Page 147 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Venice & The Veneto

C ANNAREGIO  145

northern lagoon for one
kilometre (over half a mile),
from the solitary Sacca della
Misericordia to the Rio di
Santa Giustina in Castello on
the eastern side.
Before the construction of the
quays in the 1580s, this was a
desirable residential area where
the air was said to be healthy
and the houses had gardens
sloping down to the lagoon.
One of the residents was
Titian, who lived from 1531
to his death in 1576 in a now
The peaceful and atmospheric Fondamenta della Sensa demolished house at Calle
Larga dei Botteri No. 5182–3
3 Fondamenta of the decorative Rococo style. (a plaque marks the site).
della Sensa Executed between 1700 and Today the quaysides are
aesthetically uninspiring but
1705, relatively early in Ricci’s
Map 2 E2. 4 Madonna dell’Orto. career, these bold, foreshortened they do provide splendid views
frescoes already combine of the northern lagoon and,
When the marshy lands of the Venetian tradition with on a clear day, the peaks of
Cannaregio were drained in the flamboyant Rococo flourishes. the Dolomites. The island most
Middle Ages, three long, straight Sadly, though, the vivid colours visible from the quays is San
canals were created, running for which Ricci was known have Michele in Isola (see p157), its
parallel to each other. The been sullied by decades of dark, stately cypress trees rising
middle of these is the Rio della grime. The central painting high above the cemetery walls.
Sensa, which stretches from shows The Glory of Saint Martial,
the Sacca di Sant’Alvise at its while the side paintings relate 6 Oratorio dei
western end to the Canale della to the image of the Virgin.
Misericordia in the east. The Crociferi
Fondamenta cuts through a 5 Fondamente Campo dei Gesuiti, Cannaregio 4905.
quiet quarter of Cannaregio, Map 3 B3. Tel 041 532 29 20, bookings
where daily life goes on Nuove 041 271 9012. 4 Fondamente Nuove.
undisturbed by tourism. With its Map 3 B3. 4 Fondamente Nuove. Open 10am–1pm, 2–5pm Fri & Sat. &
small grocery shops, and simple
local bars and trattorie, the The Fondamente Nuove or Founded in the 13th century
neighbourhood feels far “New Quays” are actually over as a hospital for returning
removed from San Marco. 400 years old. This chain of Crusaders, the Oratorio dei
This is one of the poorer waterside streets borders the Crociferi (built for the order
areas of the city, though it is of the Bearers of the Cross)
interspersed with fine (but was turned into a charitable
neglected) palaces that once institution for old people
belonged to wealthy Venetians. in the 15th century.
Abbot Onorio Arrigoni lived at Between 1583 and 1591
No. 3336 with his collection of the artist Palma il Giovane,
antiques, and Palazzo Michiel commissioned by the Crociferi,
(No. 3218) is an early decorated the chapel with
Renaissance palace which a glowing cycle of paintings,
became the French Embassy. depicting the crucial events
in the history of this religious
order. The paintings suffered
4 San Marziale terrible damage in the floods
of 1966 (see p54), but were
Campo San Marziale. Map 2 F3.
Tel 041 71 99 33. 4 San Marcuola. successfully restored and
Open by appointment only. the chapel reopened in 1984.
The inscriptions on the walls
A Baroque church on medieval of some of the surrounding
foundations, San Marziale was houses in the square are
rebuilt between 1693 and those of art and craft guilds,
1721. The church is mainly such as silk weavers and
visited for the ceiling frescoes Altar of San Marziale showing tailors, whose works formerly
by Sebastiano Ricci, a painter a carving of the Virgin and Child occupied the buildings.

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