The Fondazione Giorgio Cini uses Benedictine monastery buildings on the island of San Giorgio – dating from 982 – for its activities, including artistic and musical research (it holds a collection of Vivaldi manuscripts, plus illuminated manuscripts), and a naval college.
The foundation is now open to the public at weekends for guided tours (in Italian, English, French and German), which takes in the splendid garden, including the Labirinto Borges, a fantastic maze by the late British designer Randoll Coate, behind the monastery. Beyond the monastery complex, Le Stanze del Vetro is an exhibition space that hosts excellent shows of Venetian glass.