The Bite Magazine - Spring 2016 - Issue 15

you’re looking for somewhere livelier, the area around Rialto Bridge has souvenir stalls, the famous Rialto market and rare open spaces along the canal where you can sit at outdoor tables alongside tour- ists, students and locals while enjoying a scenic aperitivo (appetiser). Here you’ll find Casa di Goldoni, the house of 18th century playwright Carlo Goldoni, which is now a museum and has interesting his- torical elements such as an old-fashioned and multi-coloured terracotta flooring on the ground floor and small through salon (traditional ‘portego’ or lobby) on the upper floors. Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (St. Mary of the Friars) is one of the largest and greatest churches in the San Polo district. A church dedicated to the Assumption of Mary, it is here you’ll find many mas - terpieces ofVenetian Renaissance art and monuments by sculptors and artists of that time. It was in 1250 that the Fran- ciscans were granted land to build a church which was not completed until 1338.With its imposing Frari built from bricks in Italian Gothic style, the exte- rior is deliberately plain in accordance to the Franciscan’s emphasis on poverty and austerity. The interior, however, is light and spacious, and contains the only rood screen still in place in Venice with excellent examples of Renaissance art. Titian’s Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro found in the left aisle is an interesting piece simply because theVirgin was modelled after the artist’s wife who died in childbirth soon after his Assumption of the Virgin located over the main altar was unveiled in 1518. At first, the painting was not accepted by the church because of the innova- tive style and bright colours, especially the trademark red but later these fea- tures made it famous. The artist died of a plague in 1576 and was buried in a monumental tomb in the church. Other magnificent paintings include Giovanni Bellini’s 1488 triptych Madonna and Child with Saints; Bartolomeo Vivarini’s 1474 altarpiece St. Mark Enthroned and Saints John the Baptist, Jerome, Peter and Nicho- las ; the pyramid-shaped monument to sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822); and Donatello’s John the Baptist , his first documented work in Venice. Another great church to visit in San Polo is Santa Maria dei Miracoli, found tucked away near a charming canal cross- ing in a quiet corner north-west of the Rialto Bridge. This 15th century beauty is an early Renaissance church covered in polychrome marble with the canal running along one side of the church creating attractive reflections. It is said that in the 1470s an icon of the Virgin Mary performed a variety of miracles which included bringing back to life someone who had spent half an hour at the bottom of the Giudecca Canal. These reported miracles attracted many pilgrims who eventually left enough dona- tions to fund the building of the church. Using the design of local artisan Pietro Lombardo, Santa Maria dei Miracoli was built in the 1480s and Lombardo went on to become one of the founding fathers of the Venetian Renaissance.The church, recently re-opened to the public after an extensive 10-year renovation, has a picturesque location on a small square alongside a canal. Its elegant interior is intricately decorated with pink, white and grey marble and early Renaissance marble reliefs with the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary known as I Miracoli (The Miraculous) proudly displayed on the high altar.The church is also a favour- ite venue for weddings, where gondolas can be seen dropping off and picking up the newlyweds. The Rialto Bridge, which is in close proximity to San Giacomo di Rialto, the oldest church in the city, rises above the Grand Canal and connects San Polo to San Marco. Whilst San Polo transforms into a place for evening drinks at night with wine bars such as Cantina Do Mori and Naranzaria, San Marco has much more tourist sights, more energy and more nightlife activities than its neigh- bour. In San Marco, you will find famous landmarks such as Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) along with St. Mark’s Basilica, the most famous of the city’s churches known for its Italo-Byzantine architecture, located at the eastern end of the Piazza San Marco; Doge’s Palace, a palace built inVenetian Gothic style which was once the residence of the Doge of Venice and has been a museum since 1923; the Bridge of Sighs, an enclosed bridge made of white limestone and windows with stone bars which passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the New Prison to the interrogation rooms in Doge’s Palace; Santa Maria della Salute (Saint Mary of Health), a beautiful Roman Catholic church located at Punta della Dogana that was built in a bid to obtain deliverance from the plague that took Venice in 1630; and St. Mark’s Campanile, the bell tower of St. Mark’s Basilica which stands at 98.6 metres (323 feet) tall alone in a corner of St. Mark’s Square. For a better nightlife, San Marco and the rest of Venice have a number of excel- lent places where you can spend your evenings. Bacaro Jazz is a lively, upbeat bitetravel