Sights in Venice
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Chiesa di San Salvador
A dream made real, San Salvador was conceived in the 7th century when Jesus appeared to a sleeping Bishop Magnus and pointed out the exact spot on a lagoon map where he should build a church. There was, however, a minor technical glitch: the city of Venice didn’t exist yet, and the area was mostly mud banks. But Bishop Magnus had faith that once the church was built the parishioners would follow – and today this church perched on a bustling campo (square) proves his point. Built on a plan of three Greek crosses laid end to end, San Salvador has been embellished many times over the centuries, with the present facade erected in 1663. Among the noteworthy works inside…
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Cimitero
Until Napoleon established a city cemetery on Isola di San Michele, Venetians had been buried in parish plots across town – not the most salubrious solution, as Napoleon’s inspectors realised. Today, goths, incorrigible romantics and music-lovers pause here to pay respects to Ezra Pound, Joseph Brodsky, Sergei Diaghilev and Igor Stravinsky. Architecture buffs stop by to see the Renaissance Chiesa di San Michele in Isola, begun by Codussi in 1469, and the ongoing cemetery extension scheduled for completion in 2013 by David Chipperfield Architects, including the recently completed Courtyard of the Four Evangelists – a rather gloomy bunker, with a concrete colonnade and…
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Chiesa di San Bartolomeo
German traders didn’t have to stray far from the trading floor of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi to pray for an upswing in the market for their goods. Through several incarnations and shifting fortunes, this church attended to the spiritual needs of Venice’s active German trading community. Originally a three-aisled church built in 1170, San Bartolomeo’s style was cramped by the buildings that cropped up around it after the Rialto bridge was completed. The current look is the result of a 1723 reworking by Giovanni Scalfarotto, whose sombre approach to exterior decoration was befitting a church dedicated to a martyr who was skinned alive – note the grimacing figure above the…
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Casa di Goldoni
Comedians, musicians and writers looking for inspiration seek out the birthplace of Carlo Goldoni (1707–93), Venice’s greatest playwright and maestro of delicious social satire and opera buffa (comic opera). As the 1st-floor display explains (in Italian), Goldoni was a master of second and third acts: he was a doctor’s apprentice before switching to law, a backup career that proved handy when some comedies didn’t sell. But Goldoni had the last laugh, with salon sitcoms that made socialites laugh at themselves. The main draws in the museum are the 18th-century marionettes and puppet theatre, but don’t miss the chamber-music concerts held here (see the website).…
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Chiesa di San Polo
Travellers speed past this modest 9th-century Byzantine brick church between I Frari and the Rialto, with no idea of the major dramas unfolding behind these modest portals. Under the medieval wooden carena di nave ceiling, Tintoretto’s Last Supper shows apostles alarmed and outraged by Jesus’ announcement that one of them will betray him. Giandominico Tiepolo’s disturbing Stations of the Cross sacristy cycle shows Jesus tormented by jeering onlookers, only to leap triumphantly from his tomb in a ceiling panel.
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Punta della Dogana
Fortuna, the weathervane atop Punta della Dogana, swung Venice's way in 2005, when bureaucratic hassles in Paris convinced billionaire art collector François Pinault to showcase his art works at Palazzo Grassi and create an installation art gallery in long-abandoned customs warehouses at Punta della Dogana. Architect Tadao Ando opened interiors to the elements outside, flooding exposed-brick galleries with light through windows in water gates and polished-concrete channels – astute homages to Carlo Scarpa's designs for Negozio Olivetti.
Rotating installations here invade personal space and address personal fixations: Chen Zhen's landscape made from pure crystal versions…
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Ponte di Calatrava
Modern Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s 2008 bridge over the Grand Canal between Santa Croce and Cannaregio has been called many things: a fish tail, a glass-and-steel fantasy, unnecessary, overdue, pleasingly streamlined and displeasingly wheelchair inaccessible. Its detractors point out that its €15 million costs are triple the original 2001 estimate, and engineers are still working to correct a 4cm tolerance to ensure its stability. A wheelchair lift is currently being installed, but at an estimated 16-minute round-trip plus wait times, the vaporetto may remain the faster way for disabled travellers to cross the canal.
Even among its supporters, there is…
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Chiesa dell’Arcangelo Raffaele
Chiesa di San Basilio; The neighbours called, and they want their grime back: when a recent cleaning of Francesco Contino’s 17th-century facade removed centuries of accumulated dirt on carved stone angels above the portals, it caused a local uproar. Had Venice lost its respect for the patina of age? But no similar argument was raised about the restoration of the baptistery, where Francesco Fontebasso’s freshly restored baroque frescoes glow like dawn in shades of pink, gold and pale green. The cycle of paintings above the main altar has been attributed to the Guardi brothers, but no one is sure which one – the vedutista (landscape artist) Francesco or his…
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Museo delle Icone
Glowing colours and all-seeing eyes fill this treasure box of some 80 Greek icons made in 14th- to 17th-century Italy. Keep your own eye out for the expressive San Giovanni Climaco, which shows the saintly author of a Greek spiritual guide distracted from his work by visions of souls diving into hell. The museum goes by a confusing variety of names: it’s also known as the ‘Museo dei Dipinti Sacri Bizantini’ (Museum of Holy Byzantine Paintings), and technically it’s housed in the Istituto Ellenico (Hellenic Institute).
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Ca’ Dario
Grand Canal palaces rank among the world’s most prime real estate, except for the perfectly gorgeous 1487 Ca’ Dario. Its striking multi-coloured marble facade casts a mesmerising reflection in the Grand Canal, captured by no less than Claude Monet – but there’s a catch. Starting with the daughter of its original owner, Giovanni Dario, an unusual number of its owners have lost fortunes, fallen ill and/or met tragic ends, which local gossips claim was enough to dissuade Woody Allen from buying the place in the 1990s. The former manager of The Who, Kit Lambert, once owned it, and one week after renting the place for a holiday in 2002, The Who’s bass player, John Entwhistle,…
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I Gesuiti
Giddily over the top even by rococo standards, this gaudy, glitzy 18th-century Jesuit church is difficult to take in all at once, with a staggering spaceship of a pulpit and undulating marble walls. The church is lavishly decorated with white-and-gold stucco, white-and-green marble floors, and marble flourishes filling in any blank space. Gravity is provided by Titian’s uncharacteristically dark, gloomy Martyrdom of St Lawrence, on the left as you enter the church. Also playing against type here is Tintoretto’s Assumption of the Virgin, in the northern transept. This image is the antithesis of his dark images in the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, showing the Virgin on…
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Chiesa della Madonna dell’Orto
This elegantly spare 1365 brick Gothic cathedral dedicated to the patron saint of travellers remains one of Venice's best-kept secrets. This was the parish church of Venetian Renaissance master Tintoretto, who is buried here in the corner chapel and saved two of his finest works for the apse: Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, with throngs of starstruck angels and mortals vying for a glimpse of Mary, and his 1546 Last Judgment, where lost souls attempt to hold back a teal tidal wave while an angel rescues one last person from the ultimate acque alte.
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The Zattere
The Fondamenta delle Zattere runs the length of the south side of Dorsoduro along the Canale della Giudecca and unsurprisingly is a popular spot for a passeggiata (evening or Sunday stroll). There are many fascinating buildings along the length of the Zattare. The Ospedale degli Incurabili was put up in the 16th century, this was where incurable syphilus sufferers, who had a tendancy to end up quite potty, used to be parked.
Later it was used as an orphanage and it is now the seat of the Minors' Court.
One of the most attractive of Venice's waterways, the Rio San Trovaso is also home to the most important of the few remaining squeri (gondola workshops)in the city - the…
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Ponte dell’Accademia
The wooden Ponte dell’Accademia was built in 1933 as a temporary replacement for an 1854 iron bridge but, with its high arch curved like a cat’s back, it remains a beloved landmark. Engineer Eugenio Miozzi moved on to bigger Fascist monuments such as the Lido Casino, but none has lasted like this elegant little footbridge – and recent structural improvements have preserved it for decades to come.
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Palazzo Labia
Now the Venice office of the RAI, Italy's national radio and TV organisation, this was once a grand 17th-century family residence. It boasts several frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo, but you must phone to arrange a visit (when open).
The Labia family had arrived from Spain and planned to make a hit among the local aristocracy. The frescoes are said to represent Tiepolo's greatest secular commission.
The grand ballroom, a two-storey-high space characterised by a gamut of architectural trompe l'oeil trickery, is the framework for two giant frescoes depicting the meeting of Anthony and Cleopatra and Cleopatra's banquet. In the latter fresco, Tiepolo included a portrait of…
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Fondaco dei Tedeschi
You would never guess from its blank facade along the Grand Canal, but this fondaco (trading house) was the Wall Street of Venice’s German community during its 13th- to 17th-century heyday. Creeping damp destroyed the original exterior frescoes by Giorgione and Titian; a few remaining fragments are preserved at Ca’ d’Oro. Traders here drove hard bargains: when Giorgione and Titian showed up to collect their payment of 150 ducats they were told their frescoes were worth only 130 ducats. An independent appraisal confirmed the original figure but the artists were advised to settle. Controversy continues to surround the fondaco, which is currently closed to the public. From…
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Chiesa di San Pantalon
The stark, unfinished brick façade dates from the 17th century, although a church was here as early as the 11th century. Inside, the greatest impact comes from the 40 canvases representing the Martirio e Gloria di San Pantaleone (Martyrdom and Glory of St Pantaleone), painted for the ceiling by Giovanni Antonio Fumiani. The artist died in a fall from scaffolding while at work and is buried in the church.
Stroll off right down a dogleg blind alley to Campiello Ca' Angara. On the wall (numbers 3717 and 3718) is a sculpted medallion of what could be a Byzantine ruler, dating perhaps to the 8th century. That is one of the remarkable things about Venice - what would anywhere…
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Chiesa dei Scalzi
An unexpected outburst of baroque extravagance next to the dour Ferrovia, this Longhena-designed church has a facade by Giuseppe Sardi rippling with columns and statues in niches. This is an unusual departure for Venice, where baroque ebullience was usually reserved for interiors of Renaissance-leaning buildings – and in fact it was a deliberate echo of a style often employed in Rome, intended to help make the Carmelites posted here from Rome feel more at home. Sadly, the vault frescoes by Tiepolo in two of the side chapels are damaged. Before the main altar on your left, you might spot the tomb of Venice’s last doge, Ludovico Manin, who presided over the dissolution of…
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Oratorio dei Crociferi
Humble though it may seem from the outside – especially after the opulence of I Gesuiti across the street – this simple 12th-century oratory is positively plastered on the inside with 16th-century masterpieces by Palma Il Giovane. The oratory was originally part of a hospice set up by brothers of the Crociferi order to give shelter to pilgrims and provide assistance to the sick, and found a powerful benefactor in the 13th century: Doge Renier Zen. Doge Pasquale Cicogna ordered the place frescoed in honour of the Crociferi, Doge Zen, Venice, and (of course) himself. With works like his 1585 Doge Renier Zen and the Endowment of the Crociferi, Palma Il Giovane set the…
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Libreria Nazionale Marciana
Across Piazzetta San Marco from the Palazzo Ducale lies the gracious form of what Palladio described as the most sumptuous palace ever built. Designed by Jacopo Sansovino in the 16th century, the building occupies the entire west side of the piazzetta and houses the Libreria Nazionale Marciana (National Library of St Mark, aka Biblioteca di San Marco or Libreria Sansoviniana, after its architect) and the Museo Archeologico.
The library extends around the corner on the waterfront into what was once La Zecca, the Republic's mint. It is a masterpiece of the Renaissance, featuring an arcade of Doric columns on the ground level, Ionic ones above and a series of 25 statues of…
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Chiesa di San Stae
An aficionado of Venetian light, English painter William Turner loved painting the sun-washed Palladian exterior of this church, with its facade dotted by statues of angels and cardinal virtues. You can see what a painter obsessed with light effects might admire in this church: for all its gleaming white classical grandeur, it retains a languid seaside air, with early-morning lagoon mists that collect mystically around its base. The church was founded in 966 but finished in 1709, and though the interiors are surprisingly spare for a baroque edifice, there are a couple notable works: Giambattista Tiepolo’s The Martyrdom of St Bartholomew and Sebastiano Ricci’s The…
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Chiesa di Santo Stefano
The free-standing bell tower behind it leans disconcertingly, but this soaring brick Gothic church has stood since 1325, even though a subterranean canal runs right under the inlaid wood choir stalls. Credit for ship-shape splendour goes to architect Bartolomeo Bon for the marble entry portal and to Venetian shipbuilders, who constructed the vast wood-ribbed carena di nave (ship’s keel) ceiling that looks like an upturned Noah’s Ark.
Enter the cloisters museum to see Canova’s 1808 funerary stelae featuring gorgeous women dabbing their eyes with their cloaks, Tullio Lombardo’s wide-eyed 1505 saint, and three brooding Tintoretto canvases: Last Supper, with a ghostly…
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Ponte di Rialto
An amazing feat of engineering in its day, Antonio da Ponte’s 1592 marble bridge was for centuries the only land link across the Grand Canal. The construction cost 250,000 gold ducats, a staggering sum that puts cost overruns for the new Calatrava bridge into perspective. Now that the Rialto is clogged with kiosks and foot-traffic jams, locals go out of their way to avoid it, or zip up the less scenic northern side of the bridge. The southern side faces San Marco, and when crowds of shutterbugs and tour groups clear out around sunset, it offers a romantic long view of gondolas pulling up to Grand Canal palazzi at striped moorings that look like floating barber poles.
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Galleria
San Marco was officially the doge’s (duke’s) chapel until 1807, and the doge’s far-reaching influence is highlighted by gilt bronze horses in the Galleria, upstairs in the Bascilica di San Marco. Through the Galleria you can access the Loggia dei Cavalli, where reproductions of the bronze horses gallop off the balcony over Piazza San Marco. Note that you’ll need to be dressed modestly (ie knees and shoulders covered) to enter the basilica, and large bags must be left around the corner off Piazzetta San Marco dei Leoni at Ateneo di San Basso, where you’ll find free one-hour baggage storage.
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Palazzo della Mostra del Cinema
A seaside Fascist monument, this rigid airport-terminal structure seems as ill-suited to the playboy Lido as a woolly bathing suit. And C+S Associates’ 2003 ‘Wave’ entrance just begs for a skateboard. But once the red carpets are rolled out and the stars arrive for the Venice International Film Festival, it all makes sense.
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