The Churches of Venice :: The Islands

San Nicolò Lido Tommaso Contin/Matteo Cirtoni 1626-29
History The original Benedictine church, dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra (a.k.a. Santa Claus), was founded in 1044 and renovated in 1316. The church as you see it today was rebuilt on a different spot, begun by Tommaso Contin in 1626 and finished by Matteo Cirtoni in 1629. (The remains of the old church can be found in the adjacent cloisters.) The church houses the remains of St Nicholas (the patron saint of sailors and children) although some say his remains remain in Bari. The story is that the Venetian fleet on its way to Joppa (Jaffa) in 1100 stopped off at Bari in search of the bones of St Nicholas, which had been stolen and taken to Bari from Myra. It is said that the Venetians tortured the four Christian keepers of the shrine, but learned nothing. They decided to make do with the bones of Saint Theodore (Venice's patron saint before St Mark) but then a sweet smell began to emanate from behind the altar, leading them to the bones of St Nicholas, which they then took too. It is to this church that the doge came during the Festa della Sensa (or Ascension Day Festival) to celebrate the marriage of Venice and the sea by throwing a gold ring into the lagoon. The ceremony continues to this day, with the Mayor standing in for the Doge. The church The façade is unfinished. The monument over the main doorway is to Doge Domenico Contarini, who founded the original church, and dates from the 17th Century. Interior An aisleless nave with six communicating side chapels. Baroque polychrome marble altar housing remains of Saints Nicholas and Theodore. Wooden choir behind the altar dated 1636 by Giovanni Da Crema and Camillo di San Luca, with panels depicting 27 Episodes from the Life of St Nicholas. Art highlights All from 17th/18th Centuries. Fresco on inside façade is Venice Paying Homage to St Nicholas by Girolamo Pellegrini. Another highlight is The Ascension of Christ by Pietro Muttoni, known as Pietro della Vecchia. A visit Inside it looms - high grubby/sandy walls with mid-grey architectural detailing. Where perspective makes the gap between the walls narrow behind the high altar this detailing looks somewhat too big and out of scale, but elsewhere it's fine. The church is aisleless with connected chapels, three on each side and there's a Baroque high altar with a riot of polychrome marble inlay and a sarcophagus on top, where a pediment should be. This contains the remains of three saints, including Father Christmas. No big name art but a nice and warm fresco of Venice Paying Homage to St Nicholas over the entrance by Girolamo Pellegrini and an attractive Ascension by Pietro della Vecchia on the first altar on the left as you enter. The monastery Founded and renovated at the same time as the church, with a cloister added in the 16th Century. Suppressed in 1770. Occupied in 1938 by the Friars Minor of San Antonio. Stood in for a Brazilian monastery in the James Bond film Moonraker, which was filmed mostly in Venice. Now a study and research centre. Campanile Baroque, dating from the rebuilding of 1626-1629. The church in art The Doge in the Bucentaur at San Nicolo di Lido on Ascension Day by Guardi (see below) is in the Louvre. Opening times map
Sant'Antonio Lido 1936
		History Built in 1936 in a Veneto Byzantine style to echo that of the churches on Torcello. It replaced a tent on the beach that the congregation had used up to then. A visit A clean and modern church, inside it's an impressive and bricky tall space redolent of train stations and Westminster Cathedral, with a pleasing lofty light-and-shadow thing going on. I liked it. map
Santa Maria Assunta Lido
History Founded in the 15th Century and rebuilt in 1557. The interior is a single nave with a vaulted roof and contains 17th and 18th Century works by Girolamo Forabosco, Lama and Pittoni. Kept in the sacristy is a carved wooden altarpiece from the early 15th Century, called 'the Palliotto' by Paolo delle Masegne, showing the blessing Christ, Mary ascending to heaven, and 12 saints (see photo below). map All three Photos by Brigitte Eckert.
Santa Maria Elisabetta Lido
		History The Lido's parish church. Built in the mid-16th Century as an oratory and enlarged and converted into a church in 1627, with consecration following in 1671. Much restoration around 1970. The interior has two pairs of side altars and a high altar in a shallow vaulted apse. Campanile Late 19th Century. map Photo above by Brigitte Eckert.
Santa Maria Nascente Lido 1932
History A small church attached to the Ospedale al Mare, the Lido's large and dilapidated hospital complex. Built in 1932 to a neo-gothic design by engineer A. Spandri. Panel paintings and frescoes by G. Cherubini. A visit 2010 I slipped into the church as the service was finishing and it's a sweet little space, with pale painted walls and nice olde gothic detailing belying its lack of actual age. I managed a couple of photos as people were leaving (see right). map		A photo taken in 1932.
The other churches on The Lido
Suore Bianchi (Suore del Sacro Cuore?) map		Santa Maria della Vittoria Built 1935-33 to a design by Giuseppe Torres as a memorial to the Italian dead of WWI. AKA the Venice War memorial. The large green dome is one of the first landmarks seen as you approach the Lido vaporetto stop. map
San Pietro Martire Murano 1511
History The original church and Dominican monastery, dedicated to St John the Baptist, was built from 1363, being consecrated in 1417, thanks to a bequest of 1438 by Marco Michiel. A tablet on the far right of the façade commemorates this. This church burned down in 1474 and was rebuilt and enlarged, reopening in 1511 and dedicated to St Peter Martyr. The church was closed in 1806, the monastery taken over by the military, and its art moved to the Accademia Gallery. (Following partial demolition the monastery buildings latter became a primary school, then were used for glass art classes, and later was used by the postal service.) It reopened in 1813 as a parish church due to an initiative by Father Stefano Tosi, with art from other suppressed churches and monasteries on Murano and other islands. At its reopening the church was renamed S. Pietro e Paolo, but reverted to its present name in 1840. The colonnade attached to the west flank of the church (see photo below right) came from the demolished convent of Santa Chiara, being reassembled here in 1924, during the restoration of 1922-28. This period of restoration also saw the the revelation of the original ceiling and the frescos of the saints above the pillars. Art highlights You might read that Giovanni Bellini's Madonna in Glory with eight saints (see right) is in the sacristy here but for the past few years it's been in the Accadamia. It was originally in the nearby church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. A Bellini which is here is The Madonna with Doge Agostino Barbarigo. This was originally in the Doge's Palace (hence its non-altarpiece-like horizontal format) before it was reframed and moved to the high altar of the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in 1501. It came here in 1815 and was relatively recently returned to this church after years spent in restoration. And more acquired art Saints Nicholas, Charles Borromeo and Lucy by Palma Giovane, which came from the demolished church of Santi Biagio e Cataldo on Giudecca, and The Baptism Of Jesus by Jacopo Tintoretto which came from above the high altar of the demolished San Giovanni dei Battuti on Murano. St Agatha in Prison Visited by St Peter and an Angel and St Jerome in the Desert by Veronese, was originally in the nearby church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. A Virgin and Child with Saints by Giovanni Agostino da Lodi came from the demolished San Cristoforo delle Pace. The sacristy There was once a church and scuola of San Giovanni dei Battuti on Murano. The complex was demolished and some panelling, carved by Pietro Morando, was removed from the scuola and installed in the sacristy here. Use of the term 'Battuti', or 'the beaten', refers to flagellant orders. Which might explain the expressions on the faces of the people in the carvings (see photo below). Lost art An altarpiece with Saints and the Madonna della Misericordia by Andrea di Murano; Veronese's strange Allegory of the Battle of Lepanto, originally positioned to the right of the Rosary altar here; two saints (Matthew and John the Baptist) by Alvise Vivarini - all are now in the Accademia. Carpaccio's St Thomas Aquinas Altarpiece, now in the Stuttgart Staatsgalerie, was painted for the St Thomas Aquinas aAltar in the left aisle. A quick visit in 2008 The outside is plain and barnlike, but the interior is impressively spacious and tall, with a deep chancel and side chapels. The ceilings are wooden and the walls have painted friezes over the arches and below the roof line, like in Santo Stefano. There are lots of big chandeliers, of course. Two huge paintings face each other across the aforementioned deep chancel, and there are paintings ranged around the walls, except where the famous Bellini should be, the one I had looked forward to seeing for... I ask where it is, and am told that it's gone to Rome for the big winter Bellini exhibition. Sigh! A visit in 2009 It has a nave and two aisles, which are divided from each other by rows of four arches. The spaces above the columns between the arches (which no doubt have a technical name) are nicely decorated with saints and some attractive lettering (see photo below right), tie beams across the arches and a trussed roof. There's a wide and deep chancel and a pair of apsidal chapels, also wide and deep. Good to see the big Bellini that was away in Rome last time I visited, but it would've been even better to see it lit better, or at all. There's also a recognisable (early?) Tintoretto and an unconvincing Veronese St Agatha, along with a better St Jerome by him too. In the left-hand apsidal chapel there's a hard-to-see painting by Domenico (a.k.a. son of) Tintoretto. Covering both side walls of the deep chancel are a pair of huge paintings by Bartolomeo Latteri, including an impressively architectural Nozze di Cana. The sacristy was closed, unfortunately, so depriving me of another Bellini fix. Campanile Built 1498-1502, the original bells came from England but have been recast many times since, most recently in 1942 after war damage. Opening times Monday-Saturday 9.00-12.00, 3.00-6.00 Sunday 3.00-6.00 Vaporetto Faro map Photo above by Yvonne Tabalotny
Santa Chiara Murano
Photo by Brigitte Eckert		History The church was founded in the 15th Century as part of a Franciscan monastery (or convent). It housed the original twelve nuns that went to live in the convent attached to the Miracoli church when it was completed in 1549. Renovated in 1519, suppressed in 1826 and converted for use as a glass factory and warehouse. Now comprehensively collapsing as a rubbish store, it seems, for the Murano Glass Museum. Lost art The Madonna of the Orange Tree by Cima da Conegliano, now in the Accademia, was originally hung to the right of the high altar here. Vaporetto Museo map
Santa Maria degli Angeli Murano 1498-1529
History An ancient site, re-founded by Giacomina Boncio in 1188 with an adjoining Augustinian convent. Rebuilt 1498-1529. Much renovation in recent years. The church is approached through a portal over which is an early 16th Century bas-relief of The Annunciation, described as 'graceful' by Ruskin and sometimes claimed to be by pupils of Donatello. Interior Consists of an aisleless nave and was in a poor state of repair, being propped up in places, evidently, and having lost its barco. But a recent restoration seems to have worked wonders, as photos taken by a recent (May 2013) visitor show (see below right). Thirty-nine ceiling panels said to be by Pier Maria Pennacchi and Nicolo Rondinelli, an assistant of Giovanni Bellini. Also works by Palma Giovane and Alessandro Vittoria. Lost art The lovely Bellini The Madonna with Doge Agostino Barbarigo, now to be found in the church of San Pietro Martire, was for a time placed over the high altar here, as two of Agostino's daughters were nuns at the convent here. Although he had kept it in his own apartments from its completion in 1488 until his death in 1501. St Jerome in the Wilderness by Veronese is also now to be found in San Pietro Martire, as are several lesser works by Lazzarini, Diziani and Francesco da Santa Croce, amongst others. An Annunciation, commissioned by the nuns here from Titian was sent by him to Empress Isabella of Spain instead, in 1537. A Tintoretto altarpiece never got here either - when the nuns balked at the artist's asking price of 500 ducats he offered it to Charles V who reputedly paid him 2000 ducats for it. Lost bodies Doge Sebastiano Venier, the hero of Lepanto, was buried here, but his remains were later relocated to San Zanipolo. Casanova connection One of Casanova's great loves, Caterina Capretta was whisked to the convent here, of which little remains but some walls, when she became pregnant. Her brother had attempted to sell her and/or her virginity to him, but it seems their relationship was a relatively romantic one, although she was one of two women pregnant by Casanova at this time (Spring 1753). Visits and note-passings ensued, with the help of a nun called Laura, who Casanova would meet in San Cancian, until 'C.C.' had a miscarriage. His visits continued and later he would begin having assignations with another, more libertine, nun called M.M. He was often to be found at mass in the church here under the eyes of both his mistresses who were, at least according to Casanova, themselves lovers in the convent. Opening times For mass only, usually, but following recent restoration things are looking hopeful. Vaporetto Venier map		Interior photos by David Orme
Santi Maria e Donato Murano 1125-1141
		History A document of 999 says that refugees from the mainland founded this church in the 7th Century and dedicated it to the Virgin. The church was rededicated when the body of St Donato, the patron saint of Murano, was brought here from Cephalonia in 1125. This date also seems to be when the church was built in its current form, with the work completed in 1141, a date which is recorded on the mosaic floor. Baroque redecoration followed in the 18th Century and then restoration in 1858-73 returned the church to its previous appearance with major rebuilding of the apse. It was this restoration that Hugh Honour condemned for 'bastardising' the church so that it was neither 12th or 19th Century in appearance but a bad mixture of the two. A lot of this work was reversed during later restoration, especially in the 1970s. The church Naked brick and terracotta. The lovely two-tiered blind arcaded apse (see photo top left) seen across the campo and the canal is usually one's first, jaw-dropping, view of this church. The rather plain main façade, around the back to the left, cannot compete. Interior Latin-cross with nave separated from aisles by two rows of Greek marble columns with Veneto-Byzantine capitals. 15th Century ship's-keel roof. The wonderful polychrome mosaic pavement (see below) was restored and completely re-laid in the 1970s. The high altar contains the remains of St Donatus. Four bones of the dragon he supposedly slew by spitting at it hang behind the altar. Mosaic of The Madonna above in apse. Campanile Detached Romanesque 12-13th Century Opening times Monday-Saturday 8.30-12.00, 4.00-7.00 Sunday 4.00-6.00 Vaporetto Museo map
Le Cappuccine Burano 18th Century
History Built in the 18th century(?) the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (also known as 'Le Cappuccine') is all that's left of a convent complex which was suppressed in 1806. Vaporetto Burano map Ferdinando Ongania
San Martino Burano 16th Century
Photo above by David Orme		History Founded 959. The current church dates from 16th Century and has no façade as its west end abuts onto houses. Said to be the work of Andrea Tirali, with later enlargements and restorations. Art highlights Second bay from the front on the right - Crucifixion of 1719/20 by Tiepolo, an ambitious early work (8 feet by 13) and strongly influenced by the Tintoretto Crucifixion in the Scuola di San Rocco. Also works by Francesco Fontabasso, Giovanni Mansueti, and Girolamo da Santacroce. Some are now in the nearby Oratorio di Santa Barbara. Campanile By Tirali, 1703-14 and leaning. Opening times 8.00-12.00, 3.00-7.00 Vaporetto Burano map
Santa Fosca Torcello
History Work began in early 11th Century on a church to house the remains of St Fosca, the virgin martyr of Ravenna, and those of St Maura, her nurse and partner in martyrdom. The remains of both had been brought here some time before. Porch added in 12th Century. The church The interior is Greek-cross shaped, plain and calm. Stoutness of supports suggests that a cupola was planned for the roof, not the existing timber roof. On the exterior is an early 15th Century bas-relief St Fosca Being Worshipped by her Confreres (see right). Photo by Brigitte Eckert A visit A lovely square and bare pale brick space, with streaky and strokable Greek marble columns. It's technically Greek-Cross shaped with clever embellishments to its shape. The remains of the Saint are on display in an illuminated case under the altar (see photo right) but it's hard to tell what you're looking at, thankfully. map
This old postcard shows Santa Maria Assunta on the left, with Santa Fosca on the right.
Santa Maria Assunta Torcello 1008
This photo by Brigitte Eckert		History First church erected 639 and expanded in 824. Given current form and campanile around 1008. Mosaic pavement, mosaics on walls and other decoration added in the 15th Century. Restored in 1423, and again in 1646 following lightning damage to church and campanile. A bequest by Emperor Francis I of Austria allowed repairs in 1821 and 1827. In 1929-39 restoration back to the church's original appearance saw the removal of later-added baroque elements. The church The ruined circular building in front was a baptistery (see below left), part of the original 7th Century building. Interior Large and basilical with marble mosaic floor. Altar table made from fragments of the original, reinstalled after the removal of the baroque replacement in the 1929-39 restoration. Underneath are remains of St Heliodorus, first Bishop of Altino and a friend of St Jerome, brought here in 635. Semi-dome of the apse has a 12th C mosaic of the Madonna and Child in a field of gold, with a frieze of apostles. A visit Much much bigger the Santa Fosca next door and much more in-your-face Byzantine. To get in you have to go into the shop to the right of the entrance, pay your money, and get your ticket, printed on a sheet of A4 paper, which you present at the ticket office, to have a little hole punched in it. If you want an audio guide, you pay to get another sheet of A4 in the shop and take it to the woman at the desk in the church. And I do recommend the audio guide. It's only two euros and other than the bit where the reader coughs, and waits, and then starts her sentence over again, it's professional and informative. This guide makes a few mentions of poor restoration work on the mosaics, and it turns out that the 19th Century restorer, Giovanni Moro, made such a poor job that he was tried and convicted for it. But the mosaics still blow one away, especially the huge Last Judgement on the inside front wall. You'll also like the jazzy polychrome marble floor. There's an iconostasis (icon screen) dividing the chancel from the nave, with an old (and looking it) crucifix on it. There's a frieze across the screen's whole width of images of the Virgin and Child with twelve apostles. The apse conch behind has an imposing Virgin and Child with an annunciation above, in the arch corners, and twelve apostles below. Campanile 11th Century and 55 metres high. Can now be climbed, following restoration after 30 years use as a pigeon loft. Having climbed it herself George Sand wrote of 'le silence inconceptuelle de la nature'. The nearby small oratory to St Mark is said to have been his body's first resting place on its way from Alexandria in 829. Opening times April-October 10.30-5.30 November-March 10.00-4.30 5 Euro entrance fee Update 2010 The campanile is closed due to instability, and covered in scaffolding. map
San Michele Arcangelo Mazzorbo
Photo by Brigitte Eckert		History There was an old church of this name hereabouts, but this is a pretty modern cemetery chapel. map
Santa Caterina Mazzorbo 14th Century
History Between the 7th and 17th Centuries four monasteries and five churches were built on the island of Mazzorbo, of which only this one church remains. The original church dates back to 783 and the founding of a Benedictine nunnery. The current building is 14th Century Romanesque-gothic, restored in the 16th Century. Suppressed in 1806. Further restoration took place in 1922-25. 'Heavy-handed' is the phrase used by my guide book to describe this latter restoration. The church There's a marble relief of 1368 of The Marriage of St Catherine over the door and a painting of The Baptism of St Catherine and St Mary Magdalene by Giuseppe Salviati over the high altar. There is a barco (nun's gallery) and a ship's-keel roof. Lost art Veronese's Santa Caterina di Mazzorbo altarpiece (see below) is now in the Palatine Gallery in the Pitti Palace in Florence. Campanile 1318. Has a small dome and a very old bell, also dated 1318. Opening times Friday-Sunday 11.00-1.00, 2.00-5.00 map		Photo above by Brigitte Eckert Photo by David Orme
San Clemente Late 15th Century

History The Island had long been used to house pilgrims when in 1432 it was given to the canons of the Santa Maria della Carità monastery in Venice. The church, which had been built in the Romanesque style in 1131-60 was enlarged in the late 15th Century. In 1630 the island had temporarily been a hospital for plague victims. In 1642 it was bought by the Camaldolite congregation of Monte Rua, who rebuilt the church from 1653-1750. This work has been attributed to Andrea Cominelli in the pay of Bernardo Morosini. The façade of 1488 was restored at this time but kept its Codussi-influenced appearance. Bust of Francesco and Tommaso Morosini, who funded the rebuilding, are to be found on the façade and inside. The monastery was closed by Napoleon and initially put to military use, before most of the monastery complex was demolished. Since then the island has housed a lunatic asylum (from 1844 until 1992, and initially for women only) and a cat sanctuary. A large complex was built 1858-73, most of which remain. It's now a luxury hotel, looking like a big pink hospital, and the windows in these photos of the asylum in 1979 look the same as the windows of the hotel. The photographer of the asylum in 1979, Raymond Depardon, also produced a book and a film of the San Clemente asylum. Art highlights My most recent guidebook says that paintings by such 17th Century artists as Marieschi, Zanchi, Trevisani and Marchetti are being kept in storerooms awaiting replacement. The hotel website merely says 'only a few canvases survive'. There is a painted ceiling in the apse (see photo below right). There is no altar, as such, but a baroque version of the Santa Casa (holy House) di Loretto from 1646 (see photo right). Lost art Statues of Faith and Hope, stolen from here, can be seen in the Sant'Apollonia Diocese Museum. They were dragged along the seabed wrapped in tyres, we're told, and the resulting marks can still be seen on them. Opening times A private boat for the hotel, which anyone can use, departs every 20 minutes from just in front of the Zecca (look for the sign saying Hotel San Clemente Palace). They ask no questions, I'm told, and the church is always open. map Both of the black and white photos were taken in 1937		These three photos by Albert Hickson
San Francesco del Deserto 1228-33
Photographs above and right of (almost!) the campanile by Kim Hart		History Tradition says that St Francis himself stopped here in 1219-20 on his return from Egypt and preached to the birds, a miracle recorded by Giotto in the frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. The first church here was built from 1228-33 and expanded at the end of the 13th Century and restored (with a cloister added) in 1453. The monks deserted the island because of a malaria outbreak in the 15th Century (hence the del Deserto in the name) and some more were forced off the island by the Napoleonic army in the early 19th, but they returned both times. Major unsympathetic restoration 1921-23, but then some reportedly better work in 1962. Not sure when the window removal evident in the comparison of the old and new photos (left) took place - the photo dates from the 1930s, I think, so presumably the removal happened during the later restoration. Opening times Tuesday-Saturday 9.00-11.00, 3.00-5.00 Sunday 3.00-5.00 The island is accessible only by private boat. Admission by voluntary donation. Update April 2010: You can get to the island by calling a very nice man called Massimiliano on 347 9922959. He has a colourful boat that leaves from Burano and it costs €10 per person. It is advised to call ahead and book with the Friar. Call Friar Roberto on 041 528 6863. They are much more receptive to guests who have booked, I'm told. Thanks to Kim for the info. map
San Lazzaro degli Armeni 1750
History This island had provided shelter for pilgrims since the 12th Century and since many of them had leprosy it was decided to build a hospital here. In Venetian dialect leprosy is 'mal di San Lazzarro' after Lazarus, the beggar who was also a leper. After the lepers were moved out, around 1500, to the new Ospedale di San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti at San Zanipolo, the island was uninhabited for several centuries. In 1717 the island was given to an Armenian monk called Manouk Bedrosian, also known as Padre Mekhitar. He and his 17 monks (known as the Mekhitarist Fathers) restored the existing church and built the monastic complex we see today, which was completed around 1750. There is a library here, a printing press, an archaeological museum and an art gallery - all devoted to Armenian culture and art. The monastery was the only one in Venice to escape closure by Napoleon - he favoured the Armenians and claimed that this was an educational, not religious, institution. The library was much visited by Byron - he rowed out three times a week during his visit of 1816/17 - to study Armenian and help with an English-Armenian grammar. A small room off the library contains memorabilia of his visits. The church was rebuilt after a fire in 1883. The church An 18th Century cloister provides access to the church. There are paintings by Francesco Maggiotto, Francesco Zugno, and Pietro Novelli. More art in the monastic buildings, including G.B. Tiepolo, Sebastiano Ricci, Canaletto and Jacopo Bassano. The monastery in literature The premise of A Mapmaker's dream: The meditations of Fra Mauro, cartographer to the court of Venice by James Cowan is that the story told in the novel is a true one, with the manuscript having been found by a scholar researching the life of Byron in the library of San Lazzaro. Opening times Guided tours 3.20-5.00 daily. Take the 3.10pm vaporetto (line no. 20) from San Zaccaria which is met by the priest who conducts the 75 minute tours of the complex. The admission fee is €6. map		Photos by Brigitte Eckert
San Michele in Isola Mauro Codussi 1469-78
History The original church was founded in the 10th Century and dedicated to to the Archangel Michael. A monastery was built too and housed monks of the Camaldolite order from 1212 to 1818. Amongst the monks who lived here were famed cartographer Fra Mauro, and Fra Mario Capellari, who became Pope Gregory XVI. The church itself was enlarged and consecrated in 1221. Rebuilt in its current form 1469-78 by Mauro Codussi, this was his first building in Venice and Venice's first church in the Renaissance style. The design of the façade and its use of Istrian stone solely was very influential on Venetian church architecture. The hexagonal Cappella Emiliana (see photo right) to the left of the façade was funded by the will of Margherita Vitturi, the widow of Giovanni Emiliani. It was built 1529 to c.1535 by Guglielmo dei Grigi and repaired by Sansovino in 1560-62. The gothic doorway to the right of the façade leads to a 15th Century cloister (see photo below). Interior Restrained with flat coffered ceiling and a gallery (see photo right.) Modest monument inside vestibule (with his ashes) to Paolo Sarpi. Also monument to Andrea Loredan, a benefactor, in the chancel. Campanile 40m (130ft) electromechanical bells Built in 1460, an unusually complex design with brick relief decoration and a dome with a stone pinnacle. Lost art A lot of Bellinis passed this way! His Priuli Triptych was painted for the Chapel of the Cross here, built for Pietro Priuli. It's now in the Kunstsammlungen der Stadt in Düsseldorf. A Resurrection by him, now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, was painted for the Zorzi chapel here in 1476. And his Madonna with Doge Agostino Barbarigo was moved here from the Doge's Palace in 1501 - it's now in San Pietro Martire on Murano. A Virgin and Child with Saints (the Boldù altarpiece) painted by Cima de Conegliano for the Boldù chapel here is now in the Berlin Staatliche Museen. The island in art The Island of San Michele by Francesco Guardi (see below). The monastery in literature, probably A Mapmaker's dream by James Cowan is a novel about Fra Mauro and the creation of his map of the world. The novel says that he is a monk at 'San Michele di Murano'. Opening times 7.30-12.15, 3.00-4.00 Vaporetto Cimetero map		These two taken by Brigitte Eckert
San Servolo Giovanni Scalfarotto 1734-49
Photos by Brigitte Eckert		History The island was inhabited from 810 by Benedictine monks, then Benedictine nuns until 1616, when some nuns who'd been chased from Crete by the Turks took possession. Then in 1725 it was converted into a hospital for soldiers by the San Giovanni di Dio Hospitaler Friars. It later became a psychiatric hospital (or an 'asylum for the insane' as an older guidebook puts it) which closed in 1978. There was considerable rebuilding in 1936. The complex currently houses a centre for training in architectural conservation, Venice International University, and, since 2006, the Psychiatric Hospital Museum of San Servolo. A church was consecrated in 1470. From 1733-66 the current church and convent buildings were built, to designs by Giovanni Scalfarotto, with the church being the work of his master, Tommaso Temanza. In 1761 Jacopo Marieschi painted the ceiling of the nave with The Glory of San Giovanni di Dio before the Virgin Mary and that of the presbytery with The Three Theological Virtues. In 1810 a Nacchini organ was acquired from the suppressed church of Santa Maria del Pianto. Campanile Completed on the 15th of September 1456 according to a plaque. The asylum in literature In Shelley's poem Julian and Maddalo he commemorates a visit he made with Byron to San Servolo to visit a man driven mad by disappointment and a lover's abandonment. The place is described as a windowless, deformed and dreary pile. San Servolo was also the setting for Jeannette Winterson’s 1987 novel The Passion. Vaporetto San Servolo (line no. 20 from San Zaccaria) Opening times Guided tours: details here and the island has a website as does the Psychiatric Hospital Museum. map
Sant'Erasmo 1929
History The original church of Sant'Erasmo, which was built in ???? at the southern end of the island, was altered first in the 16th and then in the 18th century. A drawing by Giacomo Guardi in the Museo Correr Library shows a church with two rectangular facades and a bell-tower similar to of Sant'Alvise. That church was demolished by Napoleon. The present church, built in the middle of the island, was opened in 1929. map		Photos by Brigitte Eckert

I've divided the island churches up by island for the ones with the most churches, followed by a separate alphabetical sequence for the single ones.
The Lido 1. San Nicolo di Lido 2. Sant'Antonio 3. Santa Maria Assunta 4. Santa Maria della Vittoria 5. Santa Maria Elisabetta 6. Santa Maria Nascente Murano 7. San Pietro Martire 8. Santa Chiara 9. Santa Maria degli Angeli 10. Santi Maria e Donato Burano 11. Le Cappuccine Santa Maria delle Grazie 12. San Martino		Torcello 13. Santa Fosca 14. Santa Maria Assunta Mazzorbo 15. San Michele Arcangelo 16. Santa Caterina ...and the rest (on islands that bear their names) 17. San Clemente 18. San Francesco del Deserto 19. San Lazzaro degli Armeni 20. San Michele in Isola San Michele Arcangelo 21. San Servolo 22. Sant'Erasmo