The Sant’Alvise Church is located near the Santa Maria dell’Orto Church in the Cannaregio district of Venice. Highlights are the trompe l’oeil painting on the ceiling and the three paintings by Giambattista Tiepolo. The chancel where the nuns of the associated convent used to sit is also interesting.
Sant’Alvise Church Venice
Address, opening hours and entrance fee
Address : Campo Sant’Alvise – Cannaregio 3282 – Venice (tel. +39 041 2750462). Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 17:00. Closed: Monday, January 1, Easter, August 25. On January 6, November 1 and December 8, the church opens at 15.00. Admission: 3 Euro (discount: 1.50 Euro). Chorus Pass is valid. Public transportation: Lines 1, 2, 3, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, N (Ferrovia stop); Lines 12, 13, 21, 22, 4.1, 4.2, 5.1, 5.2, B, G, N (Fondamente Nove stop).
History and description
The Sant’Alvise Church is dedicated to San Ludovico di Tolosa, who is called Alvise in the Venetian dialect. This son of the King of Naples had renounced his claim to the throne to become a Franciscan monk. According to tradition, in 1388 he appeared to the noblewoman Antonio Venier to tell her where the church dedicated to him should be built. The latter had the church and its cloister built, only to retire there herself.
Originally a Gothic church consisting of a single nave, it was remodeled in the 17th century. Pietro Ricchi and Pietro Antonio Torri painted a trompe l’oeil fresco on the ceiling during this time.
Above the portal you can see a kind of “hanging choir”, which rests on columns and was one of the first of its kind. From it, the nuns of the neighboring convent had direct access to the church.
Three paintings by Giambattista Tiepolo are preserved inside the church. These are “Christ Climbing Calvary,” “The Crown of Thorns,” and “Self-Flagellation.”
Lazzaro Bastiani painted some panels depicting “Events from the Old Testament.” These 15th century paintings used to be part of the organ of the no longer existing Chiesa delle Vergini.