Churches in Venice: which to see, what they cost and how entry works now

Venice has dozens of churches open to visitors, and many hold masterpieces that anywhere else would be in a museum: Titian’s Assumption at the Frari, Tintoretto’s canvases at San Rocco, Giovanni Bellini’s altarpiece at San Zaccaria, Veronese’s cycle at San Sebastiano. For a couple of seasons now, though, the entry rules have been different. St Mark’s Basilica can only be visited with an online booking. Its €10 ticket opens a long list of other churches for six months. And entry to the churches of the Chorus circuit, which for years was paid, is now free according to Chorus.

On this page you’ll find the nine churches worth a detour, a table to compare them, how tickets and hours work today, and the rules on dress and bags. The in-depth guides are on the pages about St Mark’s Basilica and San Giorgio, the Salute and the Frari.

The nine churches not to miss, compared

“Free” for the Chorus churches reflects the circuit’s current information: see the section below. All prices are full adult prices, can change and should be checked on the official websites.

How church entry works now

St Mark’s Basilica

It’s the only church in Venice with a strict booking system. Tickets are sold online only at tickets.basilicasanmarco.it, up to 90 days ahead. They are in your name, timed, and can’t be changed or refunded, and each account can buy a maximum of 5 a year. At the door you’ll be asked for ID and sometimes for the card you paid with.

Ages 10–18, students up to 26 and over-65s get 50% off. Inside the Basilica you can stay 20 minutes at most, along a roped route. On Sundays and holy days of obligation visitors are admitted only from 14:00.

The Procuratoria’s rules forbid reselling the bare ticket to private individuals. That’s why Tiqets and other resellers offer hosted entry (€19 for the ground floor, against €10 official) or a guided tour (€29). They cost more and ratings are middling (3.6–4 out of 5), but they’re a solution if official slots are sold out or you’ve already used your 5 tickets. All the details are on the St Mark’s Basilica page.

The Basilica ticket works for other churches too

This is the most useful and least known change. Within 6 months of purchase, any ticket that includes the Basilica gives free entry to:

• the basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello;
• the Salute sacristy;
• the Pinacoteca Manfrediniana;
• a long list of the Patriarchate’s churches and spaces, including Madonna dell’Orto, the Miracoli, the Gesuati, the Carmini, San Sebastiano, Santa Maria Formosa, the San Zaccaria sacristy and crypt and the Redentore sacristy.

The exact number depends on which official page you read: the Procuratoria’s price list speaks of about 34 churches and sites, the ticketing site of around forty. Keep your Basilica ticket (on your phone is fine) and show it at the other churches.

The Chorus churches

Chorus is the association that runs the Patriarchate’s churches open to visitors. Its Italian pages now state that entry to the churches is free and that only some inner spaces charge €3.50 (€2.50 for students under 25):

• the Santo Stefano museum;
• the San Zaccaria museum and crypt;
• the Redentore’s monumental sacristy;
• the Oratory of the Crucifix at San Polo.

Some English pages on the same website, however, still show “€3.50 per church” and the €15 Chorus Pass. The information isn’t fully consistent: in practice, walk in with confidence and keep your Basilica ticket handy, since it covers these spaces anyway. Today the Chorus Pass is worth it for few people: even visiting all four paid spaces you’d spend €14.

Chorus hours: visits Monday to Saturday, 10:30–17:00, last entry 10 minutes before closing. Closed on Sundays for tourist visits and on 1 January, Easter, 15 August and Christmas. The San Zaccaria museum is open daily from 10:00 to 18:00. Some churches keep shorter hours.

Churches with their own ticket

• Frari: not part of Chorus, with its own €8 ticket (€5 over-65s, €3 students aged 12–29). Online booking goes through GetYourGuide at €9.50, with easier access and a bookshop voucher.
• Scuola Grande di San Rocco: €12 full, €10 over-70s, family €26. No online sales: you buy at the entrance. The church of San Rocco alone costs €3.50, the combined ticket €14.
• Salute: the basilica is free, the sacristy costs €6 (free with the St Mark’s Basilica ticket).

The churches one by one

Santa Maria della Salute

Built by Baldassare Longhena as a vow for the end of the plague of 1630–31, its dome dominates the entrance to the Grand Canal. The rotunda is free to visit. The sacristy (€6, about 20 minutes, with stairs and no lift) holds, among other works, Tintoretto’s Wedding at Cana. Hours: April to October 9:00–12:00 and 15:00–17:30, November to March 9:30–12:30 and 15:00–17:30. On 21 November, for the Festa della Salute, a votive bridge on boats crosses the Grand Canal.

Frari

The great Gothic church of the Franciscans holds Titian’s Assumption (1516–18) on the high altar, Donatello’s wooden St John the Baptist and Alessandro Vittoria’s St Jerome. Giovanni Bellini’s triptych in the sacristy is the subject of a study and restoration project: check whether it’s on view. Hours: 25 April to 31 October Mon–Fri 9:00–19:30, Sat 9:00–18:00; in winter Mon–Sat 9:00–18:00; Sundays and holidays 13:00–18:00. Last entry half an hour before closing.

Scuola Grande di San Rocco

It isn’t a church but the seat of a confraternity, and for anyone who loves painting it’s unmissable. Between 1564 and 1587 Tintoretto decorated it with more than sixty large canvases. The Crucifixion in the Sala dell’Albergo, dated 1565, is over 5 metres high and 12 metres wide. Open daily 9:30–17:30 (ticket office until 17:00), closed on New Year’s Day, Easter and Christmas. The audio guide costs €5 and plays on your own phone. The Da Vinci Interactive Museum is on the same square.

San Giorgio Maggiore

Palladio’s church on the island facing St Mark’s is three minutes away on line 2 from San Zaccaria. It’s open daily 9:00–18:00, free of charge. In the presbytery hang Tintoretto’s Last Supper and Gathering of the Manna, both recently restored. The bell tower is currently closed for major maintenance work. Next door, the Fondazione Cini runs guided tours (from €15) of the monastery and the Borges Labyrinth, which you can also book on Tiqets.

The Redentore

The Redentore, on the Giudecca, is also by Palladio: the Senate commissioned it as a vow after the plague of 1575–77, and it was completed after the architect’s death (1580) by Antonio da Ponte. The church is free to enter; the monumental sacristy (€3.50) holds Veronese’s Baptism of Christ. On the third Sunday of July the city celebrates the Festa del Redentore, with a votive bridge from the Zattere. More on the Giudecca page.

San Zaccaria

A stone’s throw from the Riva degli Schiavoni, it holds Giovanni Bellini’s altarpiece of 1505, still on the altar it was painted for. The museum (€3.50, daily 10:00–18:00) includes the chapel of San Tarasio, with polyptychs by Antonio Vivarini and Giovanni d’Alemagna from 1443 and frescoes by Andrea del Castagno, and the crypt, probably 10th-century, flooded by the tides for much of the year.

Madonna dell’Orto

This Gothic church in Cannaregio was Tintoretto’s parish church. He worked on it for about thirty years and is buried in the chapel to the right of the apse, with his children Marietta and Domenico. There’s also an altarpiece by Cima da Conegliano. Visits Mon–Sat 10:30–17:00. It pairs well with the Ghetto: there’s a route on the Cannaregio page.

San Sebastiano

Nicknamed “Veronese’s Sistine Chapel”: the painter decorated it in phases from 1555 to 1570 and is buried here, to the left of the presbytery. There’s also Titian’s St Nicholas. It’s away from the tourist flow, at the far end of Dorsoduro, and you’ll often find it almost empty. Visits Mon–Sat 10:30–17:00.

Dress code and conduct

• Clothing: shoulders and knees covered, no shorts or very short skirts, no plunging necklines. Men take their hats off. At St Mark’s Basilica checks are systematic, and bare feet are also forbidden. In summer, carry a light scarf.
• Bags: at St Mark’s, backpacks and bags over 40 × 30 × 20 cm aren’t allowed, trolleys never, and there’s a metal detector. Other churches are more relaxed, but a suitcase is never welcome.
• Services: visits are suspended during Masses, weddings and funerals, and at the Frari during concerts too. Sunday morning is almost always the wrong time.
• Photos: usually allowed without flash or tripod, but some churches ban them: look for signs at the entrance.

How to plan them

• Half a day in San Polo: the Frari, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and, if you have children, the Leonardo museum. All within five minutes of the San Tomà stop.
• San Marco and Castello: the Basilica in the morning (never on a Sunday before 14:00), then San Zaccaria, five minutes’ walk away.
• Palladio by boat: take line 2 from San Zaccaria to San Giorgio, then carry on to the Giudecca for the Redentore. It’s also a chance to see St Mark’s from the water.
• Dorsoduro: the Salute, then along the Zattere to San Sebastiano. On the way you pass the Gesuati and, with a short detour, the Carmini.
• Cannaregio: Madonna dell’Orto and the Ghetto, about ten minutes’ walk apart.

If you have half a day for the lagoon, the basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello, with its Byzantine mosaics, is included in the St Mark’s Basilica ticket: see the Torcello and San Giorgio page. To work out whether a pass or combo is worth it, read the guide to passes and combined tickets. And to hear Vivaldi in a church in the evening, see the theatres and concerts page.