Venice is like nowhere else on Earth. It is a city poised delicately between grandeur and decay, beauty and fragility. Its warren-esque calli (the word for streets in the Venetian dialect) and grand palazzi rise from the emerald waters as reminders of ephemerality, many of them crumbling in real time as tourists watch in equal parts awe and horror.
These Venetian backdrops have proven a timeless muse for the arts, whether Turner’s dreamy paintings, which evoke the magic of seeing Venice for the first time, or movies like Summertime, Death in Venice, and The Talented Mr Ripley, which use Venice’s beauty and decay to better explore themes of love, mortality, existentialism and identity.
These interpretations act not just as a tribute to Venice’s aesthetic but to its status as a city caught in its past—a living museum in constant erosion. These movies act as time capsules, filled with a Venice that may one day sink into the very canals from which it rose and as a testament to its incredible singularity.
From the eerie Don’t Look Now and the dark Italian horror Nosferatu a Venezia, both filled with shots of Venice’s labyrinthine streets at night, to the colorful daytime romances of Summertime and Everyone Says I Love You, these movies offer an escape to Venice via cinema, but they also act as a guide of grand hotels, beautiful palazzi, and gorgeous beaches to visit the next time you find yourself in La Serenissima.
It all starts with the 3.85-kilometer Ponte della Libertà, a train route leading into Venice built in 1933, Venice Santa Lucia and Piazza San Marco – the iconic square in Venice that transforms into a reflective lagoon, creating stunning and surreal mirror-like visuals during flooding.
Campo San Barnaba and Bridge – Featured in Summertime and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The Murano glass shop from the Summertime Movie does not exist anymore. Currently, the same building hosts a real estate agency, Christie’s.
Ca’ da Mosto – The oldest palace on the Grand Canal, located between Ponte Rialto and Ca’ d’Or. Now the Hotel Venice Venice at Sestiere Cannaregio.
Riva degli Schiavoni – Waterfront promenade featured in Nosferatu a Venezia.
Campiello Barbaro, Scuola Grande di San Rocco, Campo Santo Stefano – Other Venetian locations mentioned in Everyone Says I Love You.
Chiesa di San Nicolò dei Mendicoli – Church featured in Don’t Look Now, located in the quiet San Nicolò area.
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute – Featured in Don’t Look Now.
Museo di Palazzo Grimani – Mentioned in Don’t Look Now.
Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo – Candlelit church shown in Don’t Look Now.
Church of San Barnaba – Located in the Dorsoduro district and used as the Venetian Library in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It is here Katharine Hepburn fell into the canal. You can see the bridge leading to Campo San Barnaba in a picture.
Lido – Setting for Death in Venice. Grand Hôtel des Bains – Derelict hotel near Lido beach. Lungomare Marconi 16, 30126 Lido
Venice In Film: A Cinematographic Tour of La Serenissima
Summertime, 1955 | Arrival on The Vaperetto
Summertime captures Venice in a stunningly colorful (thanks, Technicolor), exceedingly realistic, albeit occasionally modest, light, but it also offers moments that reflect on the intersection of local life and tourism, insights that are perhaps even more relevant today.
But in a movie with so many locations to scout, our favorites come via the opening scenes, where leading dame Katharine Hepburn arrives in Venice, first via train over the Ponte della Libertà, and then through the city aboard the Vaparetto river bus. It’s a good reminder to take local transport — as, especially here in Venice, the scenery is stunning, but it also highlights some common tourist cliches that are fun to watch.
Hepburn plays an American tourist, at first characteristically bedazzled by Venice, but soon finding herself navigating a bittersweet romance, with locations like Piazza San Marco and Campo San Barnaba (the Toy shop here today is the Murano Glass store in the movie) acting as picturesque Venetian backdrops.
The Talented Mr Ripley, 1999 | Ca’ da Mosto
It would be simple to embark on a full tour of Italy using only The Talented Mr. Ripley filming locations (Ischia, Procida, Positano), and while there are plenty of spots in Venice to seek out (Cafe Florian is an obvious choice), a favorite, and slightly under the radar option is the Ca’ da Mosto. For some background, Tom Ripley (played by Matt Damon), the movie’s charismatic yet ultimately tragic lead, takes an apartment in Venice.
But the apartment seen in the film is actually a bit of a mishmash of two properties: the Ca’ Sagredo Hotel — now a 5* star hotel, and the magnificent Ca’da Mosto. While only subtly featured, Ca’ da Mosto is the oldest palace on the Grand Canal, found between Ponte Rialto and Ca’ d’Or.
The first few floors were built in the 13th century, but the classic Venetian-style Byzantynium facade was added in the 1600s. It was a handful of hotels before being abandoned to disrepair, an aesthetic — opulent, mysterious, and brimming with history — that lends itself well to the film’s story.
But as of the 2020s, Ca’ da Mosto is the Hotel Venice Venice and has undergone a phenomenal transformation that artfully blends its myriad historical layers with chic modernity (and brilliant views from the roof terrace).
Nosferatu a Venezia (Vampire in Venice), 1988 | Riva degli Schiavoni
Venice’s dual nature—its beauty and decay—takes on a haunting resonance in Nosferatu a Venezia (Vampire in Venice), a 1988 sequel to Herzog’s 1979 Nosferatu remake. Nosferatu a Venezia mixes shadowy gothic horror with the uniquely eerie backdrop of Venice at night—a Venice steeped in atmosphere, grandeur, and mystery.
The plot follows a scholar who travels to Venice and meets Nosferatu — played by a typically intense Klaus Kinski. The film’s infamous production problems (and unfinished state on release) lent it a short runtime that, despite issues, is oddly beautiful at times.
Scenes lit by candlelight and some barely lit at all lend Venice a distinctly frightful ambiance, while those depicting the Carnival are colorful and otherworldly, spilling out from grand palazzos to dark cobbled streets.
But the street shots are at their best here when draped in thick, cold fog, transforming Venice into a phantasmal stage for the vampire to roam. Nosferatu a Venezia does this best in its end scenes when Klaus Kinski’s Nosferatu stalks along the grand Riva degli Schiavoni, the soft arch of the Ponte della Paglia and a line of gondolas creating a hauntingly ethereal backdrop.
Everyone Says I Love You, 1996 | Pritti Palace & The Grand Canal
Woody Allen’s romantic portrayals of the world’s great cities are central to much of his storytelling, with titles like Midnight in Paris, A Rainy Day in New York, and To Rome With Love evoking a certain wanderlust before you even press play.
But his typically rosey-lensed portrayal of Venice comes in Everyone Says I Love You, where Allen, partnered with Julia Roberts, looks for love in Venice (although the bulk of the movie takes place in New York).
As you might imagine from an Allen flick, Venice is used to great effect, not merely as a backdrop but as a moving, working city, where the protagonists jog over iconic arched bridges and partake in typically jumbled comedic conversations (and song) as their feet dangle towards those evocative Venetian canals. The best spot to experience it from Allen’s perspective is either from a Grand Canal view room in Pritti Palace or on the steps of the Grand Canal.
As with others on this list, the film offers up a bit of a tour, featuring Campiello Barbaro, Scuola Grande di San Rocco, and Campo Santo Stefano, amongst others.
Don’t Look Now, 1973 | Chiesa di San Nicolò dei Mendicoli
A spate of classic Venetian sights is visible in Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, including foggy glimpses of the always regal Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute and Museo di Palazzo Grimani. The haunting story centers around a tragic loss unfolding around a collection of Venetian churches (a candlelit Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo looks fantastic).
Still, the most memorable is Chiesa di San Nicolò dei Mendicoli, the church that brings the couple to Venice from the English countryside, as the lead character, John, is contracted to work on its restoration.
Intriguingly, the church was undergoing genuine restoration at the time of filming, so much of what we see is completely authentic, down to the scaffold and the close-up shots of the church’s exterior sculptures, which still exist today.
Don’t Look Now’s intentionally fractured editing, along with excellent use of color, lends a chaotic tension to the film, matching the characters’ intense experiences as they navigate an off-season Venice, gripped in fear by a series of murders.
Today, you’ll find the beautifully restored Chiesa di San Nicolò dei Mendicoli in lovely San Nicolò, far off the regular tourist circuit. The quiet piazza is captured between three serene canals, while the church’s interiors are exquisite, filled with art, medieval arcades finished with gilded wood carvings, and a 14th-century nave.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989 | Church of San Barnaba
While only a short section of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was shot in Venice, the scenes here are striking, high-budget affairs that mix in a bit of Hollywood trickery to make it all work. The place to seek out is the Church of San Barnaba on Campo San Barnaba, in the relatively quiet Dorsoduro district.
It’s here in the movie where we see Indiana Jones step off a Vaperetto to visit the Venetian Library — a made-up library housed inside the church — in an effort to find his father. Later, he emerges from a manhole (which doesn’t exist) to a square filled with surprised al fresco diners.
The Church of San Barnaba, while in no way unique in Venice, has a pretty enough neo-classical facade, but today, it’s decommissioned, acting instead as a Leonardo da Vinci Museum.
Death in Venice, 1971 | Lido
The beauty of Venice is none more apparent than when faced with the city’s decay. In the arthouse classic Death in Venice, this decay, along with themes of temptation, faded grandeur, beauty, and desire, are symbolized stunningly.
In particular, the Lido embodies a liminal space where these concepts converge amongst an admittedly challenging subject matter. Lido’s formerly luxurious Grand Hôtel des Bains is conveniently placed, and while the vast building was set to be restored in 2010, it sits, as of 2025, peering over a fence to the beach, waiting for a return to former glory.
But in the movie, the hotel is a backdrop for the lead, composer Gustav von Aschenbach’s pathos-riddled journey, its fading grandeur echoing themes of mortality and perfection. Director Luchino Visconti’s visuals are timeless but melancholic and frequently unsettling, particularly in its portrayal of the Cholera epidemic sweeping the city.
But those beaches, glittering and hazy under the sun, are ever beautiful, contrasting with Aschenbach’s turmoil, offering a juxtaposition of nature’s eternal beauty against humanity’s looming mortality. And for those that make it to Lido, the Hôtel des Bains, sitting derelict, staring over the beach, offers an eerily similar visage to the film’s lead in Death in Venice’s end moments.
Editor’s Note: The Best Silent Hotel for Watching Movies at Night
The NH Collection Venezia Grand Hotel Palazzo dei Dogi is a hidden gem located in the quiet Cannaregio neighborhood of Venice. Set in a serene, green area away from the tourist crowds, this elegant hotel offers a private, villa-like atmosphere with rooms featuring direct canal access and views toward the peaceful cemetery island of San Michele.
We loved the cozy garden, perfect for relaxing, though mornings bring flocks of doves that the attentive waitstaff quickly shoo away during breakfast. It’s an ideal spot for those seeking tranquility and Venetian charm.
