Chiesa della Madonna dell'Orto

Lonely Planet review

Architecture fans should find the exterior of this church intriguing. Elements of Romanesque remain (the inner arch over the main entrance, for instance) in what is largely a 14th-century Gothic structure in brick. That changes were made a century later is clear from the series of statues in niches above the two lower wings of the façade and from the triangular finish at the top.

Tintoretto was a parishioner and, although he used a good deal of his creative genius filling the Scuola Grande di San Rocco with his paintings, he found time to execute works for this church, too. Among them are the Giudizio Finale (Last Judgment), the Adorazione del Vitello d'Oro (Adoration of the Golden Calf) and the Apparizione della Croce a San Pietro (Vision of the Cross to St Peter). Tintoretto is buried with other family members in the church.

In the Cappella di San Mauro is the white-stone statue of the Madonna col Bambino after which the church is named. The statue was supposedly found in a nearby garden in 1377 and brought here amid considerable excitement.