The detailed exterior of Santa Maria della Salute. Courtesy Rob Young under CC.
From 1629 to 1631 Venice was struck by a particularly virulent plague that killed 46,000 Venetians, nearly a third of the city’s population at the time. In response, the Venetian Senate ordered the construction of a church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, long considered a protector of the Republic. The resulting structure, the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, is known commonly as the Salute, Italian for health. Every year since on 21 November, city officials have lead a procession over a temporary bridge built over the Grand Canal to the narrow finger of land where the Salute sits. As Christopher Howse writes in the Telegraph, it seems that Venetians, “not conspicuously pious in their daily demeanour, all make a point of a visit.”
Non-locals may want to make a point of visiting the church at other times of the year (or, as Howse recommends, at night after most of the tourists have departed), as the design and interiors are remarkable and worth an extended look. Built on a platform supported by 100,000 wooden piles driven into the heavy clay that sits beneath the shifting Venetian silt, the Salute is an expansive octagonal building with two impressive domes and a pair of bell towers. It’s frequently depicted by artists obsessed by the city’s skyline, John Singer Sergeant and JMW Turner both turned out impressively moody interpretations. It’s an effective choice as symbolic of Venice. Like the city itself, the Salute is impressive and bold, yet somewhat mysterious. Overtly religious but powerful for non-believers too, a great deal of the church’s allure is due to the human ingenuity involved its construction and its social impact, rather than the objects of worship it symbolizes and contains. Howse is right to focus on the procession as an event that yields insight into the city, the monument alone tells you only part of the city’s story; real insight rests with a city’s inhabitants and their relationship with the structures.
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Tags: Architecture, church, Events & Festivals, Festivals, history, italy, plague, religion, Venice
