Guarding the entrance to the Grand Canal, this 17th-century domed church was commissioned by Venice?s plague survivors as thanks for salvation. Baldassare Longhena's uplifting design is an engineering feat that defies simple logic; in fact the church is said to have mystical curative properties. Titian eluded the plague until age 94, leaving 12 key paintings in the basilica's art-slung sacristy.
Longhena's marvel makes good on an official appeal by the Venetian Senate directly to the Madonna in 1630, after 80,000 Venetians had been killed by plague brought in by a carpenter working on Venice's quarantine island, the Lazzaretto Vecchio. The Senate promised the Madonna a church in exchange for her intervention on behalf of Venice ? no expense or effort spared. Before 'La Salute' could even be started, at least 100,000 pylons had to be driven deep into the barene (mud banks) to shore up the tip of Dorsoduro.
TAKEN FROM THE TOP OF THE CAMPANILE