect the body.
Instead, they believed that the soul would use the preserved body as a kind of "spiritual vehicle" in the afterlife. It was like a spiritual body that the soul could inhabit and use to interact with the spiritual world.
Think of it like a car. The car itself doesn't move, but it's a vehicle that allows someone to travel. In the same way, the mummified body was a vehicle that allowed the soul to "travel" and experience the afterlife.
So, while the body was immobile, it was still considered essential for the soul's existence and activities in the spiritual realm.
So, the body was like a home?
Exactly. The ancient Egyptians believed that the body was like a home for the soul, providing a place for it to reside and interact with the spiritual world. It was a crucial part of their understanding of the afterlife and their beliefs about the soul's journey.
OK. But I still don’t quite get it. You die. You have a soul. But why do you need the body? Can you please delve deeper?
That's a great question! The ancient Egyptians had a unique belief about the afterlife that might seem different from our modern understanding.
They believed that the soul, or "ka," needed a physical body to exist in the afterlife. This body wasn't just for appearances; it was thought to be essential for the soul's activities and interactions in the spiritual realm.
Here are a few reasons why they believed the physical body was so important:
While this belief might seem strange to us today, it was a central part of ancient Egyptian culture and religion. It helps us understand why they went to such great lengths to preserve their bodies through mummification.
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| Mummy of a Baby with Sarcophagus (1st-2nd century CE) Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze |
"The ancient Egyptians believed that a person's Ka (vital force) and Ba (personality) left the body at the time of death. But they also believed that Ka and Ba could be lured back if an idealized re-creation of the body was offered. This re-unification of body and spirit was the ticket to the nether world....Egyptians stopped making mummies beteen the fourth and seventh century AD, when many Egyptians became Christian. But it's estimated that, over a 3000-year period, more than 70 million mummies were made in Egypt."
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| Canopic Chest (1550-664 BCE) Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze |
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| Amulets in the Shape of the Wdjat Eye Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze |
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| One to One: John & Yoko - Directed by Kevin Macdonald |
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| From the One to One concert in New York City in 1972 - Photo: John Skelson |
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| Imagine Circle in Central Park, NYC |
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| Recreation of John & Yoko's tiny one-room apartment on Bank Street - Photo: Mercury Studios |
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| Kevin Macdonald at One to One: John & Yoko premiere Venice Film Festival, August 30, 2024 Photo: Cat Bauer |
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| (Image: Matteo Borrini) |
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| Scientists have reconstructed the face of a 16th-century woman believed to have been buried as a vampire. Credit: Cicero Moraes, OrtogOnline 2024 |
It was thought that these vampires, who were buried next to the bodies of plague victims, fed on their dead neighbours until they felt strong enough to rise from the grave and begin feeding on the living, perpetuating the cycle of contamination.Gravediggers were therefore responsible for identifying possible vampire women among the dead by signs of shroud-chewing around the mouth and impaling them with a brick to stop them feeding, according to Borrini.The woman's skeleton was found in mass grave of victims of the Venetian plague of 1576 - in which the artist Titian also died - on the small island of Lazzaretto Nuovo. Venice authorities had designated the island a quarantine hospital in 1468 following an earlier plague epidemic.
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Photograph courtesy National Geographic Television |
That image you see of the man with a hat and a beak and a wand is a plague doctor. The beak was stuffed with medicinal herbs, etc. to keep the doctor from catching the plague. The island is open for visits from March to November, for guided visits only.
The visit lasts about two hours. It includes the historical-archeological itinerary of the Lazzaretto Nuovo inside the walls (the museum exhibit inside the Tezon Grande and the open-air archeological digs), as well as the naturalistic walk of the marshlands outside the walls ("The Path of the Barene").
Guided visits in English are scheduled every Saturday at 11am, from April 13th to October 19th 2024 (in August only exclusive tour). Reservation by email is required, no later than the preceding Thursday. The scheduled visits takes place only with a minimum number of reservations. We will confirm the reservation as soon as the number is reached.
Please kindly write to info@lazzarettiveneziani.it and wait for our confirmation.
This visit costs 10€ per person, 5€ for children up to 14 years. The contribution is donated to non-profit activities for the ecomuseum. Payment is at the entrance on the day of the visit by debit or credit card. The island can be reached by the ACTV Line 13: departing from Venice-Fondamente Nuove or from Treporti at 10.25 a.m. (return by vaporetto at 12.55 a.m.)
And don't worry. Venetian vampires do not drink the blood of the average tourist. After consuming too much McDonald's and other fast food, humanity's diet has gotten so tasteless their blood is almost undrinkable for our poor vampires. 
