Italian Trip Diary -- Day #15 -- Venice

Wednesday, June 27, 2001, Venice:

After early breakfast at the hotel (the waitresses were arguing – it seemed to be the thing in Venice) we took out our street map (required knapsack material in Venice) and found our way to San Zanipoli (short for St. John & St. Paul in Venetian dialect – go figure) in the tranquil 'back country' of Venice where the canals are narrow and largely empty and the tourist crowds thin out noticeably.

The façade, which is incomplete, is in a vertical gothic style done in red brick with decorative elements in multi-colored marbles.  

Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo a.k.a. San Zanipoli was begun in 1333.  It is dedicated to two
obscure Christian martyrs, not the two Apostles.  It is a Dominican preaching churches and the
burial place of 15 Doges of Venice.  Photo by Blomme-McClure.

Main door of San Zanipolo showing transition from finished marble surround and unfinished brick facade.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Unfortunately the lovely tiled piazza in front of the church (where Katherine Hephurn fell into the canal in 'Summertime') was surrounded by scaffolding.  

Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni by Andrea Verrocchio, bronze, 1486
 on Campo San Giovanni e Paolo.  Photo by Blomme-McClure 

The interior is in brick gothic with a semi-circle of lancet windows behind the altar.  

Interior of San Zanipolo has steel supporting cross beams.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

The Chapel of the Rosary on the left of the altar contains large paintings by Veronese. 

Monument of Pietro Mocenigo, Doge from 1474 to 1476, by Pietro Lombardo,
Istrian stone and marble, 1476-1481.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

There are numerous monuments and chapels dedicated to doges and other Venetian notables. 

Tryiptych in Chapel of St. Vincent Ferrier by Giovanni Bellini.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

The last chapel on the right aisle contains a notable triptych by Giovanni Bellini with St. Vincent Ferrier in the center flanked by St. Christopher and St. Sebastian (that perennial favorite of Italian painters and gays).

Triptych (detail) by Giovanni Bellini of 'St. Christopher, St. Vincent Ferrier, and St. Sebastian', oil on wood panel,
circa 1464.  Photo by Blomme McClure

By trial and error we made our way to Santa Maria dei Miracoli, a lovely small church set on a small serene campo beside a canal.  The multi-colored marble façade is composed of a bottom story with inset classical columns with a single middle door surmounted by a second story with five irregular arches supported on inset classical columns which is in turn surmounted by an enormous round arch punched with a large rose window surrounded by three smaller circular windows and two marble rosettes. 

Upper facade of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, a Venetian Renaissance gem, designed by Pietro Lombardo,
built from 1481 to 1489.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

Lower facade and entrance door of Santa Maria dei Miracoli.  The superimposed columns
and multi-colored marble are a feature of Venetian Renaissance architecture.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

It is a lovely and dynamic composition.  The interior with a single nave under the giant barrel vault is less remarkable.

From Campo dei Miracoli, we somehow made our way to another church, San Francesco della Vigna, which had some lovely art.  The main facade of the church was designed by Andrea Palladio in 1562.  

Main facade of San Francesco della Vigna, by Palladio, 1562.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

The rest of the exterior and interior of the church follows the designs of Jacobo Sansavino and was built between 1530 and 1554.

Nave and altar of San Francesco della Vigna, designed by Jacobo Sansavino.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

The church contains the Badoer-Giustinian Chapel with an altarpiece and side walls by Pietro Lombardo and his workshop that Sansavino salvaged from an earlier church on the sight.

'Saint Jerome (center) with St. Agnes, St. Michael, St. James, and St. Anthony' by Pietro Lombardo
and other members of the Lombardo family and workshop, marble, circa 1500-1530.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Panels from the former choir screen were incorporated into the walls of the chapel.

Reliefs of Old Testament kings and prophets by the Lombardo workshop with angel heads by Sansavino, in an
adaptive reuse of the choir screen of the former church.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

Detail of relief of Job (I think) by Lombardo workshop with Sansavino angel head.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

Giovanni Bellini's 'Virgin and Child with Four Saints and Donator', oil on wood, circa 1507, 
in San Francesco della Vigna.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

'Last Supper of Christ' by Girolamo da Santacroce, circa 1540.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

After San Francesco della Vigna we found our way to lunch at a table along side the canal at Trattoria ai Greci (Castello 4988, Venezia)

George (in red) and Carl (in rose) canal-side at Trattoria ai Creci.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

with a view down the canal to the leaning tower of San Giorgio dei Greci which appeared to be about to fall into the canal.

San Giorgio dei Greci with leaning Campanile.  This Greek Orthodox church was permitted by
the pope in 1539 and was completed by 1550.  The bell tower was added in 1592.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

After lunch we walked across Venice to the Accademia Bridge, passing the church of San Zaccaria on the way.

Church of San Zaccaria built in the early Venetian Renaissance style between 1458 and 1515.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

 Actually, George stopped at a cyber-café on the Campo San Stefano for about an hour to catch up on e-mail (our Italian internet connection didn’t work in either Padua or Venice) while Doug and Carl went on ahead.  The Accademia Bridge is another of the three bridges over the Grand Canal.  Unlike the Rialto, it is a wooden structure with very little grace or special presence – it just gets you across the Canal and provides a great vantage point for looking up

View up the Grand Canal from the Accademia Bridge.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

and down the Canal.

View down the Grand Canal toward Santa Maria della Salute and the Dogana.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

The Accademia has a vast collection of (mostly) Venetian art.  The paintings are often very large – many were created to be altarpieces in churches and chapels.  All of the great Venetian artists – Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto, Bellini, Lotto – are represented, sometimes by great masterpieces.  Yet, it is fascinating how some paintings by lesser artists catch the eye and remain in memory, while those selected by curators and noted by guidebooks disappoint and become dim.

George caught up with us in the galleries, allowing Doug a chance to revisit some of the works with special appeal.

Emerging from the Accademia, we found a café along the canal for refreshments and then walked through the “left bank” or Dorsoduro to Santa Maria della Salute. 

Grand Canal facade of Santa Maria della Salute designed by Baldassare Longhena.
Photo by Blomme-McClure

This Baroque church was designed by Longhena, who won a competition to build a church to celebrate the deliverance of Venice from the plague (beating out Palladio).  The church is distinguished by a huge dome supported by large snail-like buttresses that rises above an octagonal base that sits at the top of an enormous staircase ascending from the Canal.

High Altar by Longhena is centered on a Byzantine 'Madonna and Child' from the 12th or 13th
century and is topped by a Baroque sculptural group of 'The Queen of Heaven Expelling the Plague'
from 1670 by Josse de Corte, a Flemish sculptor.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

 

Interior of Santa Maria della Salute.  Photo by C. Koivuniemi

The interior seems quite austere compared to the exuberant exterior, but has a distinct charm and is a treasure house of Baroque art (probably great, but seen through eyes saturated by the works in the Accademia). 

'Descent of the Holy Ghost' by Titian, oil on canvas, 1545.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

The geometric marble floor

Marble floor in Santa Maria della Salute.  Photo by C. Koivuniemi

serves to focus the observer to the center of the church under the great dome.

Dome on octagonal drum, Santa Maria della Salute.  Photo by Blomme-McClure

We took the vaporetto from the steps of La Salute back to San Marco and thence through the Piazza to our hotel.  That evening we had dinner outside at Ristorante Al Theatro (San Marco 1916, Venezia) which sits next to the site of Venice’s opera house, La Fenice.  La Fenice burned down several years ago and is now under reconstruction.  Apparently, there have been some previous attempts to rebuild it which have ended in corruption rather than construction.

We had delicious food and were amused watching confused tourists going by with maps – many were back several times during the course of the meal.  Venice is that sort of a place and part of the fun for us was getting lost and discovering new and interesting places.