Features of the ‘Arsenale’ Walk in Castello (see also the image gallery below)

The Arsenale walk takes in famous Arsenale, the first ever ‘animated’ production line that was capable of building a ship for war service in a single day.  The walk also includes one of the city’s most underrated artistic delights: the Carpaccio paintings in the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni.  The area traversed on this walk is also one of the less-visited parts of the city.

The walk starts and finishes in the same place – on the Riva degli Schiavoni near No. 4123.  You will cross two bridges, and soon after the second bridge, you will arrive in Campo San Biagio for the first two points of interest.

San Biagio (POI #1) was the church of the Greek Orthodox community between 1453-1511 after which they moved to San Giorgio.  The present building dates to a reconstruction between 1745-1752, thought to be by Filippo Rossi, chief architect of the Arsenale.  The five altars inside have been moved here from the church of Sant’ Anna.  The church has a close association with the maritime activities in this area (clearly dominated by its vicinity to the Arsenale).  For example, commemorated in this church are the scuola (trade guilds) of the cap-makers, caulkers, carpenters, oar-makers, hemp-makers and rope-makers.  There is a monument to Angelo Emo, (said to be one of the last great Venetian admirals) which was relocated from the demolished church of Santa Maria dei Servi (in Cannaregio) in 1818. He developed a floating gun battery, from which bombardments could be launched in shallow water onto land-based targets – very effective against the supporters of pirate fleets that had menaced Venetian shipping in that era.  An example of the gun is on the monument in San Biagio.  There is also a monument to the admiral in the Naval Museum next door created by Canova).  The creation of Canova’s monument in the Naval Museum was the subject of some controversy, with the republic haggling over the price and wanting the work to be subjected to peer review, which Canova refused.  He was finally offered an annuity from the republic for completion of the work.

The next leg of our journey is next door, where the second monument to Emo can be found – the Naval Museum.  Given Venice’s relationship with the sea, it is a good idea to visit this somewhat ‘niche’ museum.  The building has over 40 exhibition rooms with many interesting exhibits.  Numbered among them is a model replica of the Bucintoro, which was the ceremonial barge (see in one of Guardi’s paintings here – the painting was looted by Napoleon – and is now in the Louvre, Paris) used on Ascension Day to take the Doge to the Adriatic Sea to renew Venice’s marriage with that sea.  Napoleon destroyed the original barge in 1798 to symbolise his victory over Venice.  Venice’s ‘Marriage with the Sea’ had dated back to 1252.  Also featured is Peggy Guggenheim’s personal gondola.  There is also a gondola in this display area that has its ‘felze’ in place, a reminder that gondolas had these coverings in past times.  Felze can be seen on the gondolas in any Canaletto or Guardi scene featuring this form of transport.

A little further along, the Arsenale beckons.  This is the forge where Venice developed its considerable naval power, the projection of which made her the ‘Queen of the Adriatic’.  An animated production line was created here that could manufacture a fighting galley in a single day.  King Henry III of France was shown this capability when he visited Venice in 1574 (arriving as a guest in the Bucintoro, of course).  The logistics behind such an enterprise are impressive, as Roger Crowley explains: ‘This systematic counting, costing, storage and organization of a galley’s requisite parts was critical to the system, which drew increasingly on a hierarchy of sub-managers and gang bosses. At any one time the arsenal might be stockpiling, each in its own warehouse, 5,000 benches and braces, 15,000 oars, 300 sails, 100 masts and countless rudders, arms, pitch, cables and ironwork. The Venetians, bean counters to their fingertips, were masters of inventory; the gold standard was to have 100 galleys dry-stored in reserve’.  At any time, there might be between 2-3,000 workers employed here (depending on the state of war).  The front gates of the Arsenale and the sculptures around them are important historical relics.  The archway of the land entrance was erected in 1460 and is said by many to herald the arrival of Renaissance architecture in the city.  The attic above the arch has a striding (‘passant’) lion celebrating the victory at Lepanto over the Turkish fleet in 1571.  Of particular note is the Piraeus lion.  The lion was brought from Greece by Francesco Morosini in 1687.  It is believed that the lion dates back as far as 360 BC.  It has inscriptions on its side that were created by mercenaries of eastern European origin  in the service of the Byzantine Emperor (it is also believed they may have been Swedes due to the lindworm pattern and the language of the inscription).

Moving westward beyond the Arsenale you will encounter the church of San Martino where there are several points of interest in addition to the church itself.  On the right side of the door of the church there is one of the famous ‘bocca di leone’ – a way for citizens to post a written report on others for various transgressions, or as Hugh Douglas suggests, for ‘secret denunciations of blasphemers and irreverent people’.  The building that is attached to the church is the Scuola di San Martin (the guild of the ship caulkers).  Above the door is a relief of Saint Martin dividing his cloak to share with a poor man.

The church itself was established in the 10^th century and rebuilt several times, with the present building the result of a 1546 design by Jacopo Sansovino.  The façade was added in 1897.  There are several artworks of interest inside the church, including a small altar by Tullio Lombardo.  Of great interest is the monument to Doge Francesco Erizzo by Mateo Carneri.  The monument has been oriented so that it faces his old palazzo, which can be viewed through the door.  Doge Erizzo was voted in during the plague (that saw nearly one third of the city’s inhabitants perish) and he served for 15 years as Doge (1631-1646).  Once delivered from the plague, Erizzo announced that the Feast of the Presentation of Mary would take place where the city’s officials parade from San Marco to the Salute for a service in gratitude for deliverance from the plague.  The tradition continues to this day.

From outside the church, proceed across Ponte dei Penini and in a few metres further along on the left you will be able to see some traces of the former residences of the workers from the Arsenale (‘Arsenalotti’ see inscriptions on Nos. 2445 and 2446).  The buildings also carry the now redundant numbering system of the area.

We now head off on a long leg of the walk that will finish at the church of San Francesco della Vigna.  There are two diversions along the way and several good places to stop for a coffee or a meal.  The first diversion is into the small and quaint Campo do Pozzi which is encountered as we move along Calle de la Munghete.  At No. 2611 there is a Gothic palazzo and at Nos. 2684-2689 is the 16^th century Palazzo Malipiero.  The next diversion is a view of a large expanse of garden that can be seen behind the church of San Giovanni di Malta through an aperture in the gate.  It is one of the largest private gardens in the city and a surprising vista.

A long and relatively straight leg of the journey now ensues, finishing with the approach to San Francesco della Vigna.  Legend has it that St Mark stopped at this site to take refuge from a storm.  While waiting for the storm to subside, he had a dream in which an angel told him that this would be his final resting place.  An early chapel established here goes back to 1037, and in 1253 the friars were given the surrounding land by Marco Ziani, which included a vineyard (hence the name ‘vigna’).  The monastery was completed in 1257 and enlarged around 1300.  The gardens attached to the present complex remain productive to this day.  The Gothic church that succeeded the original one was demolished in 1532 to make way for the present building, which is a story in two distinct parts!  The architect of the new church building was Jacopo Sansovino, a Florentine.  He designed several of Venice’s best-known buildings, particularly the Marciana Library (adjacent to St Mark’s Square) and was a major influence on bringing Renaissance architecture into the city.  Sansovino’s design was to be based on a prototype church in Florence (San Salvatore al Monte).  Notwithstanding Sansovino’s standing as a designer, the friars of the church insisted on certain design elements in keeping with the strict Observant Franciscan traditions around poverty and austerity.  The second part of the story involves Andrea Palladio, a relative newcomer to the industry.  He was awarded the commission to construct the façade.  (If you feel that the façade of San Francesco della Vigna seems familiar, it is – after this job, Palladio went on to design the church of San Giorgio Maggiore – the one you can see in those evocative images of Venice looking out across the lagoon from the Doge’s Palace).  Palladio’s design was intended to be classical and bold.  When you encounter this church, it seems oddly placed in a kind of remote area of the city.  The funding for the design and scale of the church can be explained by wealthy benefactors who purchased chapels and burial rights in the church.

Inside the church there is a work by Giovanni Bellini (‘Madonna and Child with Four Saints and Donor’, c.1507) and two by Paolo Veronese (‘Holy Family with Saint Catherine and Saint Anthony Abbot’, c.1560; and ‘Resurrection’, c.1584), which is also specified as Veronese ‘and assistants’.   In the Priuli Chapel there is the stone on which it is said that Justine of Padua was martyred at the age of 13 (in the year 297).  A sarcophagus containing her body is also in this chapel.  The wooden sculpture in the chapel dates back to 1691 and is of Pascal Baylon.  Further detail on the various altars can be found here.

Heading away from the façade of San Francesco dell Vigna will take you to Santa Giustina.  Records date the earliest church at this site to 1106.  It was rebuilt in 1514 and a façade designed by Baladassare Longhena was built in 1640, but the original curved pediment was removed when the church was repurposed in 1844.  Part of the convent and the bell tower were later destroyed, and the church has since remained as a school.

Cross the northernmost bridge in front of Santa Giustina for a diversion into the quaint Campo S. Giustina detto de Barbaria.  Here you will find the tiny Oratorio of the confraternity of Beata Vergine Addorlata built in 1829.  Return over the bridge to start the return leg to the finish point of the walk.  After another bridge and a couple of turns, you will encounter an interesting sotoportego with a fascinating backstory.  During the plague of 1630 (see above) Giovanna – a resident of Corte Nova – painted an image of the Holy Virgin and placed it in the sotoportego.  The residents gathered there each day and prayed.  As legend has it, the plague did not visit the courtyard, sparing the residents.  They marked this good fortune with a slab of red Verona marble, indicating where the plague had been stopped from progressing.  In the late 17^th or early 18^th century the sotoportego was decorated with wood panelling, a painted ceiling and four votive paintings.  Two carved marble frames were installed to house a small canvas of the Venetian St. Lawrence with plague protecting Sts. Roch and Sebastian, and the painting of the Virgin.  The original painting was lost, and a modern copy is in its place.  Other turns of fortune in the 19^th and 20^th centuries were also credited to the Sotoportego.  The residents of the Corte avoided outbreaks of cholera in 1849 and 1855.  Between 1917-18, they were protected from Austrian bombing during the Great War  (source: Save Venice).

Leaving Corte Nova, over the bridge and along Fondamenta San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, another bridge and we arrive at the Scuole of the same name.  A Dalmatian (Schiavoni) colony founded in Venice were given special privileges to moor along the Riva degli Schiavoni as far back as the 13^th century and they established a confraternity in 1451.  The guild hall was a rebuild of an earlier building that commenced in 1551.  The reliefs on the façade are of interest.  The ones at the top of Madonna and Child with Saints (mid 14^th century) was moved from their original headquarters in the nearby Ospedale di Santa Caterina (at San Giovanni di Malta church nearby).  Saint George slaying the Dragon is by Pietro da Salo who was a pupil of Jacopo Sansovino (1551).  Moving inside… there is just something about this space that makes it special.  When you are standing there you get a sense that the artist has only just left the building.  Many of the old guild halls in the city have been closed or re-purposed, stripped of their artworks or perhaps are not open to the public.  Others, for example, the Scuole Grande San Rocco retains its original character but is rather grand and full of significant artwork.  It has an opulence that feels inaccessible.  The artistic treasure here is the priceless collection of works by Carpaccio.  The cycle of Saint George Slaying the Dragon (1502-07) is the most prominent.  The opening action draws the eye with its graphic violence.  Pause to take in some of the rather macabre details in the foreground and the King’s daughter praying in the background.  In a subsequent scene, the victor displays the subdued dragon while the horses of Saint George and the Princess are getting along famously in the background.  Finally the city converts to Christianity, being thankful for their salvation from the beast.  There is also the Saint Augustine in his Study (c.1502), a painting that reflects a contemporary interior of that time and again one of his works that requires time to take in the details.

The final leg of our walk takes us past San Antonin (which we have covered in Walk #9).  On the way to our finishing point, there are two restaurants that are worth considering.  Take a short diversion on Calle Pestrin to the left for POI #21 Corte Sconta which has a lovely courtyard dining option.  Further on, Al Covo was established in 1987 and offers authentic Venetian dishes with the freshest ingredients and is a member of the ‘Slow Food’ movement.