Santo Stefano
Open: Mon-Sat: 10-17.
The church of Santo Stefano was built in the 14th and 15th centuries for the city's Augustinian Friars. The beautiful spray of Gothic foliage, which we see above the entrance to the church, was carved in the 1430s by the workshop of Bartolomeo Bon.
The spacious interior of Santo Stefano comprises a nave, two aisles, a chancel (flanked by two chapels) and a retro-choir. The church's magnificent wooden 'ship's-keel' ceiling is one of few of its kind in Venice. The white and red colour scheme, carried out by the slender columns of Greek and Verona marble, is characteristic of Venetian Gothic churches.
Santo Stefano is the burial place of the composer Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612), whose tomb can be seen in front of the first altar in the left aisle (see right). In the nave is the large and elaborate bronze floor tomb of Doge Francesco Morosini, which was cast by Filippo Parodi. (Morosini's family palace stands in the Campo Santo Stefano).
Santo Stefano is the only church in Venice to have a canal running underneath it.
The monks' cloister survives to one side of the church and is now home to various departments of local government. The entrance to the cloister is surmounted by a fine relief of Saint Augustine flanked by monks.
The spacious interior of Santo Stefano comprises a nave, two aisles, a chancel (flanked by two chapels) and a retro-choir. The church's magnificent wooden 'ship's-keel' ceiling is one of few of its kind in Venice. The white and red colour scheme, carried out by the slender columns of Greek and Verona marble, is characteristic of Venetian Gothic churches.
Santo Stefano is the burial place of the composer Giovanni Gabrieli (1554-1612), whose tomb can be seen in front of the first altar in the left aisle (see right). In the nave is the large and elaborate bronze floor tomb of Doge Francesco Morosini, which was cast by Filippo Parodi. (Morosini's family palace stands in the Campo Santo Stefano).
Santo Stefano is the only church in Venice to have a canal running underneath it.
The monks' cloister survives to one side of the church and is now home to various departments of local government. The entrance to the cloister is surmounted by a fine relief of Saint Augustine flanked by monks.
