The Miracoli walk is relatively compact and has a good variety of sights, taking in many historic places and one of the prettiest church buildings in the city.  This walk matches well with the Goldoni (1) and Pescaria (5) walks in the two neighbouring sestiere of San Marco and San Polo if you want to wander the ‘inner city’.  These three walks total 4.2 km and traverse good shopping areas.

The start point of this walk is a place that you could easily get distracted in and do a lot of shopping – Fondaco dei Tedeschi, which is the former trading place and living quarters for the city’s German merchants, originally built in 1228 but reconstructed in 1505-08 after being destroyed by a fire.  It is now a luxury shopping destination which also has a rooftop bar that has excellent views across the Grand Canal.  The Fondaco also features in Walk #1 Goldoni.  From here exit the building and head north after crossing over Ponte de l’Ogio.

As you cross the bridge, if you look to the right you will see Ca’Amadi (POI #4).  When Frederick III (Holy Roman Emperor 1452-1493) and his wife Elanora visited the city in 1452 Francesco Amadi and his brother hosted the royal entourage in this house, for which he received the title of ‘Count’.

A little further on is the Church of San Giovanni Crisostomo (POI #5).  You will be returning near here as you get closer to the end of this walk and so you could explore the church either now or later.  The original 11^th century church on this site was destroyed by fire in 1475 with the replacement building being designed by Mauro Codussi and erected in 1497-1504, with his son Domenico completing the project after Mauro’s death in 1504.  This was Codussi’s last church, and his other well-known church designs are featured in Walk #9 (San Zaccaria) and Walk #10 (Santa Maria Formosa, built in the same years as this church).  Mauro Codussi was actually a stonecutter by trade, and his facades are beautifully engineered and decorated with precision in Istrian stone (see also San Michele in Isola, his first commission).  The funding available for San Giovanni Crisostomo was much more modest and the space tight.  The church façade is a modest version of his design for San Michele in Isola and is on a narrow calle, making it hard to fully appreciate.  The artwork inside includes works by Giovanni Bellini (Saints Jerome, Christopher and Louis, 1513) and Sebastiano Piombo (St John Chrysostom and six Saints, 1510-11).  Look for: Tullio Lombardo’s magnificent relief ‘Coronation of the Virgin’; and Codussi’s handiwork in the construction of Giacomo Bernabo’s Chapel.

The next section of the walk involves some complicated manoeuvres as you explore the area in which the great explorer Marco Polo (1254-1324) lived (POI #7-8-9).  You will notice that some of the street names and architectural features bear his nickname (Marco ‘Milion’, or ‘Millions’) which was given to him because his stories on return from the East were believed to be wildly exaggerated.  The place where his house is thought to have been is commemorated with a plaque (POI #9) and is now the Theatre Malibran.  The area through which you are moving in this part of the city makes it easy to imagine how this neighbourhood looked back in those times.  In the courtyard of the Casa Morosini and Corte Million, look for small architectural details in the window arches and in the doorways, as well as the patera adorning some of the buildings – these are vestiges of the Byzantine era.

The next part of the walk after you leave the Marco Polo bridge briefly overlaps with Walk #10, with Campo Santa Marina being a common area.  Instead of heading over to Campo Santi Giacomo e Paolo, you will turn left after Ponte delle Erbe and continue past Palazzo Saranzo van Axel (POI #10).  After passing the courtyard (POI #11) you will encounter one of the prettiest churches in Venice.

The Santa Maria dei Miracoli was built by the Amadi family (see POI #3) and is the only church in Venice dressed fully in marble.  It is also one of the few free-standing churches in the city.  Building here commenced in 1481 to house a painting of the Virgin Mary from a calle near Campo Santa Marina which had become an icon as far back as 1408.  Pietro Lombardo’s design merges the preceding styles of the Byzantine and the emerging elements of the Renaissance as a spectacular, yet accessible whole.  The varied colours of the marble, the modest scale of the building and its niche positioning give it a jewel-like property.  The marble facings were replaced during the mid to late 1800s, with the work being completed in 1887.  The less said the better… simply step inside and enjoy the beauty, the form and the function of the church.

Beyond the Miracoli the next section of the walk reveals some fascinating cultural and urban points of interest.  Once over Ponte Santa Maria Nova head left towards Palazzo Bembo-Boldu.  Built into the façade of the palazzo is a statue of Homo Silvanus representing Saturn as a symbol of time (See also Walk #14 on the façade of Ca’Brass).  The statue was placed there in the 16^th century by Senator Giammateo Bembo.

A little further along after some twists and turns you will find Calle Varisco, which is Venice’s narrowest street.  It doesn’t go anywhere much, but it holds this claim with a span of 53cm between buildings!  Other narrow streets can be found in San Polo (Calle Stretta), Santa Croce (Calle San Zusto) and in Castello (Calesela dell’Occhio Grosso).  (See: Inside Venice)

We are now on the return leg of our journey and after going over a bridge then turning right, we arrive in a small courtyard (Campiello Crosetta) at the back of the church of San Canciano (Canzian).  The church is dedicated to Saints Canziano, Canzio, and Canzionello, two brothers and a sister who were martyred in Aquileia in 304, which through Venetian dialect has blended their names into one.  Early records suggest the church originated in 1041.  It was restored in the early 14th century and reconsecrated in 1351, with rebuilding continuing in subsequent centuries.  The building you see today dates mostly from the mid-16th century.  The façade was created in 1706 by Antonio Gaspari (The Churches of Venice, 2021).  A variety of 17^th and 18^th century artworks are inside.  Look for Bartolomeo Letterini’s ‘Madonna in Glory and Saints’.

The cluster of points of interest (#20 – #22) include the ‘le ancorate’ or ‘handles’.  Touching the anchors is said to bring good luck.  Just down below where the anchors are located is Sotoportego del Traghetto.  On one of the columns there is some graffiti that records that the lagoon froze over in places in the harsh winter of 1864, enabling people to walk as far as the island of San Michele (this is the cemetery island across from northeast of Cannaregio).  This was also the departure point for ferries going to Murano until 1859.

Make your way back past San Canzian now, and to the final leg of the journey.  Once you reach the tiny Campiello Flaminio Corner, keep left and go over the bridge.  This will bring you back to one of the earlier points of interest, namely the Church of San Giovanni Crisostomo.  Keep a lookout for a really narrow entrance on the right which will take you to Corte del Remer and the Taverna Al Remer (POI #23), a good place to finish your walk with a refreshment.

There are a couple of extra points of interest here, including No. 5703, which is the remains of an interesting twelfth-century palazzo formerly belonging to the Lion family.  In 1540 Maffeo Lion was banished from the city for giving away State secrets to the French and his Palazzo was ordered to be destroyed.  It was spared through being partly owned by his brother and wife (the latter via a dowry).  Later, it came into the hands of the Morosini.  There is also an interesting vera da pozzo in this courtyard.