I Gesuiti

Lonely Planet review

The Jesuits took over this church, aka the Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, in 1657 and ordered its reconstruction in the Roman baroque style. The conversion was completed by 1730. The façade is impressive enough - in fact, as is often the case with such sights in Venice, it seems out of place, as though it's bursting for more space to allow a greater appreciation of its splendour.

No-one could accuse the Jesuits of sober tastes. Inside, the church is lavishly decorated with white-and-gold stucco, white-and-green marble floors, and marble flourishes filling in any empty slots. Tintoretto's Assunzione della Vergine (Assumption of the Virgin), in the northern transept, is a remarkable exception to his usual style - think of the darkness of his images in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and you wonder where all the lightness and joy came from in this painting. Maybe there was some role-swapping going on, as Titian's Martirio di San Lorenzo (Martyrdom of St Lawrence) is an uncharacteristically stormy and gloomy piece (it's the first painting on the left as you enter the church). Of course, the subjects of each painting make the respective results quite logical.