Venetian Arsenal

Arsenale is an impressive reminder of Venice’s days a formidable naval power. The Arsenale is over 45 hectares (110 acres), and is a complex of former shipyards and armories – it was responsible for the bulk of the Venetian republic’s naval power during the middle part of the second millennium AD. It was described as “one of the earliest large-scale industrial enterprises in history”

The Arsenal produced the majority of Venice’s maritime trading vessels, which generated much of the city’s economic wealth and power, lasting until the fall of the Venetian Republic to Napoleon in 1797. It is said that they could build a naval vessel in one day.

The best time to see the Arsenale is when the Biennale is on (usually May-November) when the normally closed parts of the former shipyards are open.

Viewing of the Porta Magna entrance to Arsenale (built around 1460 and was one of the very first works of Venetian Renaissance architecture) can be done anytime.

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