“Detourism”, the official Town of Venice Tourist communication Service Newsletter, today presents one of the ten “Itineraries of Venetian craftsmanship and creativity” promoted by the City of Venice as part of the pilot action of the European Project S.LI.DES “Smart strategies for sustainable tourism in LIvely cultural DEStinations”. It is the project that also inspired the Culture Route of the Su e Zo for the Bridges 2023! Enjoy your reading!
Venice’s last Scuola Grande.
THE SCUOLA DEI CARMINI, AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY VENETIAN JEWEL, WHERE YOU CAN LOSE YOURSELF IN TIEPOLO’S BLUE AND PINK SKY.
Not far from the hustle and bustle of students, Venetians and tourists, who frequent Campo Santa Margherita every day, is one of those treasures that Venice conceals from the eyes of the less observant passers-by.
On the corner of Campo Santa Margherita and Campo dei Carmini stands a Baroque building with two different facades, designed by the greatest sixteenth-century Venetian architect, Baldassare Longhena. This is the Scuola Grande dei Carmini, little known to most.
Founded in 1594 as a confraternity dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, it was elevated to the rank of scuola grande in 1767. It was the last to be given this title in Venetian history and the only one to also admit women.
The Scuola is a real treasure trove of art thanks to the nine extraordinary paintings commissioned from Giambattista Tiepolo in 1739 for the ceiling of the chapter house.
The large central canvas depicts the Madonna appearing on white clouds, as often seen in the Venetian sky, to offer St Simon Stock the Scapular, or habit, to be worn as a sign of devotion. The Assumption by Padovanino was originally to be found here, but was removed at Tiepolo’s request and is now in the Sala dell’Albergo.
The eight lateral canvases depict allegories of virtues and beatitudes, beautiful female figures surrounded by cherubs and angels. One of them is shown in the act of saving a young mason who is falling from scaffolding.
The Scuola Grande dei Carmini is a stop on the Dorsoduro itinerary, “Unmissable masterpieces and breathtaking views in an elegant and bohemian district“, one of the ten Venetian craftsmanship and creativity routes promoted by the City of Venice.
The Scuola Grande dei Carmini is also one of the places included in the “Tiepolo Sites” network: villas, palaces and churches where Giambattista Tiepolo and his sons Giandomenico and Lorenzo left their extraordinary works.
[source: La newsletter di Venezia del 27.05.2022]
[picture: Giambattista Tiepolo, “Penitenza, umiltà, verità”, Sala Capitolare, Scuola Grande dei Carmini, Venezia]
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 subscribe to the newsletter directly.
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