SS. Apostoli – Palazzo Falier – I Gesuiti – I Crociferi – S. Caterina – S. Maria dell’Orto – S. Marziale – Palazzo Giovanelli
(Admission to Palazzo Giovanelli by application to the British Consul, Traghetto S. Felice, Grand Canal.)

From the Ca’ d’Oro pier on the Grand Canal, a narrow calle opens into the broad Corso Vittorio Emanuele. Turning right, we reach the Church of SS. Apostoli. Admirers of Tiepolo will pause before St. Lucy Receiving the Sacrament before her Martyrdom in the Cappella Corner, to the right of the entrance. Nearby stand two refined family monuments in the finest Lombardi style. To the left of the choir hangs a Veronese school painting, The Fall of Manna. Opposite the church, incorporated into the palazzo over the Ponte SS. Apostoli, are the remains of Marino Falier’s house.

I Gesuiti and I Crociferi

Northeast of the campo rises the Church of I Gesuiti, built in 1715 on the site of the ruined Crociferi church. Its interior, lavish with marble and verde antico inlay, reflects the heavy taste of its age. In the first chapel on the left hangs Titian’s Martyrdom of St. Lawrence (1558), painted under the influence of Michelangelo. Once celebrated as one of his most remarkable works, time has darkened it almost beyond legibility. The church also preserves an Assumption by Tintoretto.

Nearly opposite stands the Oratory of the Crociferi, housing Palma Giovane’s Doge Cigogna Visiting the Oratory and six further works in his finest manner. A Flagellation by Tintoretto and a ceiling Assumption by Titian complete the ensemble. The adjoining monastery buildings, still marked by the three crosses of the order, now serve as barracks.

S. Caterina

Crossing back over the campo and walking along the fondamenta Zen, we reach the small Church of S. Caterina. Here, Veronese’s beautifully preserved Marriage of St. Catherine commands full attention—one of the most satisfying achievements of the later Venetian school. Other works by Palma Giovane and Tintoretto are present, yet it is Veronese who defines the space.

S. Maria dell’Orto

In the quieter northwest quarter of the city stands S. Maria dell’Orto. Over the first altar in the right aisle is Cima’s Baptist with Saints Peter, Mark, Jerome, and Paul, framed in marble by Leopardi. In the third chapel on the left is Tintoretto’s Presentation at the Temple, and in the Cappella Contarini his St. Agnes—both heavily restored. Ruskin lamented the condition of the former as “a ghastly ruin and a disgrace to modern Venice.”

In the choir, Tintoretto’s monumental canvases, The Last Judgment and The Worship of the Golden Calf, demand deliberate and patient study. Vasari admired their formidable invention yet criticized their execution, suggesting they appeared painted da burla—in jest. Near the entrance, a Pietà by Lorenzo Lotto and an early, heavily repainted Virgin and Child by Giovanni Bellini deserve notice. Above the sacristy door hangs a restored miracle-working half-figure of the Virgin and Child, discovered in a garden in 1577 and giving the church its present name—Our Lady of the Garden. Verrocchio, Leopardi, and Tintoretto were buried here; many tombs were later defaced when the church served as a military store in 1855.

S. Marziale and the Path to Palazzo Giovanelli

Moving southward, we arrive at S. Marziale, home to Titian’s Tobias and Tintoretto’s final work, depicting the patron saint with Saints Peter and Paul. From Campo S. Marziale we cross the Ponte Zancani and Ponte S. Fosca, noting the marble footmarks on the bridge’s crown, and pass the statue of Paolo Sarpi near the site of his attempted assassination.

A short distance along Corso Vittorio Emanuele stands Palazzo Giovanelli, a restored patrician mansion recalling the grandeur of the Ducal Palace period. Its interior is richly adorned and contains perhaps the most precious Giorgione in Venice: the so-called Family of Giorgione, described by a contemporary as “a stormy landscape with a gipsy and soldier.”

In the foreground stands a youthful figure holding a staff, poised between knight and peasant. To the right, a young mother nurses her child on a sunlit meadow. A mountain stream flows through the centre, crossed by a rustic bridge. Beyond rises the walled city of Castelfranco, Giorgione’s birthplace, dark beneath storm clouds split by lightning. The luminous foreground and brooding sky speak of the vicissitudes of human existence. Broken classical columns heighten the poetic melancholy of this early masterpiece—one of the first landscapes infused with human emotion.

The gallery also includes a portrait by Antonello da Messina, a Santa Conversazione by Paris Bordone, a battle scene by Tintoretto, a portrait by Titian, and a painting attributed by Berenson to Catena. In the ballroom, fine Venetian mirrors complete the experience.