Sant'Elena

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The red-brick Gothic church of Sant'Elena contains no great works of art (the church was deconsecrated in 1807, turned into an iron foundry, and not opened again until 1928) but its austere Gothic nakedness is a relief after all that Venetian ornament. The main body of the church was being restored at the time of writing. The only part that could be visited was the chapel to the right of the entrance containing the body of St Helen, the irascible mother of the Emperor Constantine and finder of the True Cross. (Curiously enough, her body is also to be found in the Aracoeli church in Rome.) To the left are the charming cloisters and rose garden tended by the three monks left in the monastery.