Chiesa di Santa Maria Formosa

Rebuilt in 1492 by Mauro Codussi on the site of a 7th-century church, this house of worship bears a curious name (Curvaceous St Mary) that has spawned two local legends. One claims the name was caused by confusion over a confusingly abbreviated listing and address for a local courtesan in a Venice guidebook in the dark, pre–Lonely Planet days of the early 16th century. The other tells the story of San Magno, Bishop of Oderzo, who is said to have had a vision of the Virgin Mary on this spot. Unlike standard views of Our Lady, this Venetian vision was beautiful and formosa. The inside of the church was damaged when an Austrian bomb went off in 1916, but among the works of art to survive is an altarpiece by Palma il Vecchio depicting St Barbara, a bevy of saints, and the body of Christ in his mother’s arms. Just to the right of the main door (as you face it from the inside) is a 16th-century Byzantine icon of St Mary of Lepanto. Next to the first chapel on the same side of the church is an 8th-century Egyptian Coptic garment, said to be the veil of St Marina – a rare relic of the saint’s namesake church demolished in the nearby Campo Santa Marina.