Piazza San Marco is the city’s main public square and contains its most famous buildings such as St Mark’s Basilica and the Doge's Palace. Napoleon called it "the world’s most beautiful drawing room". The most famous buildings in the piazza is: St Mark’s Basilica. The Basilica's interior is predominantly gold-colored, hence its nickname "Chiesa d’Oro" (Golden Church). The main dome of the religious building is called Ascension Dome and is covered in early thirteenth-century mosaics, which depict scenes from the New Testament. The mosaics found in the church's atrium are made of small glass tiles with gold leaf on them. These represent scenes from the Old Testament. St Mark's relics are contained in the high altar of the church, held up by four marble and alabaster columns.

The Rialto bridge was considered the eighth wonder of the world in the year 1594, just a few years after it was erected, between 1588 and 1591. It really cost a lot of money: more than 250,000 ducats. It was for many centuries the only bridge built across the Grand Canal or Canalazzo, as we call it here. It is nowadays one of the most iconic buildings in Venice, although now the shops located on it do not sell exclusively gold and jewels.