CHURCH of SAINT MARIA FORMOSA

The church of S. Maria Formosa was, according to the tradition, one of the first eight churches raised up in the Venetian lagoon.
Legend says that the Blessed Virgin appeared in this place to bishop St. Magnus, commanding him to build a church in Her name. The church is called St. Maria Formosa in memory of the prosperous form in which She appeared.
It is the first Venetian church conceived and entirely built according to the ideals of the Renaissance, in the second half of XV century, when the old structure was seriously ruined. Mauro Codussi had the job that became the masterpiece of his maturity.
The interior of the church is extremely interesting: the plan is on a Latin cross embedded onto an original Greek one; the wings are almost similar, covered by cross vaults that end their intersection in a dome.

 The great feeling of balance and harmony given by the splendid structure is strongly emphasised by the chromatic choice: walls are white-daubed and outlined by Istria stone. The two aisles host deep chapels. Only the chancel and the two lateral chapels show half-round apses.
The artworks in the interior include the St. Barbara polyptych by Palma The Elder (XVI cen.), one of his most celebrated works. The Conception Chapel houses a triptych of Madonna of Misericordia by Bartolomeo Vivarini (XV cen.), recently restored. There is also a Last supper by Leandro Bassano (XVI cen.), while in the Oratory is the Madonna with Child and St. Domenico by Giambattista Tiepolo (XVIII cen.).