La Festa della Salute is held every November. A bridge is erected to allow Venetians to visit the Salute church to give thanks
In the first half of the 17th century a terrible plague broke out in Northern Italy. The Duke of Mantua was faced with the total extermination of his city, so in an act of desperation he sent ambassadors to Venice to seek help from their ally. The Serenissima, honouring the pact of mutual need, received the ambassadors, but quarantined them on the uninhabited island of San Servolo. Unfortunately the disease was carried to Venice by a carpenter, who was sent to prepare accommodation for the dignitaries. The spread of the infection was phenomenal. In the week following the death of the carpenter - and all his family - there were ten more deaths in the immediate neighbourhood, and a hundred in the city itself. In a very short time, in spite of the restrictions set by the authorities, the population was decimated. The Doge and most of his family perished, as the disease did not distinguish aristocrats from commoners, not forgiving monks and priests. The failure of every medicine known drove the government and people to look to religion to save them. A procession was organised in which almost all 10,000 survivors participated. They walked incessantly around Piazza San Marco for three days and nights, with torches and votive statues. Finally a pronouncement was made that, if the city escaped total devastation, they would build a temple of a size and beauty never seen before. In the following week the progress of the epidemic slowed, and within two weeks it diminished altogether. Respecting the pronouncement, the location of the church was quickly decided upon. It was to be at the Custom's Port, where some buildings had just been demolished. Baldassare Longhena, a young architect whose style was known as the new Baroque, was chosen by competition to head the project. The foundation needed to be reinforced with more than 300,000 posts in order to support the weight of the enormous marble structure. The edifice was finished in about twenty years, and became an exemplary
Size: 4200px × 2795px
Location: Venice, Italy
Photo credit: © John Heseltine / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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