Venice has about 80 catholic roman churches located in the seven Venetian Sestieres: San Marco, Dorsoduro, San Polo, Santa Croce, Cannaregio, Castello and Giudecca.
We give you below a short description of the most popular Venetian Churches, where wedding ceremonies usually take place:
1. The Church of Santo Stefano's
is one of the most beautiful churches in gothic style (14th century) and it is located in Sestiere San Marco. Inside you can find many Venetian paintings dating between the 15th and the 18th century by artists such as Jacopo Tintoretto, Palma il Vecchio and others.
2. The Church of San Zaccaria
was built in the 9th century and transformed during the Renaissance. It is located in Sestiere of Castello and inside you can admire the famous paintings by Giovanni Bellini.
3. The Church of Frari
is located in Sestiere of San Polo. It was built in the 14th century and inside there are many masterpieces of Giovanni Bellini, Jacopo De Palma il Giovane and Donatello.
4. The Church of Santa Maria Nazareth
is located in Sestiere of Cannaregio and was built by the Carmelite friars in the 16th century. Inside there are many 18th century paintings, but the church is famous for its ceiling, frescoed by Tiepolo.
5. The Church of Santissimo Redentore
was built in the 16th century by Andrea Palladio and it is in the Renaissance style. It is located in Sestiere of Giudecca of which it overlooks the wonderful view. Inside there are Jacopo de Palma il Giovane's,.Pietro Vecchia's, Francesco da Ponte's, Tintoretto's and Alvise Vivarini's masterpieces.
6. The Church of San Eustachio
is located in Sestiere Santa Croce and was built in the 16th century by the architects Domenico Rossi and Giovanni Grassi. Inside you can also admire Piazzetta's, Tiepolo's, Pittoni's and Sebastiano Ricci's works.
7. The church of San Giovanni in Bragora
was founded in the beginning of eight century by the bishop of Oderzo: San Magno. Church is dedicated to San Giovanni Battista of whom keeps some relics brought here in the ninth century; but is the name "in bragora" that gives place to many suppositions: it could come from the dialect word "bragola" that means "market's square", or from the verb "bragolare", meaning "fishing"; or It could have a Greek origin from the word agorà, meaning square. Anyway this church is one of the most fascinating of the entire Venice: it was restored in the ninth and in the eleventh century and rebuilt in the 1475, in accordance with an acute architecture. The facade dates back to the last remake and it's divided in three parts following the inner division in three naves (architect Michele Codussi). Gothic style is kept also in the interior with a basilical plan composed of three naves, three apses and a ceiling with exposed beams. Columns are, instead, inherited from the ancient church. The paintings collection offers a Cristo dinanzi a Caifa and the Lavanda dei piedi by Jacopo Palma il Giovane, a Ultima Cena by Paris Bordone... but the pride of this church is Battesimo di Cristo by Cima from Conegliano (1492-1494).
1. The Foresteria
is the guest lodgings of the Waldensian and Methodist Church in Venice. A few minutes walk from Saint Mark's Square, it offers to its guests comfortable surroundings and a possibility to visit this magic city.
1. The Greek Orthodox Cathedral
of Saint George
in Venice, known as San Giorgio dei Greci, is the oldest and historically the most important church of the Orthodox Diaspora. It has been for centuries one of the most splendid Orthodox temples in the world.
The Cathedral of St.George was built with the contributions of the Greek Orthodox faithful residing in and travelling through Venice. The building permit for construction was issued only after repeated attempts and hard struggle. In obtaining the permit, two classes of Greeks immigrants played a key role: the Greek soldiers serving in the Venetian army and the Greek intellectuals. The building phase began in the year 1539 and was completed in 1573 .
The architects of the church were the famous Sante Lombardo (1539-1547), Gianantonio Chiona (as of 1548 onward) and Bernardo Ongarin (1587-1603) who also designed the inclined bell tower. Architecturally, the Cathedral is a domed Basilica with a single inflection. From outside it resembles a Venetian Church of the Renaissance Era. As a whole the Cathedral is simple and imposing, decorated with beautiful and harmonic architectural elements.
Above the main entrance the visitor sees a mosaic of Jesus Christ with an inscription composed by Michael Sofianos in 1564