Chiesa Di Santa Maria Dei Miracoli

Lonely Planet review

It looks like an elaborate box containing the most refined of chocolates. Pietro Lombardo was responsible for this Renaissance jewel, which is fully covered inside and out in marble, bas-reliefs and statues. The state and Church generally paid for the construction of churches, but this case was different. It was built to house an iconic image of the Virgin Mary, reputed to be miraculous.

Local devotion to the icon was so great that donations from the people for the church exceeded all expectations. They say the marble came from leftovers originally destined for use in the Basilica di San Marco, but regardless of where it came from or was meant to go, the result is richly intense but without the flowery motifs that would come later with baroque. The timber ceiling is also eye-catching. Pietro and Tullio Lombardo did the choir stalls.