Chiesa Di San Zaccaria

Lonely Planet review

If the Basilica di San Marco was the doge's private chapel, this was his parish church (eight dogi are buried here). The Renaissance façade is the handiwork of Antonio Gambello and Codussi. Gambello started off in a Gothic vein but was already influenced by Renaissance thinking. The lower part of the façade in marble is his work. When Codussi took over he favoured white Istrian stone, and the clean curves at the top mark his take on the Renaissance.

Inside, the mix of styles could not be clearer. Against a backdrop of classic Gothic apses, the high cross vaulting of the main body of the church is a leap of faith into the Renaissance. The church's earliest version dates to the 9th century.

On the second altar to the left after you enter the church is Giovanni Bellini's La Vergine in Trono col Bambino, un Angelo Suonatore e Santi (The Virgin Enthroned with Jesus, an Angel Musician and Saints).

The Cappella di Sant'Anastasia, off to the right, holds works by Tintoretto and Tiepolo. After walking through it, you pass through another chapel to reach the Cappella di San Tarasion (also called Cappella d'Oro) in the apse. Its vaults are covered in frescoes and the walls are decorated with Gothic polyptychs. Twelfth-century mosaics also survive, and you can wander downstairs to the 10th-century Romanesque crypt, left over from an earlier church on the site.