Venice tour - North meets East: Venice as a Melting...

Harbor and market, production center of luxury goods and stop in the Grand Tour: for reasons of commerce, education or pleasure, Venice always attracted many foreigners, and always succeeded in living in peace and prosperity with them.

This exotic blend of cultures and people engendered unique artistic results. In a secluded courtyard, a few steps away from St Mark's, stands the Orthodox church of St. George of the Greeks: Italian in its architectural forms, it enshrines a rich iconic decoration by Cretan artists.

A little further is the Brotherhood of the Dalmatian people, whose brave soldiers were loyal to the Republic until the very end. The intense Renaissance atmosphere emanated by Carpaccio's paintings will transport you into another temporal dimension.

We then reach the Rialto Bridge, where the German community had its social and business core since the Middle Ages. The imposing mass of the German Fondaco, store house as well as trading centre, still dominates the area.