Venice Grand canal and the church of Santa Maria della Salute through a misty sunrise.

---

Usually referred to as "La Salute," this 17th-century baroque church is almost directly across from the Piazza San Marco, where the Grand Canal empties into the lagoon.  The first stone was laid in 1631 after the Senate decided to honor the Virgin Mary of Good Health for delivering Venice from a plague. They accepted the revolutionary plans of a young, relatively unknown architect, Baldassare Longhena (who would go on to design, among other projects, the Ca' Rezzonico).  The only great baroque monument built in Italy outside of Rome, the octagonal Salute is recognized for its exuberant exterior of volutes, scrolls, and more than 125 statues.  A number of ceiling paintings and portraits of the Evangelists and church doctors are all by Titian. Another iconic image is Tintoretto's famous painting Marriage at Cana.

---

Size: 4800px × 3911px
Location: The Church of Santa Maria della Salute, Grand canal, Venice, Italy
Photo credit: © ian macrae young / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: academia, baldassare, baroque, boat, bridge, ca, canal, church, commemoration, della, disease, evangelists, good, grand, health, infection, italy, la, lagoon, longhena, maria, mary, ocatagonal, plague, rezzonico, salute, santa, service, tintoretto, titian, tourism, veneto., venice, virgin, vivaldi