Third Time in Venice - off the beaten path things to see in winter?

When you went out to Burano did you also see the island of Torcello? It is where Venice was founded and has an interesting church.
Take a day trip to Bassano de Grappa by train. It has an Alpine feel and would be perfect to visit at Christmas. We love to go there!

The Hebrew Museum of Venice offers tours of the synagogues of the former Jewish Ghetto. You are not museum people, so it shouldn't bother you that the permanent exhibit is closed for now, but the synagogue tours are still available. Group tours 12 euro per person.

Museum: https://www.museoebraico.it/en/

Tours: https://www.museoebraico.it/en/guided-tours/

Or how about visiting the workshop of a marionette maker? http://www.marionettesinvenice.com/about_us.htm

@Dave - thanks for posting those ideas! I just added the Jewish synagogues tour to our visit to Venice next month!!:)

On my most recent visit, I went to Ca' Rezzonica, not for the art collection but to wander through a palazzo that the wealthiest Venetians lived in years ago (and perhaps a very few still do). Maybe take a gondola lesson with rowvenice. Venice had a lot of tourists when I was there, but away from the main sights, it was mostly locals and not at all crowded. The Secret Itineraries Tour of the Doge's Palace is very interesting for history buffs (dress very warmly!).

PS Verona is much better as an overnight or even 2.

Scuola Dalmata di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni has some of the best Carpaccio paintings including St. George & the dragon. Take binoculars, because the huge paintings are high on the walls. On Calle dei Furlani in Castello.

San Giacomo dell’Orio --- the ceiling is wooden built with shipbuilder techniques, nice campo, northern San Polo. More churches in Venice: http://churchesofvenice.com/sanfrandellavig.htm

The view from the San Giorgio Maggiore's campanile (take vaporetto toward Giudecca & get off at the first stop, the island of San Giorgio Maggiore). Ride the elevator to the top of the bell tower for views of whole city and lagoon.

At low tide, find the WWII women’s memorial --- Riva de Partigiani in Castello SE of Giardini vaporetto stop

For Christmas concerts: look for posters all over the city about the evening concerts in churches, palazzi, & small museums. Listen to Vivaldi in his home church, Santa Maria della Pietà (or della Visitazione) on Riva degli Schiavone --- many of his works were first performed here.

See if the Church of the Maddalena in Cannaregio is displaying nativity scenes made by international and Venetian artists.

The Festival of Lights for Hanukkah is celebrated in the Ghetto. Campo di Ghetto Nuovo for the lighting of the Menorah.

Eat Frittele (or Frittole) di Zucca Barucca ("Holy Pumpkin"), pumpkin fritters prepared for Hanukkah.

Add Treviso to the list, 30 minutes by train from Venice, very charming town, especially at Christmas time.
In Venice, you can take a stroll on campo San Polo where every year an ice rink is installed. Kiosks nearby sell hot chocolate and Vin brulè, the Italian version of gluhwein.

We have been twice in early December and relished the lack of summer—or even autumn— crowds. The lights are beautiful so save some energy for evening strolls.

I see you are not “museum people” but rainy days may draw you to an indoor site. I know it happened to us! The Natural History Museum was completely renovated (it took 10 years!) and reopened around 2013, as I recall. It is spectacular. The recommended Ghetto tours (Rick Steves has a self-guiding one in his Venice book) are also excellent.

Otherwise, wander, eat, ride out to the islands. I agree that Torcello is worth a visit and maybe lunch at one of its very special restaurants. We also like Trattoria alla Maddalena on Mazzorbo, which is attached to Burano.

I would suggest getting a Chorus Pass. This provides entrance to churches throughout Venice. Look at a map and make a walking plan to cover as many as you can in the time you have. A map used to come included with the pass, don't know if it still does. The churches themselves are all great, and they are scattered all over the city. By walking, you'll see many areas that are outside the normal tourist zones.

https://www.veneziaunica.it/en/content/chorus-churches

Great ideas everyone! I know about the Chorus pass, but never even thought of it as a avenue to discover off the beaten path churches. Keep the ideas coming!!!!

The Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo is a small palazzo best known for its external multi-arch spiral staircase known as the Scala Contarini del Bovolo. Have you ever climbed it? You'll get an interesting viewpoint from the top.

Get the book “Secret. Venice “ by Jonglez.

Just go perpendicular to the main paths and that's where the wonder starts. You can get lost (except your on a small island), walk into deserted piazzas, find great little restaurants... That's what we do.

I'll be back in Venice again at Christmas this year, too. In case you're interested in birdwatching, I was there this past March and wanted to see flocks of Flamingos so we took the boat out to Treporti and walked towards Lio Piccolo. There were some marshy areas and we found hundreds of flamingos there. There are a couple of little towns out there, too. And basically no tourists! Let me know if you want further info.

hey hey marcus
take a day trip to treviso: home of tiramisu and prosecco area
stop at tourist kiosk in main square to see what is being offered.
toursbylocals.com
treviso and it's worldwide yummy tiramisu 2 people $144.
atlasobscura.com/ fontana delle tette
read up about this fountain and history behind it
airbnb.com/ experiences
treviso the city of tiramisu tour $59 per person
if you are nearby oct 7, 8, 9 there is tiramisu world cup for non professionals. be a judge of tasting all the homemade desserts
musement.com/ uk/ treviso judges test application fee just to apply. read the rules.
ilburchiello.it
boat ride up the brenta riviera and viewing the villas
we took the vaporetto to the lido, walk down to beach and back, stopped for dinner, watched nonna's and kids enjoying the park and playing, sat at bench talking with hands to others on bench, having fun then back on vaporetto to our apartment.
check out chioggia, small fishing village reminder of venice, take a boat or bus for a day trip
few years back, 4 of us friends took a private prosecco taxi tour which was fabulous. our driver/guide met us at train station in susegana and off we went through prosecco hills with lots of tasting of the local stuff, stopped for lunch at small trattoria. she was born and raised there with all her family around. was a gorgeous and fun day, we bought a few bottles back with us.
make a venetian mask at camacana.com
schezzini.it
alessandro does a cicchetti crawl with wine/appetizers/history tour around a part of venice. just email him and ask about it.
have fun, enjoy your holiday, let us know
aloha

We ran out of time or we were considering renting bikes on Lido. Not sure if Christmas weather makes sense for this activity...

Random Venetian things, the second ranked list of attractions.
The Querini Stampalia Foundation.
The Tre Oci photo gallery on Giudecca if serious photography grabs you.
The hospital library, a most beautiful room.
The Olivetti showroom in the Piazza, north side, a bit west of Quadri.
The old ice house in the garden of the Hotel Dei Doge, Cannaregio, Fond. de la Madonna dell’Orto 3499
Maybe take a picnic to Certosa, there is a bar there too.
Have a spritz at the Bar al Archivo, just over the bridge in front of the Frari. Lovely to sit outside if there is sun.
Check out the garden of Palazzo Soranzo Cappello, Santa Croce 770, Rio Marin. A lovely secluded garden, just walk straight through. The garden is mentioned in The Aspern Ppers, Henry James.
The George Cini foundation on San Georgio, take the guided tour. Gardens, libraries, great architecture.

Ditto on the Chorus Pass. And this year we took a tour through http://venicescapes.org/. Highly recommended! We're trying to figure out how soon we can return to Venice to do another one. Take a look at the website, and drool.

Torcello is a hidden gem! It was our favourite part of Venice when we visited in November. Had a wonderful lunch and walk. My sister and niece went there in early January and also loved it. It is so peaceful and the Basilica is magical.

https://www.isoladiburano.it/en/torcello.html

A friend who lives in northern Italy took us to see the Basilica de Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari with its artworks by Bellini, Titian and Donatello. Titian is buried there as well as several doges. It is located near Campo dei Frari in San Polo. By the way, there is a good gelato shop right around the corner, Gelateria Millevoglie da Tarciso.

Another vote for Torcello, especially if you can book a tour with guide, Silvia Zanella. She talks about the history of Torcello with passion and deep understanding. As a resident of Burano who can’t imagine living anywhere else (except maybe Torcello!), her love of these islands comes through with every story she tells. I had an amazing experience learning about the the Church of Santa Maria Assunta and its incredible history.

www.discoverburano.com
info@discoverburano.com

Palazzo Grimani is a wonderful little jewel box, particularly the Tribuna room.

Also agree with Torcello, with the caveat that they had a strict no photography rule (not just no flash, but no photography of any kind) inside Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta. The mosaics are amazing, but you have to buy the postcards! (This was several years ago, so hopefully that has changed).

I suppose Giudecca isn't really "off the beaten path" but we enjoyed walking around it on our third trip to Venice precisely because it was more residential and had great views back on the "main" islands. Can recommend Trattoria Altanella for excellent cuttlefish.

Finally, a little odd perhaps, but have you ever walked past Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice's hospital? (Hopefully you never have to go inside!) It is a beautiful facade and has one of my favorite lions in the city. Walking around to the back you see the fleet of ambulances -- boats, of course! I don't know why I found that detail fascinating, but it really drove home the complete uniqueness of Venice. Like I said, probably an odd recommendation!

Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello was still prohibiting photographs as of late September. It's quite strange; the church has mosaics rather than paintings. I was disappointed but had been to Ravenna earlier in the trip, so it wasn't a disaster. It must have been more frustrating for a lot of the other visitors.

The neighboring church of Santa Fosca was closed.

The area of Santa Maria Assunta/Santa Fosca is a pretty fair walk from the vaporetto stop--about 0.4 miles. There's a level path so the walk isn't difficult.

The Cini Foundation was on my target list, but I ended up missing it because a tour was required, and there were few offered. This webpage lists the areas that can be toured. I think you'll need to go through part of the ticket-purchase process for the planned date of your visit to see when a tour is being offered. For the next few months, I'm seeing just one or two tours of the foundation each day, and from January 9 to January 31 there are tours only on weekends.

I'm intrigued by the new Museo M9 in Mestre but haven't been there yet. It's a modern museum focusing on life in Italy in the 1900s (what we'd call the 20th century). It's about 3/4 mile from the Mestre train station. Google Maps indicates there's tram and bus service. The museum is closed on both Monday and Tuesday. Hours currently shown on the website are:

Wed, Thu, Fri, 10 am – 6 pm
Sat, Sun, 10 am – 7 pm

Wow! This is amazing. Thanks for the tips everyone!

You could get the train to Trieste and stay overnight, or even to Ravenna.
The mosaics there are stunning, I was just there in September.

In Venice you can consider campo San Polo area: during winter months there is an ice rink in the middle of the square and several kiosks where you can try Vin Brulè, the Italian version of gluhwein.
You have already mentioned Vicenza Padua and Verona as day trips.
Consider also Treviso, 30 minutes from Venice by train, very nice and charming town expecially during Christmas with many osterias and restaurants.
Very "off the beaten path" : the fishing village of Malamocco in the Lido Island: you need to reach Lido by vaporetto, then you take the bus (direction: "Alberoni" if I remember correctly)

This may not be your cup of tea but my wife and I (both health care professionals) dragged our kids through https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/scuola-grande-di-san-marco
Really impressive medical museum old instruments and texts.

Also we loved torcello
So many great day trips too. Verona is wonderful and Padua is even closer

Another vote for the medical museum. A grand room, the most ornate of ceilings, medical instruments, some gory illustrations, dental appliances.
“Now kids, brush your teeth well. You know what these tools are used for.”