Visiting Santa Maria della Salute: guide and photos

According to tradition, the Venetian saying “Ti xè bruta come ea peste” derives from the statue depicting an old toothless hag (the plague to be precise) created by the Belgian sculptor Giusto Le Court for the altar of Santa Maria della Salute.

Overlooking the San Marco basin, this majestic religious building is located on the island of Trinità, in the Dorsoduro district. Commissioned in 1631 to Baldassare Longhena as a thank you for the end of the plague epidemic that had decimated the Venetian population, construction began two years later after lengthy land consolidation interventions.

In 1653 the structure of the basilica, a splendid example of Baroque art, was completed, while in the following two decades.

Longhena, a famous architect commissioned to build other important palaces in Venice, was inspired by the buildings with a central plan typical of Palladio and Bramante. He thus raised the church with an octagonal base culminating in an enormous hemispherical dome, subsequently flanked from the second dome of smaller dimensions resting on the presbytery.

An imposing polygonal stone staircase leads to the entrance portal of the central facade, which looks like a triumphal arch. The double-leaf door is made in oak wood and covered with bronze copper plates. On both sides, three facades correspond to the six chapels, which, inside the basilica, enclose the ample central space of the plant.

The 15 modillions present highlight the dome of the religious building, emphasizing the chromatic effect of the white stone used to build it and the statues of angels, saints, and figures from the Old Testament. Most sculptural works are difficult to attribute and therefore assigned to unknown artists. Above all, of particular beauty are the Archangel St. Michael, who strikes Lucifer on the first left facade, and the St. John the Baptist on the secondary entrance on the right.

The Madonna con il Bambino, above the entrance tympanum, represents the central point of all the iconography that dominates the church and which has the glorification of Mary as its theme. The interior is solemn and bright, consisting of a large central room surrounded by columns on which the large dome rises 60 meters high from the floor. The latter represents one of the masterpieces of the Basilica della Salute as a polychrome marble mosaic characterizes it in concentric circles with the outermost bands that draw a geometric pattern to create a suggestive optical illusion effect.

The altar has an octagonal plan and depicts the expulsion of the plague with the marble statues that adorn it: in the center is the image of the Madonna della Salute, coming from the Cathedral of Candia and placed in the building in Venice in 1670. Around the altar are the six chapels, all dedicated to a mystery of the Virgin except the one with the altar of San Antonio.

The essential artistic heritages of the basilica are the altarpieces bearing the signature of Luca Giordano, Pietro Liberi and Titian. The sacristy, for example, houses twelve works by the latter artist, representing the different pictorial periods of his art, transported here from the island of Santo Spirito as well as paintings by Pala the Younger and the famous canvas by Tintoretto, the Wedding of Cana, built in 1561 for the refectory of the Crociferi Fathers.

Inside, the church also houses an organ built around 1780 by Francesco Dacci junior and then modified during the 1800s by Giacomo Bazzani: it has a facade made up of 51 pipes divided into three bays and two original keyboards.

On November 21, the Madonna della Salute is celebrated: as tradition dictates, the Venetians cross a floating bridge, once made of boats, which leads from San Marco to the basilica where they go to pray. Together with the Feast of the Redeemer, this is still today one of the most popular festivals felt by the inhabitants of the lagoon city who on this occasion used to prepare and savor a mutton-based dish called “castradina.”

Located in Fondamenta Salute, the basilica is open every day from 9 to 12 and 15 to 17.30. Free visits except for the sacristy whose entrance ticket is 3 Euros.