Page 149 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Venice & The Veneto

C ANNAREGIO  147

Marco Polo
Born around 1254 in the quarter of Cannaregio near the Rialto,
Marco Polo left Venice at the age of 18 for his four-year voyage to
the court of the Emperor Kublai Khan. He impressed the Mongol
emperor and stayed for some 20 years, working as a travelling diplomat.
Returning to Venice in 1295, he brought with him a fortune in jewels
and a host of spellbinding
stories about the Khan’s court.
As a prisoner of war in
Genoa in 1298 he compiled
an account of his travels, with
the cooperation of an inmate.
Translated into French, this
was to become Le Livre des
Merveilles. Despite the fact that
many Italians disbelieved his
wondrous tales of the East,
San Giovanni Grisostomo, the last work of the book was an instant
Mauro Coducci success. His nickname
became Marco Il Milione (of
9 San Giovanni the million lies); hence the
Grisostomo name of the two little court-
yards where the Polo family
Campo S Giovanni Grisostomo. lived: Corte Prima del Milion Marco Polo leaving on his travels, from a
Map 3 B5. Tel 041 523 52 93. and Corte Seconda del Milion. manuscript c.1338
4 Rialto. Open 8:15am–12:15pm,
3–7pm daily. No entry during Mass.
A notable exception, however, w Palazzo Labia
This pretty terracotta-coloured is the enchanting late Fondamenta Labia (entrance on
church is found near the Rialto. 15th-century Renaissance Campo S Geremia). Map 2 D4.
Built between 1479 and 1504, Corner Chapel on the right of Tel 041 78 11 11. 4 Ponte Guglie.
the church was the last work of the nave, believed to have been Open on request: call or email
Mauro Coducci. designed by Mauro Coducci. direzione.veneto@rai.it.
The interior, built on a Greek- The chapel contains The
cross plan, is dark and intimate. Communion of St Lucy by The Labias were a wealthy
Notable works of art include Giambattista Tiepolo (1748), the family of merchants from
Giovanni Bellini’s St Jerome with tomb of Marco Corner, probably Catalonia who bought their
Saints Christopher and Augustine by Tullio Lombardo (1511), way into the Venetian
(1513), above the first altar on and an inscription to Corner’s patrici ate in 1646. Towards
the right. Influenced by daughter, Caterina Cornaro, the end of the century they
Giorgione, this was probably Queen of Cyprus, who was built their prestigious Baroque
Bellini’s last painting. Another buried here before she was palace, with a splendid façade,
artist inspired by Giorgione was moved to the Church of on the wide Cannaregio Canal,
Sebastiano del Piombo, whose San Salvatore (see p98). close to its junction with the
St John Chrysostom and Six Grand Canal.
Saints (1509–11) hangs above In 1745–50 the ballroom
the high altar. Some believe that was frescoed by Giambattista
the figures of St John the Baptist Tiepolo. The wonderfully
and St Liberal were painted by painted scenes are taken
Giorgione himself. from the life of Cleopatra
but the setting is Venice,
and the queen’s attire is that
0 Santi Apostoli of a 16th-century noble lady.
Passed from one owner to
Campo Santi Apostoli. Map 3 B5.
Tel 041 523 82 97. 4 Ca’ d’Oro. Open another the palace gradually
10am–noon, 3–7pm daily (may vary). lost all trace of its former
grandeur and variously
The Campo Santi Apostoli is a served as a religious foundation,
busy crossroads for pedestrians Tomb of Doge Marco Corner in Santi a school and a doss-house.
en route to the Rialto or the Apostoli (Corner Chapel) Since 1964, the Palazzo Labia
railway station. Its church is has served as the office of
unremarkable architecturally q Ca’ d’Oro the Italian broadcasting
and little remains of the network, RAI, which also
16th-century building. See p148. undertook its restoration.

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