Campo Santa Margherita
Why is it significant?
Look down the length of Campo Santa Margherita. It is hardly a square at all, but a long, wobbly, comfortable space, with benches under the trees, students with laptops, old men arguing, and in the morning a fish stall or two.
Key Facts
| Place | Campo Santa Margherita |
|---|---|
| Address | Campo Santa Margherita, Dorsoduro, 30123 Venezia VE, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 45.43460, 12.32400 |
| Part of Walk | Art on the Water: Dorsoduro, the Accademia and the Zattere in Venice |
| Generated | Generated |
Look down the length of Campo Santa Margherita. It is hardly a square at all, but a long, wobbly, comfortable space, with benches under the trees, students with laptops, old men arguing, and in the morning a fish stall or two. In the middle sits a small, lonely building, like an island in a river of people.
That little building was the guild hall of the varoteri, the furriers, who prepared skins and furs for the wealthy of Venice. It stands on its own because the guilds liked to be seen, and a house in the middle of a campo is about as visible as you can get. Venice ran on its guilds: every trade, from glassblowers to gondola builders, had its own rules, its own saint and its own hall.
At the northern end of the campo, find the stump of a bell tower and the shell of the former church of Santa Margherita, now a lecture hall of the university. Look for the carved dragon near the corner. Margaret of Antioch, the story goes, was swallowed by a dragon and burst out of its belly unharmed thanks to the cross she was holding... which made her the patron saint of women in childbirth.
Since the students of Ca' Foscari and the architecture university moved in, this has become the evening campo of Venice. People spill out of the bars with a spritz, a drink born in this part of Italy, and the noise of voices rises until late. The story goes that it began in the nineteenth century, when Austrian soldiers found the local wine too strong and asked for a splash of water in it. In the morning the campo turns back into a neighbourhood market, with fruit, vegetables and fish from the lagoon.
It is the same campo used in two completely different ways in less than twelve hours, and that is very Venetian. Now walk to the far end, take the bridge over the canal and the short calle beyond it. In two minutes you reach a church with a rough, unfinished brick façade. Do not judge it by the outside.