As you enter the Grand Canal, the first thing you’ll see is the church of the “Madonna della Salute”. In the 17th century, the Black Death had wiped out two-thirds of Venice’s population, and when the Plague was finally over, the Doge decided to build a church in honour of the Madonna as a thanksgiving token. The task of building it went to Baldassare Longhena, who was only 26 at the time, and would become the most important baroque architect in Italy.
The Salute is strategically placed at the entrance of the Grand Canal, looking out to the rest of the city in every direction, and especially in direct opposition to the Basilica of Saint Mark’s.
Longhena chose the circular shape as if to offer a crown to the Madonna, adding all its statues, buttresses and scrolls magnifying the pomposity of its architecture.
Today, every 21st of November Venice celebrates the Madonna della Salute in memory of the end of the plague, a religious occasion which becomes a special day for the people to celebrate an all-Venetian event with a small funfair in the piazza outside the church.
