There are numerous worship places in Venice: when you walk along alleys and squares (for instance during an engagement, wedding or honeymoon photo service) you will pass by one of them every few minutes. The majority is made up of Catholic churches scattered among the boroughs (“sestieri”) of Venice and open at daytime, usually from 10.00 a.m. to 5 p.m.
To enter and visit the most of the churches you will asked to pay an entrance ticket, which costs a few Euros, unless you buy the so called “Chorus Pass” which allows you to visit 16 churches (including the famous Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and Santa Maria Formosa churches) at a total price of 10 Euros.
It is definitely a good idea to devote some time to visit at least a few Venetian churches since you will find gorgeous pieces of art inside: frescoes and paintings by famous artists, ancient choirs and statues, which are often related to legends, traditions and historical figures.
A few more churches and worship places are located in the Lido area and on the islands of the lagoon: not only in the biggest ones (Murano, Burano and Torcello), but also on more remote small islands. In some cases, such as for the wonderful San Francesco del Deserto monastery, you have to rent a private boat to reach them.
The city also hosts worship places dedicated to other religions: in the Ghetto area (the first ghetto in Europe, the place where Jews were forced to live during the Venetian Republic) you find 5 synagogues which are also open to public for visit. One also finds an Evangelic Lutheran Church (the so-called “Scuola dell’Angelo Custode”), an Evangelical Waldesian and Methodist church, an Anglican church (Saint George), a few Armen-catholic churches and orthodox churches. This kind of churches are in most cases only open during services, therefore you have better to schedule your visit on Sundays or get proper information in advance.
Thanks to my job as a professional photographer for engagement, honeymoon, weddings and couple photoportraits I had the opportunity to experience Venice’s multicultural nature and visit many of its worship places: I strolled with a Jewish couple in traditional attire the Ghetto during a honeymoon photo shooting, portrayed a traditional wedding in the small Orthodox Church of San Giovanni Decollato (called “San Zan Degolà” by Venetian people), shot many couple photographs with the background of one or another Venetian church during several informal photo walks….
My favorite church one is perhaps the Santa Maria della Salute Church, which was offered to Saint Mary by the Republic of Venice in the 17th century after the city experienced an unusually devastating plague epidemy. The place offers a very nice background from the Academia bridge and works as a nice romantic spot for couple photographs with view of San Marco Square, the Canal Grande, the Giudecca and San Giorgio islands or the Church itself: that is why I shot some couples there.
For further examples of couple photo services see my website.
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