Let’s stop a second in “Campo San Geremia”, and count the well-heads: there are 4 in total, a small record among Venetian “campi”.
The church of San Geremia actually hosts the body of “Santa Lucia”, which was moved here after the church dedicated to her was destroyed to make way for the train station. Given its size, the square became a popular venue for the bull-chase, an extremely dangerous sporting event which was introduced by the Spanish ambassador, who lived only a few steps from here.
The big white baroque building to the left of the church is Palazzo Labia; it belonged to a hugely wealthy family, who enjoyed throwing fancy parties, where they would also throw silverware out of the window to impress their guests, shouting “L’abia o no l’abia, sempre sarò Labia”, a play on words which translates to “Whether I have stuff or not, I’ll always be Labia”. Apparently nets were spread below the window beforehand and servants would have to race down to collect the objects for the next party.
