Architecture in Venice: From the Renaissance to Carlo Scarpa

Mid-morning flight from London to Venice. Transfer by water-taxi from the airport to the four-star Hotel Saturnia in the heart of Venice. After settling in our rooms, we will set out on a short orientation-walk around the hotel and St Mark’s square.

We will start our journey through the history of Venice’s architecture from its origins to the 15th century. Our morning visits will include the Corte del Milion and the byzantine-style buildings known today as the house of Marco Polo. We then walk on to the Rialto district to visit the charming San Giovanni Crisostomo, a Greek-cross church designed in 1480s by the architect Mauro Codussi in the new Renaissance style. After lunch we continue to visit the precious marble church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, built in the 1480s to house a miraculous image of the Virgin, and the façade of the Scuola di San Marco, a masterpiece of Venetian Renaissance art by Pietro Lombardo and Codussi.

In the morning we will explore the district of San Marco starting with the Piazza and focusing on the Torre dell’Orologio, the Procuratorie Nuove, the Loggetta and the Marciana Library by Jacopo Sansovino. A short walk will take us to the Church of San Zaccaria by Codussi, one of the earliest architects of the Serenissima in the new Renaissance style. After lunch we continue to Palazzo Grimani, one of the jewels of Renaissance Venetian architecture. A short walk within the district of Castello will lead us to admire the entrance arch of the Arsenale, the very first public monument in Renaissance style in Venice, which became a manifesto of the architecture and a status symbol of the Serenissima. Return to the hotel for some free time before regrouping for an exclusive private evening visit to the Basilica di San Marco.

The Counter-Reformation found its perfect expression in Venice in the monumental and serene ecclesiastical architecture of Andrea Palladio: at San Giorgio Maggiore and at the Redentore, Palladio provided harmoniously designed churches catering for the requirements of the Catholic Church in the wake of the Council of Trent. In the former Monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore, enjoy a private visit to admire the cloisters designed by Palladio and the double staircase by Longhena. In the afternoon, our journey continues through the Baroque period of Venice’s architecture with visits to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, the masterpiece of Baldassare Longhena. A short boat trip across the Grand Canal will take us to Santa Maria del Giglio, with its extraordinary Baroque façade glorifying the patrician Venetian Barbaro family. On our way back to the hotel we will walk past San Moisè with its elaborate and controversial Baroque façade.

Our morning visits through Venice’s 18th century architecture will take us by Giannantonio Selva’s Teatro della Fenice, one of the Serenissima’s last public building projects, originally constructed in 1792, and twice destroyed by fire, most recently in 1996. Only the original façade survived, and the opera house was rebuilt and opened once again to the public in 2004. In the afternoon, at the Museum Querini Stampalia we will visit the garden and the ground-floor Portego, designed by Carlo Scarpa, the famous Venetian architect of the mid-20th Century. We then continue to the Negozio Olivetti in St Mark’s Square, another of Carlo Scarpa’s creations.

On our last morning we will go to The Punta della Dogana (originally the Customs House of the Serenissima), built between 1677 and 1682 and in use until the end of the 19th century. In 2008 the Japanese architect Tadao Ando was commissioned to renew it without altering the exterior and to ensure that the interior space would be preserved. Using original materials and technological advances Ando adapted the building to its current use, housing the private contemporary art collection of François Pinault. After lunch we will transfer by water taxi to Venice airport for a late afternoon flight to London.