Santi Apostoli
Why is it significant?
Welcome to Campo Santi Apostoli, one of the great crossroads of Venice. Everyone passes through here: people coming from the station, people heading to Rialto, people walking north to the boats for the islands.
Key Facts
| Place | Santi Apostoli |
|---|---|
| Address | Campo Santi Apostoli, Cannaregio, 30121 Venezia VE, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 45.44050, 12.33670 |
| Part of Walk | Venice Beyond the Crowds: Cannaregio and the Jewish Ghetto |
| Generated | Generated |
Welcome to Campo Santi Apostoli, one of the great crossroads of Venice. Everyone passes through here: people coming from the station, people heading to Rialto, people walking north to the boats for the islands. In the morning people queue at the bakeries, and at dusk friends meet beside the wellhead before deciding where to go for a drink. Above them all rises a tall brick bell tower, one of the landmarks of the Cannaregio skyline.
The legend of this church reaches back to the first days of the lagoon. The story goes that Saint Magnus, a bishop who had fled the invaders on the mainland, saw the twelve apostles in a vision, and they told him to build a church where he would find twelve cranes together. The building you see was largely rebuilt in the sixteenth century and remodelled again later, but the name, the Holy Apostles, keeps that old tale alive.
Inside, step into the Cappella Corner on the right. It belonged to one of the richest families of the Republic, and over its altar hangs Giambattista Tiepolo's Communion of Saint Lucy, painted around 1748. Lucy receives her last communion, pale and calm, her eyes lying on a dish beside her, while the people around her seem far more agitated than she is.
The Corner family had a famous daughter, Caterina Cornaro, who married the King of Cyprus and became its queen. After his death the Republic made sure the island passed to Venice, and gave her the little court of Asolo in exchange, a golden cage on the mainland. When she died in 1510, she was first buried here, in her family's chapel, before being moved to the church of San Salvador near Rialto.
For the last stop, leave the crowds behind. Take the calli north towards the Fondamente Nove, and look out for a white Baroque façade on a broad campo: the Jesuit church, where marble has been turned into fabric.