The Scalé Reale is the most impressive craft on display

©Jo-Ann Titmarsh/Lonely Planet

Padiglione delle Navi

Venice


The Padiglione delle Navi is a vast 2000-sq-metre warehouse containing a fabulous collection of model historic boats, including typical Venetian luggers, gondolas, racing boats, military vessels, a funerary barge and a royal motorboat. It's an annexe of the Museo Storico Navale.

The most eye-catching is the scalé reale, an early 19th-century ceremonial vessel used to ferry King Vittorio Emanuele to Piazza San Marco in 1866 when Venice joined the nascent Kingdom of Italy. It was last used in 1959, when it brought the body of the Venetian pope Pius X to rest at St Mark's.

Transportation

  • ferry: Arsenale

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Venice attractions

1. Porta Magna

0.03 MILES

Capped by the lion of St Mark, the Arsenale’s land gate is considered by many to be the earliest example of Renaissance architecture in Venice; it was…

2. Chiesa di San Martino

0.07 MILES

Designed by Sansovino, the neighbourhood church of St Martin has a Greek-cross-shaped interior lined with eight chapels and topped by a trompe l'œil…

3. Museo Storico Navale

0.12 MILES

Maritime madness spans 42 rooms at this museum of naval history, featuring scale models of Venetian-built vessels as well as Peggy Guggenheim's not-so…

4. Arsenale

0.13 MILES

Founded in 1104, the Arsenale soon became the greatest medieval shipyard in Europe, home to 300 shipping companies employing up to 16,000 people. Capable…

5. Sotoportego dei Preti

0.15 MILES

Under the arch of this covered passageway is hidden a reddish, heart-shaped stone about the size of a hand. Local lore has it that couples that touch it…

6. Chiesa di San Giovanni in Bragora

0.17 MILES

This serene 15th-century brick church harmonises Gothic and Renaissance styles with remarkable ease, setting the tone for a young Antonio Vivaldi, who was…

7. Riva degli Schiavoni

0.19 MILES

Stretching east from San Marco, this broad waterfront avenue is one of the world’s great promenades. Schiavoni (literally ‘Slavs’) refers to the people…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "italy/venice/sestiere-di-castello/attractions/padiglione-delle-navi/a/poi-sig/1333931/1320999",
      "destination": "Venice",
      "continent": "Europe",
      "country": "Italy",
      "city": "Venice",
      "position": "superzone"
    }