bitetravel VENICE THE CITY OF BRIDGES SAMANTHA MORGAN DISCOVERS THE HISTORICAL BEAUTY OF ROMANTIC VENICE AND ITS WATERWAYS THAT TAKE YOU ALONG THE GRAND CANAL. PHOTOGRAPHER: IAN GILLETT enice is a relatively small part of Italy Jesuates’ in the 15th century and looks where you’ll find pieces of history, out to the Giudecca canal. After they were Vstories and traditions hidden in every supressed by Pope Clement IX in 1668, corner, monument, church or museum. This the church was bought by the Dominicans wonderful city with its labyrinth of islands, in 1669. The new owners commissioned bridges, pedestrian alleys and canals is Giorgio Massari to build a much bigger renowned for its romantic flair and artistic church which took place between 1726 masterpieces. In the narrow alleyways, and 1743. Inside this awesome well-lit you’ll catch local activities such as artisans building is a façade of impressive paintings hammering out shoes, cooks whipping up by Tintoretto, Piazzetta and Tiepolo, which four-star dishes on single-burner hotplates would have you staring in awe for hours or musicians lugging 18th century cellos on end. The frescos on the ceiling are so to riveting baroque concerts. It goes amazing and the fine altarpiece in the first without saying that Venice is a walking You simply cannot go to Venice without chapel is a pure masterpiece. Its aisleless city, a place where you can spend your visiting the city’s most famous square: nave has six connecting side chapels full of afternoons wandering from palace to Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s Square) exceptional 18th century art painted by piazza, exploring small art museums, where the magnificent St Mark’s Basilica Tiepolo, including the Glory of St Dominic, checking out the stalls that line the streets stands. This gorgeous Venetian-Byzantine the Appearance of the Virgin to St Dominic or encountering a fascinating side of Venice architectural building, the most famous of and the Institution of the Rosary. The that embraces Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman the city’s churches, with its own bell tower, sculptures sitting on the curved pediment and Italian characteristics at every corner is nicknamed ‘Church of Gold’. Outside the surrounding the main entrance include you turn. This magical city described as building, you’ll find intriguing details such as the four cardinal virtues: Prudence, Justice, ‘La Serenissima’ in Italian meaning ‘the five arched portals surrounded by marble Fortitude and Temperance by sculptors most serene’, referenced Venice’s majesty, columns, large bronze doors leading to the Susali, Bonazza, Tortello and Tagliapietra. wisdom, and impressive power at a time narthex, mosaics depicting the stories of Venice sits on many islands, of which when it was for many centuries the leader St Mark’s relics, the life of Jesus including San Giorgio Maggiore is one. This isle in trade between Europe and the Orient. ‘The Last Judgement’ and the Winged Lion surrounded by Canale della Grazia, Canale Venice is full of amazing and interesting which is the symbol of Italy. Inside the della Giudecca, Saint Mark’s Basin, Canale places to visit and discover, such as church, the marble floors are arranged di San Marco and the southern lagoon, the Grand Canal, a major water-traffic in a geometric pattern with interspersed can only be reached by public water boat corridor where the majority of the city’s animal designs, while gilded mosaics cover or taxi boat. The Church of San Giorgio travel is done by water buses, private the walls and ceilings which depict both the Maggiore was designed by Palladio in boats, water taxis and gondolas. The canal Old and New Testament, and the stories the 16th century and has a bell tower snakes through the city in a large ‘S’ shape of the Virgin Mary, St Peter, St Clement, (dating from 1791) with a ring of nine and begins at the Saint Mark Basin all the St John the Evangelist and St Mark. The bells in C#. Inside this fascinating church, way down to a lagoon near the Santa Lucia other buildings surrounding the square you’ll find paintings by Tintoretto, Jacopo rail station. One of the thrills of going on include Doge’s Palace, a beautiful 15th Palma il Giovane, Sebastiano Ricci and the Grand Canal is travelling by gondola, century gothic building that was once the Carpaccio. Today, the isle is known as the where you’ll pass Venice’s many buildings, seat of power for the Venetian Republic. headquarters of the Cini Foundation arts most of which were built between the 13th This lavish complex, once the resident of centre and its library, and is also home and 18th century. The canal crosses four the Doge (ruler of Venice) contained law to the Teatro Verde open-air theatre. bridges: Rialto Bridge, the oldest and most courts, administrative offices, courtyards, Another island is San Michele which has famous, which was originally built in 1180 grand stairways and ballrooms, and even a stunning white church (San Michele of and then re-constructed in 1591 using the prisons on the ground floor. Also, in the Isola) and a cemetery where some of the design of Antonio da Ponte, a Swiss-born square, you’ll find the National Library of famous Venetians are buried. This small Venetian architect. Scalzi Bridge, named St Mark’s, the Museum of Archaeology and island known as Venice’s Island of the Dead after Chiesa degli Scalzi, meaning ‘church the Correr Museum. In between Doge’s is surrounded by a terracotta brick wall of the barefoot monks’ was built in 1934. Palace and the Library, is the Piazzetta with cypress trees peering over the wall Academy Bridge, originally built in the San Marco with its two columns that pays and a grand entrance with three arched mid-19th century, gets its name from the homage to two of Venice’s patrons – St gates and white steps disappearing into Galleria dell’Accademia, one of the top Mark and St Theodore of Amasea. This the water. To say it has a sense of serenity museums in Venice, at which it crosses was also the place where criminals were would be an understatement and is often the canal. Calatrava Bridge, the newest executed until the 18th century. referred as one of Venice’s best-kept and most controversial bridge, due to its Another fascinating church to visit in secrets seeing as most tourists continue modern appearance and construction in Venice is Gesuati Church, also known as on the boat to Murano. If you do decide steel and glass, was completed in 2008 Santa Maria del Rosario (Saint Mary of to stop off and wander through its tranquil and designed by Spanish architect Santiago the Rosary). This 18th century Dominican and surreal cemetery, you’ll find that it’s Calatrava. church was originally founded by ‘the poor extremely quiet with the odd birdsong and .