Santa Maria Formosa

Open: Mon-Sat: 10-17. €3. 
​Map. 

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The church of Santa Maria Formosa originally dates back to the 7th century when, according to legend, the Madonna appeared to Saint Magnus, Bishop of Oderzo, in the form of a shapely or buxom (formosa) woman.

The church, which was the first in Venice to be dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was rebuilt in the 11th century and again between 1492 and 1504 when the architect was Mauro Codussi. Codussi died before the exterior was completed and the church was later graced (architects unknown) with not one but two façades, one facing the canal (1542) and the other facing the campo (1604). Both façades were financed by members of the Cappello family.  

The church is entered through the façade facing the canal. The interior takes the form of a Greek cross (with a central dome), with one arm extended an extra bay to form the nave. 

Not to be missed: 

• The Polyptych of St Barbara (c. 1523) by Palma Vecchio, which was commissioned by the Scuola dei Bombardieri (gunners). Saint Barbara was the gunners' patron saint and the marble frame of the altarpiece is carved with the tools of their trade.
• The brightly coloured triptych by Bartolomeo Vivarini, whose central scene depicts the Madonna della Misericordia (1473). 
• The Virgin and Saints Mark and Magnus (c. 1710) by Giulia Lama (1681-1747), one of the very few female Venetian painters. 

Above the entrance to the church's campanile (1688), there is a carving of a grotesque head, which Peter Ackroyd, in his book Venice: Pure City, claims 'is the exact representation of the face of one suffering from neuro-fibromatosis or von Recklinghausen's disease.'

The head is an example of a scacciadiavoli, a device to frighten away devils and other evil spirits. 

Santa Maria Formosa

Interior of Santa Maria Formosa

Statue of Vettor Cappello, Santa Maria Formosa

Sciacciadiavoli, Santa Maria Formosa