Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Although their facade is a neoclassical job from the 1830s, these nine salt warehouses
were established in the 14th century, when the all-important salt monopoly made Venice's
fortune. Before fridges and electricity, the only way to preserve foodstuffs was to cure or
pack them in salt - and since preserved foods were essential for ocean voyages, salt was
crucial to maritime commerce. By controlling the salt trade, Venice effectively controlled
the seas for centuries.
Today's creatively repurposed salt warehouses are only fitting, now that Venice's most
precious commodity is art, not salt. Neighbouring
Spazio Vedova
(at Zattere 50) includes a
public art and performance space. Zattere warehouses not used for exhibitions are used by
the Bucintoro rowing club for storage, and serve the city as environmental initiative labs.
CHIESA DEI GESUATI
MAP
CHURCH
GOOGLE MAP
(Church of Santa Maria del Rosario;
www.chorusvenezia.org
;
Fondamenta delle Zattere 918; admission €3 or Chorus
Pass; 10am-5pm Mon-Sat; Zattere)
Venice's forecast calls for year-round sunshine inside
Giorgio Massari's baroque church. Luminous afternoon skies surrounding St Dominic in
Tiepolo's 1737-39
ceiling frescoes
are so convincing, you'll wonder whether you're wearing
enough sunscreen. Tintoretto's sombre 1565
Crucifixion
shows Mary fainting with grief -
but Sebastiano Ricci's cherubs perform comical celestial tumbling routines in the 1730-33
Saints Peter and Thomas with Pope Pius V
.
LOCAL KNOWLEDGE
SQUERO DI SAN TROVASO
ski chalet, but it's one of Venice's three working
squeri
(shipyards), with refinished gondolas drying in the yard.
When the door's open, you can peek inside in exchange for a donation left in the can by the door. To avoid start-
ling gondola-builders working with sharp tools, no flash photography is allowed.
CA' DARIO
(Ramo Ca' Dario 352; Salute)
Grand Canal palaces rank among the world's most desirable
real estate, and multi-coloured marble Gothic marvel Ca' Dario casts a mesmerising re-
flection painted by no less than Claude Monet - but there's a catch. Starting with the
daughter of its original owner, Giovanni Dario, an unusual number of Ca' Dario occu-
pants have met untimely deaths.
PALACE
