Sestiere Di Cannaregio - Venice and the Veneto - page 283

Jesuit church is difficult to take in all at once, with a staggering spaceship of a pulpit ,
white-and-green inlaid marble floors, and undulating marble walls crowned with gilded
stucco. Gravity is provided by Titian's uncharacteristically gloomy Martyrdom of St
Lawrence , on the left as you enter the church.
Also playing against type here is Tintoretto's Assumption of the Virgin , in the northern
transept. This image is the antithesis of Tintoretto's dark images in the Scuola Grande di
San Rocco, showing the Virgin on her merry way to heaven, with the light step of Tiepolo
and a rosy glow that nods at Titian. Interior scaffolding for essential structural reinforce-
ments may limit access and church views.

CAMPO DEI MORI
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( Madonna dell'Orto) A gent in an outsized turban called Sior Rioba has been hanging out at
the corner of Calle dei Mori since the Middle Ages. This is one of four such figures on
building facades ringing the Campo dei Mori (Square of the Moors) - a misnomer, since
these statues are believed to represent the Greek Mastelli family, 12th-century merchants
from Morea.
The Mastelli brothers became internationally notorious for their shady dealings and
eager participation in Doge Dandolo's sacking of Constantinople. According to Venetian
legend, Mary Magdalene herself turned them into stone for their hard-hearted business
dealings.

PIAZZA

PONTE DI CALATRAVA
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(Ponte della Costituzione; Piazzale Roma) Avant-garde Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's
2008 bridge over the Grand Canal has been called many things: a fish tail, a glass tongue,
unnecessary, overdue, pleasingly streamlined and displeasingly wheelchair-inaccessible.
Some prefer the bridge by night, as a ghostly streak of light reflected in the Grand Canal;
others appreciate daylight revealing its red ribbed-steel underbelly.
The bridge's €15-million cost is triple the original estimate, and includes a belatedly
tacked-on wheelchair lift. But as the round trip takes an estimated 16 minutes, plus wait-
ing time, vaporetto may remain the faster way for travellers with disabilities to cross the
canal between Piazzale Roma bus station and the Ferrovia (train station). Judge for your-
self whether the time and money has paid off, and join the ongoing debates on the bridge's
relative merits at happy hours across Venice.

BRIDGE

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