City Secrets is a series of innovative guidebooks whose contributors, from art historians and professors to novelists and architects, choose their personal “city secrets” to share. Read a Q&A with founding editor Robert Kahn. The following is a pick from City Secrets: Florence & Venice by Thomas F. Madden, a historian.

Outside of Torcello, there are few places in Venice where one can still see the splendid work of medieval fresco artists. Most Venetian churches were long ago assaulted by the Renaissance or Baroque movement and now stand dressed up in their finery. To get a glimpse of the medieval Venetian past in an atmosphere of peace and solitude, head straight for the church of San Zan Degolà (Saint John the Baptist Beheaded). The church itself probably dates back to the tenth-century and was beautiful decorated with frescoes in the early thirteenth century. After that, however, it fell on a long history of hard times, and the parish itself was closed in 1810… It was only in 1994 that the doors were finally opened to the public. This serene structure still breathes the austerity and religious devotion of the medieval parish church. Best of all, no one goes there. You will likely have this jewel to yourself, and you’ll be free to think, pray, or admire the frescoes at your leisure. Closed on Sundays.

City Secrets is a series of innovative guidebooks whose contributors, from art historians and professors to novelists and architects, choose their personal “city secrets” to share. Read a Q&A with founding editor Robert Kahn. The following is a pick from City Secrets: Florence & Venice by Helen F. North, a classicist.

So few visitors wander on foot to the Arsenal (briefly glimpsed from the vaporetto on its way to the Fondamenta Nuove) that you can inspect undisturbed the lions that guard its gate. Two were brought as spoils of war from Piraeus in 1692, and one of these (the farthest to the left) carries a runic inscription dating to the late eleventh century, when the Varangian guards (ultimately of Viking origin) came to Athens from Byzantium. The inscription, however cryptic, communicates an instant appreciation of the network of travel for man and beast in medieval Europe, and the fortunes of war. Even more moving is a lion closer to the canal, whose archaic sharp-edged spine will be recognized by anyone who has seen its fellows on the Terrace of the Lions on Delos. Brought here in 1718 from Corfu, it, too, conveys its message of exile and melancholy.

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City Secrets is a series of innovative guidebooks whose contributors, from art historians and professors to novelists and architects, choose their personal “city secrets” to share. Read a Q&A with founding editor Robert Kahn. The following is a pick from City Secrets: Florence & Venice by Beatrice H. Guthrie, the former director of Save Venice.

Stop by the office of Save Venice and pick up a treasure hunt containing six walks, one for each sestiere, or section, of Venice. Prepared with the help of noted author and lecturer John Julius Norwich, the walks and map guide you on a search for each sestiere’s artistic and historic highlights. This is a great way to enjoy the prettiest walks in the city. Each section takes about ninety minutes to complete. My favorites are Cannaregio and Santa Croce—parts of town no one ever sees.