“Detourism: Venice newsletter”, the newsletter prepared by the Tourism Office of the Town of Venice, is sent free of charge to hundreds of subscribers every week, providing valuable food for thought and insights on the history, art and culture of Venice.
We are proud to publish some selected contents of such newsletter (see previous post: “Detourism for the Up and Down the Bridges“). On our website, in several episodes, we will only present some samples (see all posts in our archive page “Detourism Newsletter“), but the invitation addressed to all the friends of the Up and Down the Bridges is to fill in the online form proposed by the Town of Venice to receive it directly in their email box every week.
Special thanks to the Councillor for Tourism for having enthusiastically welcomed this new important collaboration between TGS Eurogroup and the Tourism Office of the Town of Venice and for giving us the precious opportunity to publish on the pages of this blog some extracts from this newsletter, both in Italian and in English.
As previously announced, (see post “Detourism: Venice’s neighbourhood”), we are currently discovering all Venetian neighbourhood, one by one! Following San Marco, Castello, Cannaregio and San Polo. it’s now time to move on to Santa Croce district. Enjoy the reading!
Santa Croce district takes its name from an ancient church demolished in 1810 to make way for the Papadopoli Gardens, one of Venice’s best green spaces.
The church of San Simeon Piccolo, characterized by its great copper-green dome, is the first monument you see when you arrive at the train station. Inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, the church has also an underground crypt, used for centuries as a cemetery, still partially unexplored.
San Zàn Degolà (it means St John the Beheaded) is one of the quietest and most secluded areas of Venice. In a corner of this campo, the ancient church of San Zàn Degolà is one of the best preserved examples of Venetian – Byzantine architecture. Some of the frescoes are thirteen-century, and no other church in Venice has frescoes that predate them.
Not far away, San Giacomo dall’Orio is a lovely campo, very popular with Venetians. Founded in the 9th century, San Giacomo dall’Orio is one of the oldest churches in Venice. It has a beautiful ship’s-keel roof and is home of many exquisite works of art, including Jacopo Palma the Younger, Lorenzo Lotto and Paolo Veronese.
Here are two secret spots in Santa Croce you can’t miss:
- one of Venice’s most beautiful gardens, the 17th century garden of Palazzo Soranzo Cappello, now the seat of a Sovrintendenza office. Some descriptions of this garden are found in the novel Il Fuoco by Gabriele d’Annunzio and The Aspern Papers by Henry James.
- Palazzo Mocenigo, a 17th century noble residence, is now the home of the Museum of Textiles, Clothing and Perfume, housing a vast collections of ancient fabrics and clothes. Take a virtual tour of the museum of Palazzo Mocenigo on Google Arts & Culture.
With its imposing Grand Canal façade, the Fontego dei Turchi (Turkish Trading House), built in the 13th century, is one of the most famous buildings in Venice. In 1621, it became the place where Turkish merchants were expected to live and do their business. Now it houses the Natural History Museum.
Since 1902, Ca’ Pesaro, a Baroque palace donated to the city by its last private owner, Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa, has been the seat of the International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice. It contains important 19th- and 20th-century collections of paintings and sculptures, including masterpieces by Gustav Klimt and Auguste Rodin (explore Ca’ Pesaro on Google Arts & Culture). On the third floor of Ca’ Pesaro, you’ll find the Oriental Art Museum (explore the Oriental Art Museum with a virtual tour).
Discover all walking tours in Santa Croce on the “Venezia Unica” web site!
[source: La newsletter di Venezia, N° 25/2020 del 14.07.2020]
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