Summer trip to Italy 2013 Day 9

I can’t believe this was not only going to be our last day in Venice, but our last day in Italy. How can anyone ever want to leave this magical country? Trust me it was not easy, but we still had one wonderful day left and we definitely made the most of it.

First off was breakfast.

I was really going to miss all those wonderful breakfasts.

On our way out, I had this great idea to take some pictures from our hotel balcony.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones to have had this grand idea because I saw somebody else doing it from a different hotel.

Next we made our way over to the Rialto Bridge.

The Rialto Bridge is the most famous of the bridges that cross over the Grand Canal, there are four bridges in total, including the Accademia Bridge that we walked over on our first day in Venice. This area has always had a bridge and for hundreds of years, this was the only place you could cross over the Grand Canal on foot. The bridge opened in 1591 and was built by Anthony da Ponte, whose name appropriately translates to mean “Anthony of the Bridge”.

Since, we were so close, we had to go check out the Rialto Market.

Records tell us that the Venice Market has taken place here since 1097. This is the place where the locals do their shopping.

The market has everything you can think of when it comes to fresh food. It’s a very lively place and just a tad bit on the smelly side when you get close to the fish stalls.

We then made our way over to Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, a church that is considered one of the greatest church’s in Venice.

The church dates back to the thirteenth century and houses many masterpieces of Venetian Renaissance art.

This is the only statue by Donatello that is left in Venice.

Titian modeled the Virgin after his wife, who sadly passed away shortly afterward during childbirth.

Titian also painted the Assumption of the Virgin on the high alter.

This was Titian’s first major commission in Venice and is the largest alterpiece in the city.

Titian is also buried here.

A burial memorial for Antonio Canova, built by his students from his design, is also found here.

His heart is preserved in a barely-visible porphyry urn behind the open door, although the rest of him is buried in Possagno, with a finger said to be in the Accademia. I’m not for sure why he was split into separate pieces for burial.

It was now time for a much needed coffee break and I found the perfect place. I can’t believe that I didn’t come across this place until our last day.

I’m not even for sure what I ordered, but it was so yummy!

With some caffeine flowing through our veins, we walked over to the Confraternity of St. Roch.

Built in the sixteenth century, the Confraternity holds the world’s largest collection of paintings by Jacopo Tintoretto.

Tintoretto didn’t exactly play fair when he tried to win the commission for decoration of the entire Confraternity. Instead of preparing a sketch depicting the Glory of St. Roch for the judges like everyone else, he went ahead and finished the painting and secretly installed it in the ceiling of the Sala dell’Albergo off the second-floor hall. The judges were impressed and offered him the commission. Over the next twenty three years, he filled the two floors with more than fifty amazing works.

You are given a mirror upon entering this room, so you can enjoy the paintings without getting a kink in you neck.

Next, after a little bit of walking, we came upon the most beautiful church in Venice, Santa Maria dei Miracoli Church.

Santa Maria dei Miracoli is known as the “marble church” and is one of the best examples of the early Venetian Renaissance. When we entered, I was blown away by the simple beauty and simplicity of this little church. I actually had to just set down and take it all in. This is also where the Venetians like to get married.

The church was built to house the miraculous image of the Virgin Mary, known as I Miracoli (The Miraculous). It is said that when Nicolò di Pietro’s Madonna icon started miraculously weeping in its outdoor shrine around 1480, crowd control became impossible in the cramped corner of Cannaregio.The citizens of this area took a collection to build the church to house the painting and its admirers.

I really loved this church, I was in awe the whole time I was there. There was something very special about this church and it just made you feel good being in there.

The last church on our list happened to be one of the largest in the city, Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Basilica of Saint John and Paul). After the 15th century the funeral services of all of Venice’s doges were held here, and a total of twenty-five doges are buried in the church.

The inside of the church is quite stunning and is known as the Pantheon of Venice.

The church’s chief relic is the foot of Saint Catherine of Siena.

Her body is buried inside the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva and her head and thumb are entombed in the Basilica of San Domenico.

We were done with exploring the church’s for the day, so it was time to get a little bit of shopping in and just enjoy our last day.

I was so excited that I found the Disney store in Rome, Florence, and now Venice!

After we got a few hours of shopping in, we sat down for our last meal in Italy.

At this point in our trip we were both pretty stuffed, but we couldn’t pass up one last scoop of gelato.

I may have cried a little bit over this being my last gelato.

We had an amazing time in Italy and I can’t wait for our next trip!

If you would like any additional information on visiting Venice, please contact me at: [email protected]

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