Chiesa Di Santa Maria Del Giglio

Lonely Planet review

Also known as Santa Maria Zobenigo, this church's baroque façade is a fanciful atlas, centuries old, featuring maps of European cities as they were in 1678. The façade also hides the fact that a church has stood here since the 10th century.

The church is a small affair, but it's jammed with an assortment of paintings. Of particular interest is Peter Paul Rubens' Madonna col Bambino e San Giovanni (Madonna and Child with St John), the only work of his in Venice. Behind the altar lurk Tintoretto's typically moody depictions of the four Evangelists.

Outside, the oddly out-of-place brick structure in the middle of the campo was the base of the church's bell tower, knocked down in 1775 because it was in danger of falling over of its own accord.