Venice:Cannaregio:Churches

Gesuiti Dominico Rossi, Giovanni Battista Fattoretto, Fra Giuseppe Pozzo 1715-30
The word 'kitsch' springs to mind. History In 1657 the Jesuits acquired Santa Maria Assunta, the church of the Crociferi (the order had been suppressed in 1656 for moral turpitude) which had stood here since the 12th Century and had been rebuilt in the 13th and 16th Centuries. The Manin family (who have tombs here) later put up the money for its reconstruction and work began in 1715. The gap between acquisition and rebuilding being caused by the Jesuits being expelled from Venice due to the Republic being in conflict with the Pope over the right to try clergymen convicted of crimes. The Jesuits were never popular in Venice, which might explain this church's remote position, and how the church makes so much effort to impress. The architect Domenico Rossi (the Manin family architect and Giuseppe Sardi's nephew) collaborated with a team of architects and builders to produce a church with an interior best described as unique. The Church The façade is as overpopulated as you'd expect from a Baroque church in Venice. It is said to be the work of Giovanni Battista Fattoretto. There are statues of the apostles who witnessed the Assumption of the Virgin on the first level, by various sculptors. The Virgin passing into Heaven, with angels with robes billowing in the wind, above the pediment are by Giuseppe Torretti. The Manin coat of arms is above the doorway. Ludovic Manin being, of course, the last doge of all, who handed Venice over to Napoleon. The interior You will need to take a few deep breaths before entering. As you enter you wonder about the minds that conceived of the decoration in here as suitable for a church. Everywhere the walls seem to be covered in what looks like Victorian table-cloths, or the wallpaper in traditional Indian restaurants. But it's all carved in marble with inlay to look like fabric, swags and all. (This carved cloth is said by some to represent the shroud in which Mary was wrapped before her assumption.) Almost every surface is decorated. On the ceiling gold and white stucco work by Abbondio Stazio surrounds frescoes (two each) by Francesco Fontabasso and Louis Dorigny. Then there's the altar, inspired by Bernini, by Fra Giuseppe Pozzo, with its baldacchino with barley-twist columns and concealed lighting. There's also the Da Lezze family funerary monument by Sansovino. Art highlights Tintoretto's movement-filled Assumption of the Virgin is on the altar dedicated by the Zen family, in the left transept. Also Titian’s late, great and spooky The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (below right) which had been in the previous church on the site. And a sacristy full of Palma il Giovane Campanile Original 13th Century, topped by an 18th Century belfry Quotes W. D. Howells in Venetian Life: “The workmanship is marvellously skilful, and the material costly, but it only gives the church….a poverty, a coldness, a harshness indescribably table-clothy. In this dreary sanctuary is one of Titian's great paintings, The Martyrdom of St Lawrence, to which….you turn involuntarily, envious of the Saint toasting so comfortably on his gridiron amid all that frigidity.” The Oratorio Opposite the church, has a cycle of paintings by Palma il Giovanni telling the history of the Crociferi. Opening times Monday to Friday: 10.00-12.00 and 4.00-6.00 (5-7?) Oratorio: April to October Friday 10.00-12.30, Saturday 3.30-7.30. Vaporetto Fondamente Nuove Note: in March 2007, the church was open but the flamboyant altar was fenced off and covered in scaffolding. Work was in noisy progress though. The original church of the Crociferi, as seen on Jacopo de'Barbari's map of 1500.
Madonna dell’Orto 14th-15th Centuries
		The Tintoretto church. History A church and monastery were founded here in the 1360s by the Umiliati order. The church was initially dedicated to Saint Christopher, the patron saint of the gondoliers. During the building of the church an unfinished statue of the Madonna, made by Giovanni de Sanctis (but also said to have fallen from heaven) and kept in his kitchen garden, started getting a reputation for working miracles. The church bought the statue, with the intention of so increasing offerings towards the cost of building, and on 18th June 1377 it was placed on the high altar. Since then the church has been known as Madonna dell'Orto, Our lady of the Garden. Reconstruction work from 1399 to 1473 resulted in the complete redecoration of the interior and the construction of the new façade. A new and larger monastery was built at this time too. This was suppressed in 1787 as only three monks were living in it, and the Republic turned the church over to secular priests. The church was allowed to crumble until 1841 when some bad restoration (which included ripping up memorial stones and destroying the organ) was carried out and the building reopened in 1868 as a parish church. More restoration work was carried out 1930-31, but the great acqua alta of 1966 damaged the church further. Following the flood it was thoroughly restored by Venice in Peril. The church The gothic brick façade is one of Venice's most purely pleasing. The sloping galleries of apostles here, carved by the Delle Masegne brothers, are unique in Venice. (The herring-bone patterned pavement is pretty rare too). The façade went up in the early 15th Century, with the side windows added a little later, and then the doorway. The doorway, by Bartolomeo Bon, features a gothic ogee arch with a renaissance rounded arch underneath. This stylistic mixture might be explained by the fact that the doorway was made in 1460s, but not installed until 1483, twenty years after Bon's death. So it's possible the rounded arch was added to spice up the, by then, unfashionably gothic doorway. The ogee arch is surmounted by a statue of Saint Christopher, with the Virgin and The Angel of the Annunciation on either side. These statues were taken from the 14th Century church. Art highlights This was Jacopo Tintoretto and his family's parish church, he lived in the nearby Campo dei Mori. His ashes are interred here, along with his wife and eight more family members. You'll find his memorial stone in the chapel to the right of the chancel, which was previously the chapel of the Bonetti family. There are something like 11 paintings by him here. His huge Worship of the Golden Calf and The Last Judgment, both dated 1546, flank the altar and were much admired by Ruskin. (It is said that amongst the bearers of the Golden Calf you'll find portraits of Giorgione, Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto himself, but this has never been proven.) Tintoretto's Presentation of the Virgin (see left) here is from a few years later and is more lovable. Cima de Conegliano’s John the Baptist with Saints glows after a recent restoration. Titian's Tobias and the Angel was recently moved here from the nearby church of San Marziale. The miracle-working statue of the Madonna in in the Capella di San Mauro, along with twenty-eight paintings of Venetian saints and beatified persons, painted by various artists in the 17th Century. Lost art In the first chapel on the left is a photograph of Giovanni Bellini's small panel painting of the Madonna and Child (1480) (see left). The painting was stolen (for the third time it's said) from the church on 1st March 1993. A guidebook written just before the most recent theft comments that the Child's hair was 'specially pretty'. Pordenone's The Blessed Lorenzo Giustiniani and saints was painted for the altar of the Renier family, where it remained until Napoleonic nicked it. It's now in the Accademia. Quotes Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti in The Girl of his dreams looks up at the church: 'The brick dome of the bell tower had always looked like a panettone to him, and so it did now.' The same novel also reveals that Brunetti was on his holidays when the Bellini was stolen, and by the time he returned to work the art-crime squad from Rome had given up and gone home. Campanile Completed in 1503, with a statue of the redeemer on top of the oriental-looking brick dome, and apostles perched on the edges, all by the Lombardi workshop. Opening Times Monday to Saturday: 10.00 to 5.00 Sundays: closed A Chorus Church Vaporetto Madonna dell’Orto
Miracoli Pietro Lombardo and sons 1481-89
History A shrine was built in 1408 to house a miracle-working icon of the Virgin and eventually the funds that this icon generated allowed the building of a small church squeezed into the same campo, designed by Pietro Lombardo and embellished with carvings by him, his sons and their workshop. Since then it has been virtually untouched, only cleaned. The church After admiring the handsome marble-clad exterior - unusually you can admire all four sides - you'll almost be prepared for the interior. Almost. Lots of rhapsodising and purple prose have been devoted to this interior, using phrases like 'renaissance jewel box', but you'll forgive it when you get to sit in here and wonder. The space consists of a single nave with a wooden barrel vault and a chancel up a steep flight of steps. No columns to add rhythm and no great paintings. It's not the details that appeal it's simply the perfectly-proportioned whole, as you are enclosed by the polychrome marble patterns and porphyry and the fine carving skills of the Lombardi. It's reminiscent of San Miniato in Florence, but so much smaller. The railings of the the staircase up to the chancel have small statues of the Virgin and Angel of the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel, and Saints Francis and Clare, all by Tulio Lombardo. The miracle-working painting of The Virgin and Child by Niccolo di Pietro is above the altar. On either side of the altar are bronze statues of Saint peter and Saint Anthony Abbot. The are by Vittoria, who was a pupil of the Lombardi, and are the only later additions to their work. Until the nineteenth century a nuns' passageway linked the church's gallery to the nearby convent (see print right) which was also the work of the Lombardi, but was almost totally destroyed in 1810. In films Orson Welles’ 1951 film version of Othello has the wedding of Desdemona and Othello at this church (see below right). The flower shop in the film Bread and tulips is in the campo behind the Miracoli, but does not exist in real life. Donald Sutherland walks past the church in Don't Look Now, and you can see how grubby (and closed) it was before its 1997 restoration (below). Opening times Monday to Saturday: 10.00 to 5.00 Sundays: closed A Chorus Church Vaporetto Rialto		What is going on in the foreground here?!
San Bonaventura 1620 - 23
		History The church and its adjacent monastery were built on reclaimed land by a Franciscan order called the Reformati between 1620 and 1623. Both were suppressed in 1823, but the monastery was reopened as a convent for barefoot Carmelites in 1859 with the church serving as the convent's chapel. One of my sources stops there, with the monastery still facing onto the canal, another says the monastery had actually been demolished and replaced by a factory and then a children's hospital in the early 1900s. And that the Carmelites remain in a 'modest house'. I'll check. Art Works by Bassano and Tintoretto were to be found in the church before suppression, but not now it seems. Vaporetto Sant’Alvise
San Canzian Antonio Gaspari 1705-6
		History Tradition has it that the first church on the site was built in 864 by refugees from Aquileia, but the earliest printed reference is dated 1040. The church is dedicated to Saints Canziano, Canzio, and Canzionello - all three were martyred in Aquileia in 304 - but Venetian dialect has blended them into one. The current church dates from rebuilding in 1705-1706 by Antonio Gaspari, paid for by Michele Tommasi whose bust is over the main entrance. Interior The church is usually entered by either of the two smaller doors opposite each other in the side walls of the bottom of the nave, which thereby form a sort of 'entrance corridor' effect at the very back of the church. These doors also let in a fair amount of the noise of the campo and the market stalls, adding to this church's feel of being ever-open and used. The pale-pink walls balance out some somewhat dark paintings and heavily-carved side chapels to make for a pleasing interior Art highlights There are altarpieces by Bartolomeo Letterini, Domenico Zanchi and Nicolò Renieri, amongst other lesser-known 18th Century artists. There is also a chapel containing the sarcophagus, and a statue, of St Massimo. The church in art John Singer Sargent Leaving Church, Campo San Canciano, Venice 1882 (below). Opening times Vaporetto Ca d'Oro

San Felice 1531-35
		History Tradition has it that this church was founded in the 10th Century. After reconstruction or restoration it was consecrated in 1267. The present church dates from rebuilding begun in 1531 to a design reminiscent of Codussi's San Giovanni Grisostomo below. The church A radical reworking of the interior in 1810 resulted in the replacement of the altars of the 16th Century church with inferior modern examples, my guide book said, somewhat sniffily, but this church is an unexpected calm grey-stone gem on the inside if you can get in, much in the style of Brunelleschi. Art highlights There's an early Tintoretto: St Demetrius and a Donor of the Ghisi Family. Also a plaque over the sacristy door commemorating Pope Clement XIII, who was baptised here in 29th March 1693 as plain Carlo Rezzonico. Five figures carved by Giulio del Moro (late 16th Century.) Vaporetto Ca d'Oro
San Geremia Carlo Corbellini 1753-1760
History The church was founded in the 11th Century and rebuilt in 1292. The present church dates from the rebuilding by the Brescian architect Carlo Corbellini in 1753-60 The church Two marble façades of similar design, completed in 1871. The grubby one faces onto the campo where the famous bull -hunt was held (possibly due the proximity of the Spanish embassy, hence Lista di Spagna) is somewhat crowded by the Palazzo Labia. The other, cleaner, one faces the Grand Canal (below). The interior A Greek cross with a dome at the crossing and semi-domes at the end of each arm. A chapel built in 1863 contains the 'partially incorrupt' body of Saint Lucy, stolen from Constantinople by crusaders in 1204. It was placed here when the Palladian church named after her was demolished to make way for the railway station that retains her name. They were stolen again, from this church, in 1994, but returned soon after. Saint Lucy's attribute in paintings is her eyes, usually on a plate, placed there after they were plucked out as punishment for refusing a marriage offer. Her face is now covered by a relatively recent silver mask - until the sixties you could still gaze into her empty sockets. Art highlights Four works by (sigh) Palma il Giovanne, including The Coronation of Venice by St Magnus, with the Madonna described in one guidebook as 'passable'. Campanile One of the oldest left in the city and all that remains of the 13th Century church, topped by an octagonal tambour that's probably a little later but is visible in Jacopo De'Barbari's map of 1500 (below) which shows the older church. The church in art Canaletto's San Geremia and the entrance to the Cannaregio (now owned by the Queen) was painted from drawings made on almost exactly the same spot on the Riva di Biasio that I photographed from (below). As was Palazzo Labia and San Geremia, Venice by John Singer Sargent, painted in 1913. The Grand Canal at the Entrance to the Cannaregio Canal by Michele Marieschi, painted in 1741-2 (right) shows the church before the rebuilding later in the 18th Century. Opening times Monday to Saturday: 8.30 to 12.00, 4.00 to 6.00 Sundays: 9.30 to 12.15 Vaporetto Guglie

San Giobbe Antonio Gambello/Pietro Lombardo 1450-93
		Some churches have the best art – this one had* the best art.* The church There had long been a Franciscan oratory on this site, which had become famous for the fiery preaching of Fra Bernardino of Siena on his visit of 1443, and so Doge Christoforo Moro put up the money to build a new church in the preacher’s honour, and the present church was begun in a gothic style in 1450 by Gambello. Very little of his work remains, including the double windows on south side, the exterior pilasters of the apse, the ante-sacristy (now called the Contarini Chapel), the campanile and the remaining wing of adjoining cloister. In 1470 Lombardo was called in to finish the work and this, his first job in Venice, is one of the earliest examples of Renaissance architecture in Venice – the main doorway on the façade is an especial treat in a Florentine style (left). The window and the three statues (now in the sacristy) are his work too. Lombardo’s calm interior has chapels on the left side and used to have three major altarpieces (see Lost art below) on the right, and so large and impressive were they that they balanced the chapels on the right – a neat trick as the right hand side of the nave couldn’t have chapels as it backed onto the existing cloister. The early renaissance style of the interior gives the church a Tuscan feel, which is only enhanced by the polychrome Della Robbia roundels in the vault of the very Florentine influenced Martini Chapel. The altarpiece is more of Lombardo’s work, and the deep choir is reminiscent of San Francesco della Vigna. Doge Christoforo Moro, along with his wife Cristina Sanudo, is buried in the church, whose building he funded. He is reputed to be the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Moor Othello. Art The Contarini Chapel through a door on the right is a remainder of Gambello's original building and contains a pleasing Nativity by Savoldo. Lost art The three altarpieces mentioned above were Giovanni Bellini’s Virgin with child (see left) (also known as The San Giobbe Altarpiece), Carpaccio’s Presentation of Christ in the Temple and Marco Basaiti’s Agony in the Garden. They must have been a pretty impressive sight, all in the same small church, but now they are the three highlights of the second room in the Accademia, hung on the wall opposite the bench in the same order that they appeared in the church. They were looted by Napoleon and returned to the Accademia in 1815. Their aching lack in San Giobbe only adds to the forlorn feel of this church in this somewhat backwaterish part of Venice. Ruskin said Its principal entrance is a very fine example of early renaissance sculpture. Note in it, especially, its beautiful use of the flower of the convolvulus. There are said to be still more beautiful examples of the same period, in the interior. The cloister, though much defaced, is of the Gothic period, and worth a glance.' And that the Virgin and Child by Bellini is Alone worth a modern exhibition building, hired fiddlers and all. The third best Bellini in Venice, and probably the world. Opening times Monday to Saturday: 10.00 to 5.00 Sundays: closed A Chorus Church Vaporetto Ponte dei Tre Archi
San Giovanni Grisostomo Mauro Codussi 1497-1504
A calm and cosy church that looks much better for a recent restoration. Just don't mention the light fittings. The Church The church is one of the very few in Western Europe named for the 5th Century patriarch of Constantinople, reflecting the strength of the Byzantine influence in Venice when the first church on the site was built in the 11th Century. This church burned down in 1475. Work began on the replacement in 1497. Like San Zaccaria this church was designed by Mauro Codussi (it was supposedly his last) and it shares that church's curvy shapes, and the façade is indeed almost identical to his for San Michele in Isola. But it's not as easy a church to appreciate, as it's hemmed-in in a small campo, with the bustle from Rialto up towards the station flowing past it, and so it's easy to pass and miss. Old guide books refer to the dilapidated state of the exterior and describe it as being covered in reddish plaster, but post-restoration there's no ish about it. The façade was damaged during an air-raid in February 1918, and there'd been a near miss on 13th September 1916 (right). The interior is compact, cosy and welcoming - a Greek cross plan ringed by apses. The pleasing proportions derive from Platonic ideals of perfect geometric form and balance. Codussi's original barrel vault over the choir was unfortunately replaced with a flat roof to help the lighting. This remains one of those churches, though, where dimness and unrestored paintings conspire to keep you squinting and a little frustrated. And talking of lighting - the light fittings in here bare a very unfortunate but strong resemblance to condoms. If you can look at them without smirking you're a stronger person than I. Art highlights Our old friends Pietro Lombardo and Giovanni Bellini provide us with a bas-relief of The Coronation of the Virgin and an altarpiece respectively. The altarpiece (on the right as you enter) is Saints Jerome, Christopher and Louis of Toulouse (right) one of Giovanni Bellini's last works from 1513 and said by some to be his last great masterpiece. It's not as immediately striking as some of the other later gems in other churches in Venice, but it's characteristic serenity has grown on me with repeated visits. The use of space is oddly appealing too: just because Saint Jerome's in the wilderness doesn't mean the other two saints have to suffer too. Saint Louis is the saint for whom the church of Sant'Alvise (below) was built. The Sebastiano del Piombo painting over the high altar is of saints and Mary Magdalene. Henry James thought the Magdalene looked like a 'dangerous but most valuable acquaintance' (below right). This is Sebastiano's only altarpiece in Venice, and was long thought to be Giorgione, even by Vasari. It's one of those altarpieces that looks more impressive in photographs, because in situ it's just not easy to see, or well lit. The Tullio Lombardo relief of The Coronation of the Virgin you can get close enough to, though, and it's fine. Campanile The original campanile was demolished in 1532 when the calle was broadened, but can be seen in Carpaccio's The Miracle of the Holy Cross at the Rialto Bridge in the Accademia. The current one, built 1552-1590, is nicely decorated around the base. Ruskin said One of the most important in Venice. It is early Renaissance, containing some good sculpture, but chiefly notable as containing a noble Sebastian del Piombo, and a John Bellini, which a few years hence, unless it be "restored," will be esteemed one of the most precious pictures in Italy, and among the most perfect in the world. John Bellini is the only artist who appears to me to have united, in equal and magnificent measures, justness of drawing, nobleness of colouring, and perfect manliness of treatment, with the purest religious feeling. He did, as far as it is possible to do it, instinctively and unaffectedly, what the Caracci only pretended to do. Titian colours better, but has not his piety. Leonardo draws better, but has not his colour. Angelico is more heavenly, but has not his manliness, far less his powers or art. Opening times Monday-Saturday 10.00-6.30, Sunday 11.30-6.30 Vaporetto Rialto
San Girolamo Domenico Rossi, early 18th Century
		History A convent with a small oratory was founded in 1375 by Augustinian nuns from Treviso. Later that century the convent was enlarged and a church built. This work was completed in 1425. In 1456 these buildings were damaged by fire, which resulted in rebuilding and further enlargement. The present church dates from the rebuilding by Domenico Rossi in the early 18th Century following another fire in 1705. Both church and convent were suppressed by the French in 1807. From 1840-1855 the church was used as the steam mill of a sugar factory installed in the convent and a chimney was installed in the campanile (below left). The church was restored and reopened in 1952, but the campanile's long gone (below). Vaporetto Ponte dei Tre Archi
San Leonardo Bernardo Maccaruzzi 1794
		History Founded in the 11th Century, the original church was home to the Scuola di Santa Maria della Carità which later moved to the church of the same name, which is now part of the Accademia Galleries. The present church dates from a rebuilding in the late 18th Century. Suppressed by the French in 1807. It lurks behind a fruit and veg market, almost always surrounded by boxes and carts, and sometimes it houses exhibitions. Vaporetto San Marcuola
San Marcuola Giorgio Massari and Antonio Gaspari 1728-36
History Founded in the 9th-10th Century and dedicated to St Ermagora and St Fortunato, which became by the mysterious workings of Venetian dialect San Marcuola. This church was famous for housing the right hand of John the Baptist with which he'd baptised Christ. Rebuilt after a fire and reconsecrated in 1343. Barbari's map of 1500 shows the church perpendicular to the Grand Canal with the apse to the north. It was rebuilt when the old church became unstable, parallel to the Grand Canal this time, with its apse to the east. The architect was Giorgio Gaspari, who died in 1730, and so the work was completed by Giorgio Massari. The façade was to look very like that of the Pieta, but it's unfinished above the plinth, with the ledges that were to hold up the marble panels usually full of pigeons. Interior and art Rectangular with pairs of altars at each corner, the altars having statues, rather than paintings, by Gian Maria Morleiter and his workshop. He is also responsible for the statues of the church's saints flanking the tabernacle on the high altar. There's a ceiling painting of them too, by Franceso Migliori who has other works here. There's an early Tintoretto Last supper too. Opening times Monday to Saturday 9.30 - 11.30 Vaporetto San Marcuola
San Marziale 1693-1714
		History Tradition tells us that this church was founded in the 9th Century and dedicated to San Marcilliano, who Venetian dialect transforms into Marziale. A statue of the Virgin and child that was carved by a shepherd called Rustico in Rimini (with the help of angels) came 'miraculously' to Venice in 1286. This lead to a rebuilding, by the Bocchi family, and this church was reconsecrated in 1333. The present church dates from another rebuilding of 1693-1714 which was consecrated in 1721. The church The exterior is whitewashed and plain, but with an attractive little campanile. The interior, though, which I've never visited, is said to be sumptuous, with luminous ceiling paintings by Sebastiano Ricci depicting St Martial in glory and the creation and arrival of the miraculous statue of the virgin mentioned above. The luminosity of these paintings pre-date Tiepolo and foreshadow that painter's re-introduction of the shadowless glow in Venetian art. A copy of the famous statue is to be found in a niche on the altar dedicated to the Beata Vergine delle Grazie. The sculpture over the high altar is by Fra Giuseppe Pozzo, who also had a hand in the high altar of the Gesuiti. There's also art by Tintoretto and his son, and a badly restored Tobias and the angel by Titian, which may, or may not, still be away being further restored. I'll check next trip. Opening times Monday to Saturday 4.00 to 6.30pm Sunday 8.30 to 10.00am Vaporetto San Marcuola
Sant’Alvise 14th-15th Centuries
A church famous for its ceiling decoration and its barco. History The convent church of Sant’Alvise was built in 1388 at the behest of doge’s daughter Antonia Venier to whom Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse (Alvise is Louis in Venetian) appeared in a dream and told her to build a church in his honour, and even where to build it. Tradition has it that she then withdrew to the convent herself. The church The exterior is in a plain and lofty flat gothic style. Inside the barco (nuns’ choir) at the back of the church dates from the 15th Century, although the wrought-iron grill is an 18th Century addition. The nuns entered this raised gallery from the convent next door and remained unseen behind the grill for the service. A similar grill in the right-hand wall allowed them to come down and take the sacrament. The decoration of the rest of the single-nave church dates from the the 17th Century, most overwhelmingly the vertiginous architectural ceiling frescos by Antonio Torri and Pietro Ricchi. Ruskin hated these works, blaming Veronese for inspiring later and lesser artists with his superior ceilings. Art highlights Three Tiepolos depicting Christ’s passion - two are early and less impressive, but the dramatic Ascent to Calvary is very inspired by Tintoretto, who unusually is not represented here. Eight small 15th-century tempera panels on the back wall of varying quality. These were called ‘baby Carpaccios’ by Ruskin, which has been interpreted as a contention that they were by Carpaccio when he was a boy, although he would've been 8! They were actually painted by the school of Lazzaro Bastiani, with whom Carpaccio was a student, and taken from the organ case of the suppressed church of Le Vergini.		Campanile 14th Century brickwork with a pine-cone spire and four little towers. Opening times Monday to Saturday: 10.00 to 5.00 Sundays: closed A Chorus Church Vaporetto Sant’Alvise The Convent Still a working convent, housing 23 white-clad nuns of the Canossian order, they now have their own chapel so don’t need to use the barco. I’m told that if dressed adequately you can visit the cells and gardens. Also that to see the cloisters you just have to knock on the door of the nursery adjacent to the façade of the church on weekday mornings, and ask nicely.
Santa Caterina mid-15th Century
		History The original church and monastery was founded in the 11th Century by the the Friars of the Penitence of Jesus Christ, who were also called the Sacchini friars because of their sackcloth robes. The church passed on to Augustinian nuns around 1289. Interior The current church - a gothic interior with two aisles - dates from the mid-15th Century. It has a ship's-keel roof and a large nun's gallery. It was suppressed in 1807. A large fire here on Christmas night 1978 destroyed the ship's keel roof, which has been rebuilt. Lost art Amongst the art works long removed was Tobias and the angel, attributed to Titian, which is now in the Accademia, thanks to Napoleon, and now attributed to 'a follower of'. Also now in the Accademia is The Marriage of St Catherine, which was over the high altar and is one of Veronese's most admired. There was also a series of six paintings of Episodes in the Life of Saint Catherine by Tintoretto. Opening times The building now belongs to a school (some sources say it's being used as a store) and so is not accessible. Vaporetto Fondamente Nuove
Santa Fosca 1679 - 1733
History Following the arrival of the body of Santa Fosca on the island of Torcello in the 10th century her popularity grew and this church was built. Renovation followed in 1297 and a complete rebuilding between 1679 and its reconsecration in 1733, with a fire somewhere in the middle of that period. The Church The handsome façade was added in 1741, and paid for by the Dona family, but it's not known who designed it. The tympanum is topped by statues of the Risen Christ and two virtues. Art highlights A Byzantine Pieta and a damaged Holy family by Tintoretto's son. Campanile Rebuilt after 1410, topped by four gothic shrines and a lead-covered onion dome. Ruskin said it was: of late gothic uninjured by restorations and peculiarly Venetian in being crowned with a cupola, not the pyramid. Opening times 9.30-11.30 Vaporetto San Marcuola
Santa Maria dei Penitenti Giorgio Massari 1730-38
		History Built by Massari and consecrated in 1763. Unfinished façade from a design by Lazarri 1845. Contained three works by Jacopo Marieschi, the son of the vedute painter Michele. The attached hospice for fallen women was built in 1703 by Maria Elisabetta Rossi. Vaporetto Ponte dei Tre Archi
Santa Maria dei Redentore 1614-23
History Built by Capuchin nuns who had been allowed to settle here in 1612, the church was consecrated on 1st October 1623. A convent was built behind the church, but was suppressed and later demolished. Vaporetto Ponte dei Tre Archi
Santa Maria dei Servi
		History A monastery of the Servite Order was built here in 1318 and work on the church began in 1330, but with consecration not happening until 1491. The church was conceived to compete with San Zanipolo and the Frari in size, as can be seen in the etching of 1703 (see above). There was a serious fire in 1769 and then the church and monastery were suppressed in 1812 and almost totally demolished in 1862. Only picturesque fragments remain. The site was bought by Canon Daniele Canale who, along with Anna Maria Marovich, founded a charitable institution for women just released from prison called the Istituto Canal Marovich ai Servi. The church (left) was rebuilt as the chapel for the institution. The 15th century Gothic entrance (above and below left) is all that remains of the monastery, which is now a student hostel. Lost art A statue of Adam by Tullio Lombardo was carved around 1490 for the tomb of Doge Andrea Vendramin in the old church. It was moved to San Zanipolo initially, with the Doge's tomb, but has now ended up in the The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, by Giovanni Bellini (and assistants) which is now in the Accademia (somewhere!) was in here.Veronese's Supper in the House of the Pharisee (now in the Louvre) was painted for the refectory. Ruskin said Only two of its gates and some ruined walls are left, in one of the foulest districts of the city. It was one of the most interesting monuments of the early fourteenth century Gothic; and there is much beauty in the fragments yet remaining. How long they may stand I know not, the whole building having been offered me for sale, ground and all, or stone by stone, as I chose, by its present proprietor, when I was last in Venice. More real good might at present be effected by any wealthy person who would devote his resources to the preservation of such monuments wherever they exist, by freehold purchase of the entire ruin, and afterwards by taking proper charge of it, and forming a garden round it, than by any other mode of protecting or encouraging art. There is no school, no lecturer, like a ruin of the early ages. Opening times 9.00 to 12.15, 4.30 to 6.15 Vaporetto San Marcuola
Santa Maria Maddalena Tommaso Temanza/Giannantonio Selva 1760-89
History First church built to St Mary Magdalene in 1220 by the Baffo family on the site of their fortified house. Replaced by the present church in 1760s, to a neoclassical design by Tommaso Temanza who died in 1789, and was buried here. Temanza was better known as a theorist and historian and this is one of his few buildings. The work here was finished by Gianantonio Selva who went on to design the Fenice opera house. Recently restored. The church Modelled on the Pantheon, circular on the outside with the circularity emphasised by the flattening of the temple front. A 'compact' hexagonal interior with four chapels. Art 18th Century works, including a Last Supper by Giandomenico Tiepolo Opening times Very rare Vaporetto San Marcuola
Santa Maria Valverde 13th Century/Clemente Moli 1651-59
A speedboat has just chopped the snogging couple's gondola in half, you see.		A favourite lonely spot of mine. History Built as an abbey church in 936, it was originally named Santa Maria di Val Verde from the original name of the island on which it was built. The church was enlarged in the 13th Century and the façade, by Bolognese architect Clemente Moli, was added during further rebuilding in 1651-59. This work was financed by Gasparo Moro, whose bust by Moli is above the door (see left). Moli also carved the allegorical figures either side of the door and the Virgin up on the segmental pediment. On 9th June 1611 Girolamo Savina, then the prior of the abbey and the author of a noted chronicle, was murdered whilst saying mass by a priest who had poisoned the communion wine. The abbey itself was demolished in the early 19th Century. To the left is the old Scuola della Misericordia which was built in the first half of the 15th Century by the Bon family. It had a Gothic arch with a large relief of the Madonna della Misericordia attributed to Bartolomeo Bon - you can see where it once was (below). The arch was demolished in 1612, and the relief is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, along with other sculptures from the scuola. In 1583 the Confraternity moved to the new Scuola, the huge Gothic barn-like building by Sansovino just to the left and out-of-shot in the photo (below). The old scuola became a hospice and, in 1643, the guildhall of the silk-cloth weavers' guild. The church escaped suppression in the Napoleonic period, but was in a poor state when it was taken in hand by Abbot P. Pianton who, from 1828-1864, managed to find and reinstate some of it's original fittings, as well as fittings from other suppressed churches, and so restored the church's fortunes. His work was unfortunately reversed after his death, although the church did re-open, badly restored and without it's original fittings, in the early part of the 20th Century. The first plans for a railway bridge linking Venice to the mainland, in 1830, had the Misericordia as the site of the terminal. The church has had word done on it lately though, at least on the exterior, as can be seen by comparing the screen capture from the James Bond film Moonraker, released in 1979 (see left) with the newly-pink exterior and cleaned stonework as seen the recent photograph below. Opening times Well, the church has been deconsecrated and empty for decades and that impromptu door and the graffiti have been bad indicators for a few years now. The abbey complex is being used as an art restoration centre, for both sculpture and paintings. There is rumoured to be an elegant cloister in the angle between the church and the old scuola, and indeed the Google satellite map for the area shows considerable greenery. Tantalising. Vaporetto Madonna dell'Orto

Santa Sofia
History Tradition dates the founding of this church to the late 9th Century, but the earliest written record is for 1020. There was a rebuilding in 1568 and the current church mostly dates from a 17th Century restoration by Antonio Gaspari. It was suppressed in 1810 but reopened in 1836. The church The church's (lack of) façade is hidden behind a house built for the priest Don Massiaglia in 1872. But the façade was blocked in in 1500 too (see below right). Art Upon suppression most of the the church's art and some of its altars were lost. When it reopened works were donated by private citizens. These include some paintings by minor figures, and five statues of saints from the altar of the Scuola dei Barbieri in Santa Maria dei Servi. The two saints on the inner façade (Cosma & Damiano) and the pair on the altar (Luke and Andrew) are by the Rizzo workshop, and the Madonna on the altar in the left aisle may be by Andrea Beauneveu or Bartolomeo Bon. Campanile Chunky, but was once more elegant, it seems (see right). Opening times 9.00-12.00 Vaporetto Ca d'Oro		Jacopo de'Barbari's map of 1500 shows the church before rebuilding, but it's still hemmed in.
Santi Apostoli Alessandro Vittoria? 1570-75
		History Supposedly one of the churches founded by the Bishop of Oderzo St Magnus, and built on a site where he saw 12 cranes, after an apparition of the 12 apostles told him to look for this sign. The church was built around 1020, with the first documented mention in 1094. It was rebuilt 1570-75, probably by Alessandro Vittoria. Restored again in the mid-18th century by Giovanni Pedolo, but not drastically. The church The interior is a big dark flat box. Which all goes to throw into relief the lovely little Corner chapel. (It shows on the outside as the pale-brick domed bit (left.) A bright and stony sanctuary, it's older than the rest of the church and was built by Codussi for poor old Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus who was buried here in 1510. The chapel also has the tombs of her brother and father, the latter attributed to Tullio Lombardo. Her body was moved to a big, flat and plain tomb in San Salvador around 1580. If I was her I'd have stayed here. The chapel also has a luminous altarpiece by Giambattista Tiepolo of The Martyrdom of Saint Lucy, whose just-removed eyes stare at you from a plate, and yes they do follow you around the chapel. The church has a sweet very old (late 13th Century) Veneto-Byzantine fresco fragment in the chapel to the right of the high altar, and on the left wall there's a spooky little dark nun's balcony, or something like that. Campanile Renovated 1601-09 by Francesco di Piero, topped by early 18th Century tambour by Andrea Tirali. Jan Morris says that an 'old and simple' sacristan fell from the campanile soon after it's completion in 1672(?) but was caught by the minute hand on the clock, and so was slowly lowered to a parapet as time passed. Hmmm - an odd date and the lack of suitable parapet leaves me unconvinced. The church in art Canaletto's View of Campo Santi Apostoli (see left) Opening times Monday to Saturday: 7.30 to 11.30, 5.00 to 7.00 Vaporetto Ca d'Oro
Scalzi Baldessare Longhena/Giuseppe Pozzo 1654-1705
History The Barefoot Carmelites, or Scalzi, came to Venice in 1633 and in 1646 got Baldassare Longhena to build them a church, dedicated to Santa Maria di Nazareth. Consecrated in 1705. Longhena died in 1682, and the work was continued by the Carmelite Giuseppe Pozzo. The church Façade built 1672-80, by Giuseppe Sardi. The interior is an unrelaxing baroque riot in marble, with walls that might make you think of dark salami, statues aplenty, and a painting on every surface. The baldachin over the high altar is huge with twisty columns and statues of sibyls lounging on the architecture. Venice's last doge, Lodovico Manin, is buried here. I'm sorry but I just can't take these extravagant baroque churches seriously, they're so over the top and overpopulated I get a headache. Some welcome warm contrast is provided by a couple of the chapels having Tiepolo ceiling vaults. Ruskin said It possesses a fine John Bellini, and is renowned through Venice for its precious marbles. I omitted to notice before, in speaking of the buildings of the Grotesque Renaissance, that many of them are remarkable for a kind of dishonesty, even in the use of true marbles, resulting not from motives of economy, but from mere love of juggling and falsehood for their own sake. I hardly know which condition of mind is meanest, that which has pride in plaster made to look like marble, or that which takes delight in marble made to look like silk. Several of the later churches in Venice, more especially those of the Jesuiti of San Clemente, and this of the Scalzi, rest their chief claims to admiration on their having curtains and cushions cut out of rock. The most ridiculous example is in San Clemente, and the most curious and costly are in the Scalzi; which latter church is a perfect type of the vulgar abuse of marble in every possible way, by men who had no eye for colour, and no understanding of any merit in a work of art but that which arises from costliness of material, and such powers of imitation as are devoted in England to the manufacture of peaches and eggs out of Derbyshire spar. Lost art Tiepolo's masterpiece the Translation of the Holy House was destroyed by an Austrian bomb, aimed at the railway station, in 1915 (see right) - fragments of it are now in the Accademia. Opening times Monday to Saturday: 7.45 to 12.30, 4.00 to 7.00 Sundays: 7.00 to 11.45, 4.00 to 6.45 Vaporetto Ferrovia
Scuola dell'Angelo Andrea Tirali 1713
		History Begun in 1713 by Andrea Tirali, who is also responsible for the tambour on the top of the campanile of the Santi Apostoli church opposite. When the Fontego dei Tedeschi was suppressed in 1812 the German Protestants began using this building, bringing two paintings. One is a Madonna in Glory with the Archangel Michael by Sebastiano Ricci. The angel over the entrance is by Flemish sculptor Heinrich Meyring more (in)famous for his work on San Moise. Now an Evangelical Lutheran church. Vaporetto Ca d'Oro