Often seen as the living testimony of Venice's links with Byzantium, St Mark's basilica is also an expression of the city's independence. In the Middle Ages any self-respecting...

There has been a Benedictine monastery here since 982, when Doge Tribuno Memmo donated the island to the order. The monastery continued to benefit from ducal donations,...

Officially Santa Maria di Nazareth, this church is better known as Gli Scalzi after the order of Carmelitani scalzi (Barefoot Carmelites) to whom it belongs. They bought the...

A gloomy Gothic barn, the brick house of God known officially as Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari is one of the city's most significant artistic storehouses. The Franciscans were...

This church is officially Santa Maria del Rosario, but it is always known as the Gesuati, after the minor religious order that owned the previous church here. The order merged...

Venice's first great plague church was commissioned to celebrate deliverance from the bout of 1575-77. An especially conspicuous site was chosen, one that could be approached...

By the girls' orphanage of the same name, the church of La Pietà was famous for its music. Antonio Vivaldi, violin and choir master here in the 18th century, wrote some of his...

The 'Tintoretto church' was originally dedicated to St Christopher (a magnificent statue of whom stands over the main door), the patron saint of the gondoliers (who ran the...

This church has a singularly dull exterior and a heavily decorated interior, with a striking ceiling (which has been freshly restored) by the Tiepolesque painter Constantino...

San Francesco may be off the beaten track, but the long trek over to the down-at-heel area beyond the gasworks is worth it. In 1534, Jacopo Sansovino was asked by his friend...

The main entrance of San Giacomo dell'Orio faces the canal rather than the campo. The interior is a fascinating mix of architectural and decorative styles. Most of the columns...

The traditional foundation date for this church is that of the city itself: 25 March 421. It has undergone several radical reconstructions since then, the last in 1601....

Job (Giobbe) has been given saint status by Venice, despite his Old Testament pedigree. The church named after him was built to celebrate the visit in 1463 of St Bernardino of...

By the time the church of San Giorgio was begun in 1539, the Greeks were well established in Venice and held a major stake in the city's scholarly printing presses. Designed by...