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Giudecca |
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History Founded in 1534 as part of a complex that also included a convent and a hospice for reformed prostitutes. Restoration work on the church later in the same century was paid for by the merchant Bartolomeo Bontempelli. Originally named for St Mary Magdelene it became known as delle Convertite to reflect its role in converting 'fallen' women. The institution soon became notorious, however, due to its rector Fra Giovanni Pietro Leon using the 400 nuns as his personal harem. He would 'test' the women when they came to confess, but if they resisted he would have them imprisoned and beaten. And so was their resistance beaten down. He was denounced to the Council of Ten in 1561 and beheaded in Piazza San Marco (it took 8 goes, evidently) and his remains burned. Suppressed by the French in the
first decade of the 19th Century, the Austrians made the complex into a
jail and it has been a women's prison since 1957. The prison entrance is
to the right of the façade in the photo. |
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Theatrical! History Palladio's original design was for a central-plan church like the Pantheon, but this was rejected as a pagan building. What was eventually built is reckoned to be Palladio's finest church, it was completed by Da Ponte following Palladio's death in 1592.The high and wide staircase and the huge doorway are designed for processions. And the church is made to be seen from afar -the best view (left) being from the Zattare opposite. The Festival of the Redentore, giving thanks for the end of the plague, continues. Every year on the third Sunday in July a bridge on barges is built from the Zattere so that Venetians can make the pilgrimage previously lead by the Doge and the Signoria. The festival is also famous for the fireworks the night before.
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Named after the Venetian-born bishop who took off
from San Giorgio Maggiore to convert the Hungarians in the 10th Century.
Martyred in Budapest, his remains are supposedly now to be found in Santi
Maria e Donato on Murano. This is a modern church built amongst the modern
flats on the Sacca Fisola. |
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San Giorgio Maggiore |
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Art highlights
The church in art |
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History Founded in 865 and initially dedicated to four female saints - Euphemia, Dorothy, Tecla and Erasma, but as time passed the first saint's name came to dominate. The church became known colloquially as Famia and was renovated in 952. Reconsecrated in 1371 after rebuilding and renovated in the second half of the 16th Century and again in the mid-18th, when it acquired new altars. The portico along the side (visible in the photo left) is by Michele Sanmicheli and was donated by Giovanni Stucky in 1883. It dates from 1596 and was actually designed as the choir of the church of Santi Biagio e Cataldo, which was demolished to make way for the Stucky mill (now a swanky hotel) nearby. Interior |
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History The church and convent were founded in the 13th Century. Eufamia Giustiniani, an abbess here, was made a saint in 1465. She was also the niece of Lorenzo Giustiniani, the first patriarch of Venice. While she was abbess only four nuns died in the plague of 1446 and a knight who turned up at the door and asked for water was later identified as having been St Sebastian, so the well here was renamed after him and the waters were said to have miraculous powers. The church was rebuilt 1508-15, with a façade in the Tuscan style by an architect going by the name of Maestro Pellegrini. The church and convent were suppressed in 1806 with the nuns moving to San Zaccaria and the complex becoming a prison. Quite recently restored but still closed, although one guide book says it's being used by an old people's home. It didn't look to have been restored or cared for, or to be lived in, when I waded through the weeds and took the photo in late 2008. Vaporetto Redentore |
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History A convent was established here in 1481 by a Benedictine nun called Marina Celsi, who had been abbess at San Matteo on Murano and of Sant'Eufamia on Mazzorbo. The first stone was laid in 1491, with work completed in 1498. Consecrated in 1583, it is said that Mauro Codussi may have had a hand in the design, he having been working at the time on San Michele in Isola and San Zaccaria, also for Benedictines. Upon suppression by Napoleon in 1806 the nuns moved to San Zaccaria. The church became a storehouse, a barracks, and in 1887 a hospice for cholera victims. Sold in 1897 to the Herion Brothers who converted it into a textile factory, which it remained until the 1970s. Restored quite recently for use as an enterprise centre offering office space to small businesses.
Lost art Cloisters
Vaporetto Sant’Eufemia |
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History The church of Santa Maria della Presentazione is better known as Le Zitelle, or The Spinsters, since the convent here ran a hospice (founded by a group of Venetian noblewomen in 1559) for 'beautiful girls' from poor families whose beauty was thought to put them in danger of falling into prostitution. A prevention regime, as opposed the Convertite's concentration on helping fallen women. So the most attractive poor young virgins were taken in and were trained in lace and music making. The church was designed by Palladio around 1576 for a different site and built by Jacopo Bozzetto from 1581-88. The church The Palladian façade is flanked by the wings of the convent. The buildings extend around the back and a cloister sits behind the church. The convent is now a luxury hotel. Art highlights Palma il Giovane is represented as is Francesco Bassano, one of the four sons of the better known Jacopo. The church in art The Giudecca with the Zitelle (right) by Franceso Guardi, in the National Gallery in London. Opening times For mass only: Sundays 10.00-12.00 Vaporetto Zitelle |
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