The Church of Scalzi or the Church of Santa Maria di Nazareth (chiesa degli Scalzi, chiesa di Santa Maria di Nazareth) is a Roman Catholic Carmelite church in Venice, which is one of the most remarkable examples of Venetian Baroque architecture.
The church has the name "Scalzi" because the religious Order of the Barefoot Carmelites (the Order of the Barefoot Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary from Mount Carmel) is located in the city: "Scalzi" in Italian means "barefoot".
This small but charming shrine is located in a green area, near the Scalzi Bridge (Ponte degli Scalzi), spanning the waters of the famous Grand Canal (Canal Grande), as well as the proximity of the Venetian Santa Lucia train station (Stazione di Venezia Santa Lucia).
The church was built from the middle of the 17th century by the Italian architect Baldassarre Longen and completed in the last decades of the same century.
In the 1672-1680s, Giuseppe Sardi, a Venetian, carried out work on the design of the main facade.
The church was consecrated in 1705. Ferdinando II Gonzaga, the fifth and last Prince of Castiglione, was buried inside the church on February 11, 1723. In October 1802, the last Doge of the Republic of Venice, Ludovico Manin, was buried in the church.
During the First World War, the church was damaged, but after it was restored.
Today it is a national monument of architecture of the Venetian Baroque.
The main facade of the church, facing the Grand Canal, stands out for its richness of decoration. The style is a late Venetian Baroque. The facade has two tiers, decorated with powerful double columns of the Corinthian order on pedestals and with a strongly loosened entablature.
Both tiers have niches with sculptures. The sculpture of the Madonna and Child occupies the central upper niche, and St. Catherine of Siena occupies the niche to the left of the Madonna. These are the works of Bernardo Falconi. The niche to the right of the Madonna was once occupied by a statue of St. Thomas Aquinas by Falconi.
The facade is crowned by a beautiful architectural pediment with decorations and sculptures.
Interior of the Scalzi Church
The church has one nave with two side chapels, each of which, in turn, is surrounded by two secondary chapels. After the triumphal arch, the hall passes into the presbytery, raised and equipped with a dome. A choir of monks can be seen in the apse.
Colored Corinthian marbles and frescoes create a sense of luxury.
The remains of the frescoes and other surviving fragments of the ceiling are now stored in the Gallery of the Academy of Venice, where there is also one of two sketches (oil on canvas) painted by Giambattista Tiepolo as preparatory models for the great fresco "The Transfer of the House of Mary from Nazareth to Loreto" (or "The Transfer of the House of Loreto"), which was in the church before damage caused in the First World War.
The main altar of the church and the wooden walls of the sacristy are made by Jacopo Antonio Pozzo (or Fra Giuseppe Pozzo). The presbytery is crowned with a canopy supported by twisted columns. The magnificent tabernacle of the table sees a statue of the Madonna with putto and the prophets who came from the island of Santa Maria di Nazareth, then Lazzaretto.
The statues of the twelve Sibyls, the work of Giuseppe Torretto, Giovanni Marchiori, Pietro Baratta, Giuseppe and Paolo Groppelli, are distributed five on each side, on the side walls and two on the canopy arch.
Of the chapels, the Giovanelli Chapel with a rich 17th-century altar by Ludovico David stands out in particular. The altar depicts a statue of St. John of the Cross (one of the founders of the Barefoot Carmelite Order) and it is also decorated with bronze bas-reliefs with episodes from the life of St. Sebastian, the work of Bernardo Falcone. The statues of Faith, Hope and Mercy belong to the work of the Italian sculptor Thomas Rues.
Practical information
The entrance to the Scalzi Church is free.
Masses are held regularly in the church.
Website of the Church of Scalzi: chiesadegliscalzi.it.
The address of the church of Scalzi: Cannaregio, 54, 30121 Venezia VE, Italy.
Coordinates of the church of Scalzi: 45°26'28.0"N 12°19'19.0"E (45.441111, 12.321944).
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