Andrea Palladio inherited the mantle of Venice’s premier architect from Jacopo Sansovino, and went on to design two magnificent churches, Il Redentore and, pictured here, San Giorgio Maggiore. From the facade it’s easy to see the Roman influences. Palladio’s favorite ancient structure was the Pantheon in Rome, and the architect borrowed freely from it, yet making his own original designs from the borrowed parts. As the sun begins to go down in the west, one of the great sights in Venice is the white stone facade of San Giorgio picking up the tones of the waning light.