Venice isn't to be flown over - it's to be soaked in. But if you only have one day, the city can still open up to you completely, as long as you know in what order to take it in. Here's a route through the most important, without the rush that kills the magic.

The morning begins at St. Mark's Square - the one Napoleon called "the finest drawing room in Europe." Climb the Campanile for a bird's-eye view, step into the basilica with its eight thousand square meters of golden mosaics, and sit down at one of the historic cafés, Florian or Quadri. By noon, tour the Doge's Palace - the seat of Venetian power, with the Giants' Staircase and halls adorned with works by Titian and Tintoretto, connected to the old prison building by the famous Bridge of Sighs.

For lunch, get away from the crowds in the loft-like quarter of San Polo, where the osterias keep a genuine Venetian atmosphere. The afternoon is for art: the basilica Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari hides Titian's "Assumption," and the Scuola Grande di San Rocco is almost entirely covered with works by Tintoretto - "the total museum of the Renaissance."

Instead of an expensive gondola, hop on the vaporetto - the city's water bus - and pass along the Grand Canal, an open-air museum of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque palaces, past the Rialto bridge all the way to the island of Lido. End the day on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, across from St. Mark's, with a view that makes the whole effort worth it.

Venice is expensive, crowded and sinking slowly - but that's exactly why every corner of it looks like you're seeing it for the last time. And maybe that's exactly how it should be seen.