Gallerie dell’Accademia

Gallerie dell’Accademia is a treasure trove of Venetian and Western art. For centuries the creations of Venetian painters have set the standards of their craft, which was forever transformed by their distinct style, bright colorization and intense sensuality.

From the 13th to the 18th the Venetian School of Art would be identified as the epitome of Renaissance spirit in art. The best way to get a glimpse of some of the canvases that transformed the history of Western art is a visit to the museum gallery of Gallerie dell’Accademia.

On the south side of the Grand Canal, at the foot of Academia Bridge lies the former Santa Maria della Carità convent complex, now integral part of the Academia Galleries.

The building of the Academia, constructed in the mid 14th century to house the oldest of the six Scuole Grandi, the charitable and religious confraternities of Venice became the house of the first Academy of Fine Arts of the city by a decree of Napoleon himself in 1807.

Today it hosts the most robust collection of Venetian paintings from the 14th to the 18th century by artists whose names ring a bell even if your best relationship with painting are your sketches from kindergarten.

Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Giorgione, Carpaccio, Canaletto, Tiepolo are only some of the colossal names of artists whose works you can marvel here.

And if still you remain unimpressed (really?) maybe Leonardo Da Vinci and his most famous of all of his works, the Drawing of the Vitruvian Man will ring a bell. If you would have to choose just one museum in Venice, this would be it. More