Like many early churches in Venice, this too originally came from an apparition in a dream. The Bishop Alberto Magno arrived in Venice in the 7th century AD, and allegedly dreamt that the Holy Mary had told him to look out for a cloud stopping still in the sky; wherever its shadow beat on was where the church should have been built. Since the priest only talked of a form of the Madonna in his dream, the church acquired the name of Formosa, although formosa also means ‘shapely’ in Italian and it’s been suggested the name comes from a lost painting of a rather buxom-looking Madonna.
Like many churches, Santa Maria Formosa was built at various intervals, you’ll notice the main façade looking onto the campo is 18th century baroque in style, whereas the entrance on the canal side is more classical, and so somewhat earlier. If you’re on this side, you’ll see a grotesque head above the entrance which was built to fight off the devil, who wanted to enter the church and bang on the bells in the tower to create chaos amongst the people, since the day’s work schedule was broken down according to well-established bell tolls.
