The gallery is an art museum that houses the largest collection of Venetian paintings of the 14th-18th centuries. The academy and museum are located on the south bank of the Grand Canal, which gives its name to one of the three bridges over this canal.

The Accademia Galleries were founded in 1750 by the Venetian Senate as a school of painting, sculpture and architecture. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Galleries were transformed from an art school into a museum and gradually began to increase their funds. Now visitors to the Museum of the Academy can see the works of such famous masters as Paolo Veneziano, Lorenzo Veneziano, Jacobello del Fiore, Giovanni Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio, Cima da Conegliano, Giorgione, Lorenzo Lotto, Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Rosalba Carera, Pietro Longhi, Giovanni Battista Piazzeta, Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto, Francesco Guardi and others.