Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
of St Mark prowl above the portals, while sculpted
trompe l'œil
perspectives beguile the
eye.
The
scuola
now serves as the main entrance to the Ospedale Civile, the city's public
hospital. You are welcome to peek inside at the ancient hall with its beamed ceiling held
up by two ranks of five columns. However, sightseeing among the sick is considered poor
form.
OSPEDALETTO
MAP
CHURCH
GOOGLE MAP
( 041 271 90 12;
www.scalabovolo.org
;
Barbaria delle Tole 6691; guided visits for groups €60; by reservation
only; Ospedale)
This Ruskin-baiting baroque affair, which the celebrated art critic thought
'the most monstrous example of the Grotesque Renaissance…in Venice' was, like
Vivaldi's Pietà (
Click here
), famous for its female musicians. The accomplished girls
came from the adjoining orphanage and hospice, designed by Antonio Sardi, and played
amid the trumpeting angels of Baldassare Longhena's 1660s chapel, complete with music
room.
In the recently restored
Sala da Musica
, charming
trompe l'oeil
frescoes by Jacopo Guar-
ana and Antonio Mengozzi Colonna adorn the ceiling and walls showing the orphaned
girls performing in celebrated concerts. In one, a girl bends down to feed her pet grey-
hound what appears to be a doughnut.
The smallest of Venice's four historic hospices (hence the nickname, 'Small Hospital'),
the complex is now owned by IRE, a public institution that still runs homes for the eld-
erly. At the time of writing, restoration on the church continues and it remains open by ap-
pointment only. Reserve at least a week in advance.
CHIESA DI SAN FRANCESCO DELLA VIGNA
MAP
CHURCH
GOOGLE MAP
( 041 520 61 02;
www.sanfrancescodellavigna.it
; Campo San Francesco della Vigna 2786; 9.30am-12.30pm &
3-6pm Mon-Sat, 3-6pm Sun; Celestia, Ospedale)
F
Designed and built by Jacopo Sansovino with
a facade by Palladio, this enchanting Franciscan church is one of Venice's most underap-
preciated attractions. The Madonna positively glows in Bellini's 1507
Madonna and
Saints
in the
Cappella Santa
, just off the flower-carpeted
cloister
, while swimming angels and
strutting birds steal the scene in the delightful
Virgin Enthroned,
by Antonio da Negro-
ponte (c 1460-70). Bring €0.20 to illuminate them.
Palladio and the Madonna are tough acts to follow, but father-son sculptors Pietro and
Tullio Lombardo make their own mark with their 15th-century marble reliefs that recount
