10 Best Museums in Venice

The Doge's Palace - Palazzo Ducale is a historical building complex and museum where you can learn about history and explore artefacts among centuries-old construction. The museum is home to quite a few incredible exhibits including special tours showcasing the hidden treasures of the doge.

The building itself can be considered part of the museum and sports a castle-like Venetian Gothic design that dates back to the 10th century, though its current form is only about as old as the Renaissance. It's located near the Grand Canal on the west side of Rio del Palazzo.

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a modern art museum where you'll find a massive collection of works predominantly by futurists and modernists. Both Italian and American artists are on display here, though you'll find a few others as well within the cubism, abstract expressionism and surrealism genres.

On display here, you'll find works from legendary artists like De Chirico, Severini, Metzinger and even Picasso. You'll even be able to see a room dedicated to works created by Peggy Guggenheim's daughter Pegeen Vail Guggenheim. It's all located along the Grand Canal in the eastern Dorsoduro district.

Gallerie dell'Accademia is an art museum dedicated to local art that was created prior to the 19th century and highlights more historical art movements. In the collection here, you'll find masterpieces from legends like Giovanni Bellini, Canaletto, Andrea Mantegna and Rocco Marconi.

While the collection here is extensive, the most iconic piece is the "Vitruvian Man" by Leonardo da Vinci. It's not always on display, but when it is, it's a particularly popular piece. You'll find it all near the Grand Canal on the south side of Ponte dell'Accademia.

The Venice Glass Museum - Museo del Vetro (Murano) is a popular museum that showcases the history of glass and features works from antiques to 20th-century pieces. Among the collection here, you'll find glassworks dating back to ancient Rome along with works by Renaissance glass artist Angelo Barovier.

Venetian glass tends to be the focus here. The museum is located on the island of Murano, which is well known for its historic glassmaking traditions. Murano and this museum are due north of mainland Venice.

The Pinault Collection is set up across 2 museum buildings, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, that showcase art exhibitions. At Palazzo Grassi, you'll find exhibitions that typically focus on a single living artist more than anything else.

When you visit Punta della Dogana, you can expect exhibitions focused more on wider themes. There is no permanent on-display collection at these museums, as exhibitions are regularly rotated, so there's always something new to see. The Palazzo Grassi venue is near the Accademia Bridge, while the Punta della Dogana is on the tip of the Dorsoduro district.

Museo Correr is a museum that showcases some of the best exhibits the city has to offer with a varied collection of local artworks and historical artefacts. The history of the Venetian Republic dating back centuries is on display here where you'll find works by Renaissance artists like Andrea Michieli and Lazzaro Bastiani.

If you're looking for historical artefacts, you'll find quite a few on display. Topographical instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries have a place here along with coins that were minted as far back as the 9th century and the early years of the republic. See it all near the centre of San Marco south of Bacino Orseolo.

Ca' Pesaro Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna is a modern art museum that primarily focuses on 19th- and 20th-century works as well as Asian art. The modern art collection consists of paintings and sculptures with a section about graphic art as well. You'll find works by Bonnard, Kandinsky, Leoncillo and Vedova, among many others.

On the upper floor, you'll find a collection of Asian art that consists of about 30,000 different works. They primarily come from Japan, but you'll also find a few Chinese and Indonesian pieces. It's located on the east side of the Santa Croce district near the Grand Canal.

The Venice Lace Museum - Museo del Merletto showcases the history of lace making, which was once one of the primary strengths of the Venetian Republic. In this museum, you can see a variety of artefacts from the lace-making industry dating back centuries including pattern books, costumes, furniture and plenty of samples.

When you visit, you'll also have the chance to see several local lace makers perform their craft, which is an impressive feat of skill. Feel free to ask them questions to learn more from the experts. It's located on the island of Burano a few miles northeast of Venice's mainland.

Ca' Rezzonico is a museum solely dedicated to 18th-century Venice that features art and architectural designs from the time. In addition to the pieces within, the building itself showcases the baroque and rococo architecture that was popular during the 18th century.

Several works of art from Guardi and Tiepolo are on display here, so you can see some of the most notable legends from the 18th century. Plus, its location on the canal provides a particularly Venetian kind of experience as most visitors arrive via gondola. You'll find it in the Dorsoduro district just north of Rio de S. Barnaba.

The Venice Natural History Museum - Museo di Storia Naturale Giancarlo Ligabue is a natural history museum where you'll find the results of research about the local area. The historical testimony of the region is on display with paleontological, anthropological and ethnological artefacts available.

This museum is home to more than 2 million pieces, though not all of it is on display at once. When you visit, you may find temporary exhibits going on as well, which typically focus on a particular aspect of natural history. See it for yourself in Santa Croce just across the canal from Cannaregio.