Santi Giovanni e Paolo

San Zanipolo offers one of the best introductions to Paolo Veronese's art, with his dramatic ceiling paintings in the Chapel of the Rosary among the church's highlights.

Take a moment to admire the ethereal light radiating from the Christ child in The Adoration of the Shepherds, and notice how it softly illuminates the faces of the surrounding figures.

But San Zanipolo was once home to another of Veronese's great masterpieces: the monumental Feast in the House of Levi.

Painted as a Last Supper scene, it soon became controversial when the Inquisition questioned the inclusion of figures such as dwarves and animals, forcing Veronese to change the painting's title.

The huge canvas now hangs in the Accademia Galleries, where standing before it feels almost like being pulled into the lively chaos of the banquet itself.

In fact, Veronese's own life was not without controversy.

According to legend, he was fleeing murder charges in Verona when he found sanctuary at San Sebastiano.

He went on to spend the next 30 years transforming the church with breathtaking works of art.

The painted ceiling is particularly spectacular, and with free admission, there's little reason not to step inside.

After admiring Pietro Lombardo's intricate work on Doge Pietro Mocenigo's tomb, discover his greatest Venetian creation: Santa Maria dei Miracoli, a beautiful small church often called a 'Renaissance jewelry box' for its exquisite polychrome marble.

According to legend, the marbles were creatively repurposed from leftover materials from the construction of St. Mark's Basilica.

Admission is free here too, as it is at all the beautifully curated churches on the Chorus Circuit.

Venice's other Gothic giant, the Frari Basilica, reflects the architectural rivalry between the city's Dominican and Franciscan orders.

Slightly smaller than San Zanipolo, it matches its sense of scale while offering a completely different collection of treasures: from Canova's striking pyramidal tomb to Titian's magnificent Assumption of the Virgin and a wooden choir found nowhere else in Venice.