Attendng Mass in Venice

The Frari is another major church. But there is at least one church in every "campo" (piazza).

We went to mass at SM this past May. Yes, you can look around the church for maybe 10-15 minutes after the service is over before they will start to herd you out. There will be a lot of other tourists doing the same thing. Do dress respectfully, although they don't enforce the dress code quite as strictly as at St. Peter's in Rome.

You'll have a few minutes... depends on how long the Mass lasts and when the next one is. I'd sugggest you consider attending the sung Sunday Mass at 10:30 at San Marco. It's an incredibly beautiful liturgy, very powerful, and an amazing way to see the basilica. Sunday Vespers is also beautiful; when I was there last October, the sun was streaming in from the front of the church, lighting the statues on the altar screen (which had been difficult to appreciate earlier, since they were competing with the gold mosaic). I think Vespers is at 5:30. If you arrive early, you can get in as soon as they let folks in, which gives you some to appreciate the church, while awaiting Mass or Vespers. Unless they've changed things in the last year, you enter liturgies from a door on the left side of the church, rather than the front "tourist" entrance.

Oh good I wanted to know this too! I have no idea what the inside looks like... is the Mass held in the "main" part of the church? Kim

We attended mass at San Marco - so moving, a real highlight. The staff wasn't intrusive about moving us out at the end of the mass, but we didn't want to do a detailed look see. It was in Italian, but as a lifelong Catholic, I could follow it because it's in the same order as our American mass. The mass we attended was in the main area. The entrance for it was on the left side of the church as you are facing it.