Dorsoduro ("hard back" — named for the stable ground it sits on, unusual in Venice) is the sestiere where VENETIANS live. While San Marco is for tourists and Cannaregio is residential-quiet, Dorsoduro is the UNIVERSITY district — Ca' Foscari is here, and with it: students, bars, cheap wine, life. It's also the ART district: Gallerie dell'Accademia (the most important Venetian painting collection). Peggy Guggenheim Collection (modern art in her palazzo on the Grand Canal). Punta della Dogana (François Pinault's contemporary art, in the old customs house). And the Zattere — the south-facing promenade on the Giudecca Canal, where the SUN hits in the afternoon and the gelato at Nico is famous enough to have its own legend.
Gallerie dell'Accademia: THE Venetian painting museum — Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, Canaletto. Giorgione's Tempest (1508) — the most enigmatic painting of the Renaissance (what IS the subject? Nobody has agreed in 500 years). €15. Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Palazzo Venier dei Leoni): Peggy lived here 1949-1979. Pollock, Ernst (she married him), Dalì, Magritte, Kandinsky, Picasso — in a palazzo on the Grand Canal with a Marino Marini sculpture on the terrace pointing at the water. €16. Punta della Dogana (François Pinault Foundation): Contemporary art in the triangular customs house at the tip of Dorsoduro — Hirst, Koons, Cattelan, rotating exhibitions. €15 or €20 combined with Palazzo Grassi.
Campo Santa Margherita: The LIVING piazza of Venice — students, families, morning market, evening aperitivo. No tourists because there's nothing "to see" — just Venetians being Venetian. Wine at Osteria alla Bifora (€3/glass). The Zattere: Walk the south promenade — sun (Venice's sunniest walk), views of Giudecca, and Gelateria Nico (Zattere ai Gesuati): The gianduiotto (hazelnut chocolate gelato drowned in whipped cream) is Dorsoduro's signature snack since 1935.
Vaporetto 1 or 2 to Accademia (north) or Zattere (south). Stay in Dorsoduro if you want to feel like a RESIDENT, not a tourist. Close to everything, quieter than San Marco, Campo Santa Margherita for nightlife. Venice → · Without crowds →