| Chiesa degli Scalzi Church of the bare-footed monks | |
|---|---|
 The facade of Scalzi | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Year consecrated | 1705 |
| Status | Active |
| Location | |
| Location | Venice, Italy |
| Geographic coordinates | 45°26′28.10″N 12°19′21.49″E / 45.4411389°N 12.3226361°E |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Baldassare Longhena |
| Type | Church |
| Style | Baroque |
| Groundbreaking | 1656 |
| Completed | 1689 |
| Direction of façade | South |
The Chiesa degli Scalzi (English: Church of the bare-footed monks), commonly called Scalzi, is a 17th century Roman Catholic church located in the Cannaregio sestiere of the Italian city of Venice. The church was designed by the architect Baldassare Longhena and was constructed between 1656 and 1689. It has a Baroque facade which faces the Grand Canal and the Ponte degli Scalzi. The church has a campanile and, until the building of the railway station, also had a monastery attached. In 1915 a mis-directed Austrian bomb, intended for the railway station, struck the church resulting in significant damage to a large cieling painting by Tiepolo and resulted in a partial rebuild. The interior also follows the Baroque style and is highly decorated with extensive usage of dark marble. It is noted for the large numbers of sculptures it contains, as well as the minor frescos by Tiepolo in two of the side chapels. The last Doge of Venice, who was deposed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1797, is buried here. The church is open to the public daily and remains one of the most popular places of worship in Venice.
History
editIn 1633 the order of the Barefoot Carmelites, known in Italy as the Scalzi, arrived in Venice. The Scalzi were a very strict branch of the Carmelite order.[1] Through extensive missionary work in the Peloponnese they had earnt the favour of both the nobility and the army (soldiers who had fought in the Greek war) and as a result had patricians competing to pay for different parts of a new church building. One donor was Conte Girolamo Cavazza, a new member of the patriciate, who wanted to rival the older, established Venetian families and so donated large amounts of money to the order.[1]
In 1649 the Scalzi contracted the architect Baldassare Longhena, who was at the time working on the Salute church, to build a monastery and church for the order. They had obtained land at the western end of the Grand Canal and wished to dedicate a church to Saint Mary of Nazareth. Finance came from Cavazza and construction began in 1656. In 1682 Longhena died and the work had to be continued by a Carmelite architect called Giuseppe Pozzo. By 1689 the church was completed and 16 years later, in 1705 it was finally consecrated.[2]
The adjacent monastery was closed down in 1810, but the Scalzi returned in 1840. Eventually the monastery buildings were destroyed when the railway station was built on adjacent land.[2]
The church of Scalzi is described by Hugh Honour in his Companion Guide To Venice as one of the most popular in Venice.[1]
Exterior
editThe church's facade, which faces the Grand Canal, was built between 1672 and 1680 and designed by Giuseppe Sardi.[1] As with the rest of the building, it was financed by Cavazza at a cost of 74,000 ducats.[1] It is designed in the baroque style with semi-clothed saints attributed to Bernardo Falcone.[2] It is made of white Carrara marble.[3]
The church has a 37 metres (121 ft) high campanile with electromechanical bells. It was designed by Longhena and has a hexagonal drum topped by an onion dome.[2]
Interior
editThe interior continues in the Baroque style, dominated by dark marble and highly opulent.[1] It contains many statues and there are paintings on every available surface. After its construction the centrepiece was a cieling painting by Tiepolo titled The Transport of the Holy House to Loreto. This was damaged by an Austrian bomb, aimed at the adjacent railway station, which struck the church on 17 October 1915.[1] Fragments of the painting are now in the Accademia.[2]
Rather than aisles, the church has a set of connected chapels on either side of the nave. Two of these chapels have minor frescoes painted by Tiepolo.[1] Above the high altar is a baldachin by Giuseppe Pozzo, consisting of twisting columns and adorned with statues of reclining sibyls by Giovanni Marchiori.[2] The art critic John Ruskin said of the marble interior that it was "a perfect type of the vulgar abuse of marble in every possible way, by men who had no eye for colour, and no understanding of any merit in a work of art".[4]
The last Doge of the Republic of Venice, Lodovico Manin who was deposed by Napolean in 1797, is buried in the church.[2]
Artwork
editThe church housed a cieling fresco by Tiepolo titled Translation of the Holy House until a bomb, intended for the railway station, struck the church on 17 October 1915. In 1934 the Italian artist Ettore Tito painted the repaired ceiling.[1] Both George Eliot and John Ruskin mentioned in their writings a Bellini painting, possibly a Madonna, which no longer resides in the church.[2]
The church contains many sculptures, including statues of Saint John of the Cross and Saint Sebastian by Bernardo Falcone dating from the 1660s. There is also a work imitating the famous grouping in Rome titled Ecstasy of Saint Theresa by Heinrich Meyring.[1]
Citations
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Honour, Hugh. The Companion Guide To Venice. pp. 214–215.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Cotton, Jeff. "The Churches of Venice - Cannaregio". www.churchesofvenice.co.uk. Retrieved 02 August 2010.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Steves, Rick (2007). Venice. Avalon Travel. p. 47.
- ^ Ruskin, John (2007). The Stones of Venice. Vol. 3. Cosimo Classics. p. 347. ISBN 978-1-60206-703-5.
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