Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOP SIGHT
I FRARI (CHIESA DI SANTA MARIA GLORIOSA DEI FRARI)
As you've no doubt heard, there's a Titian - make that
the
Titian - altarpiece at I
Frari. But the 14th-century Italian-brick Gothic cathedral is itself a towering achieve-
ment, with intricate marquetry choir stalls, a rare Bellini, and a creepy Longhena fu-
neral monument. While Canova's white-marble tomb seems permanently moonlit, Ti-
tian's
Assunta
seems to shed its own sunlight.
Assunta
Like moths to an eternal flame, visitors are inexorably drawn to the front of this cavernous,
dimly lit Gothic church by a small altarpiece that seems to glow from within. This is Ti-
tian's 1518
Assunta
(Ascension), capturing the split second the radiant Madonna reaches
heavenward, finds her footing on a cloud, and escapes this mortal coil in a dramatic swirl
