Campo San Giacomo dall'Orio: Where the Spritz Begins
Why is it significant?
Walk into one of the largest and most lived-in squares in Venice: trees, benches, children on scooters, old men on folding chairs, a dog asleep in the sun, and in the middle an ancient church that seems to have grown out of the ground rather than been built.
Key Facts
| Place | Campo San Giacomo dall'Orio: Where the Spritz Begins |
|---|---|
| Address | Campo San Giacomo dall'Orio, Santa Croce, 30135 Venezia VE, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 45.44010, 12.32740 |
| Part of Walk | Fish, Wine and Cicchetti: Venice's Rialto Markets and the Bacari of San Polo |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk into one of the largest and most lived-in squares in Venice: trees, benches, children on scooters, old men on folding chairs, a dog asleep in the sun, and in the middle an ancient church that seems to have grown out of the ground rather than been built. The campo has no grand view at all, and that is its gift.
The church is San Giacomo dall'Orio, and nobody is quite sure what the name means. Some say it comes from a laurel tree, lauro, that once grew here; others from an old word for firm, dry ground in the marsh. Inside, look up: the wooden ceiling is shaped like the upturned hull of a ship, made by craftsmen who knew how to build boats. And look for a column of polished green marble, said to have come, like so much in Venice, from Constantinople.
This is the perfect place to talk about the drink in everybody's hand at six o'clock: the spritz. The usual story begins in the nineteenth century, when Venice was ruled by Austria. Soldiers and officials from the north found the local wines too strong, and asked for a splash of water in them... spritzen, in German, means to spray. A glass of white wine lightened with water: that was the first spritz.
Then came soda water, and in the twentieth century the bitter liqueurs that turned it orange and red: Aperol, created in Padua in 1919, and Select, born in Venice in 1920, the bitter many Venetian bars still prefer. Order a spritz in a bacaro and you may be asked which bitter you want, and a green olive on a stick is the traditional finishing touch.
In the evening this campo is where Santa Croce gathers: kids playing football against the church walls, parents with a spritz keeping half an eye on them. Sit down for a while; nobody will hurry you. Then take the alleys north toward the Grand Canal again, to a waterfront with one of the darkest legends in the city.