Mysterious Venice: the Angel of Noontide

Next to the Church of Santa Maria della Visitazione, at number 919 of the Zattere, you can admire one of the rare mouths for complaints still present in the city, in this case against the health care. In this as in the other "Mouths of the Lion" (another name by which they were known) secret denunciations were inserted. The keys to the boxes behind these faces were kept by the magistrates, each for his own competence. The Church of Santa Maria della Visitazione and the Church of the Gesuati overlook the Zattere ai Gesuati.

Continuing along the Zattere and turning around the large Church of the Gesuati, then walking briefly along the rio terà Gesuati, on the right you will find Sant'Agnese, a place where a Venetian legend of the early twentieth century still lingers. It is said that a young seamstress who lived nearby, in order not to sink into loneliness after her husband's death in the war, loved to stay here until late in the evening to chat with her friends. She told them that on returning home, at times, in the evening, she felt an insistent fluttering above her head. One evening, on the advice of a friend, she asked the strange presences above her to share their hunt with her. The spirits told her to open her apron and threw a pile of human bones into her lap. Back home frightened, the girl decided with a friend to go to an old witch, who advised her to return to the scene with a black cat and keep it in the apron along with the bones. As soon as she heard the whirring of wings, she would invite the spirits to resume their hunt. The woman followed the instructions to the letter and after she pronounced the words indicated by the witch, she felt tugged by the devil, who told her that if she hadn't brought the cat he would have been able to take her soul. Legends aside, here you can admire the Church of Sant'Agnese, dating back to the 10th century.

From Sant'Agnese now take Calle Antonio Da Ponte, then on the right take Sotoportego and Calle del Pistor coming out in Campiello de la Calcina, once a famous inn where the writer John Ruskin, author of the book "The Stones of Venice", used to stay. You are now in the Zattere agli Incurabili district where you will notice the imposing complex of the Ospedale degli Incurabili ("Hospital for the Incurable"), founded in 1517 to cure the French disease, or syphilis. Today it is the seat of Venice Academy of Fine Arts.

Campiello Barbaro, in the Dorsoduro district of Venice, is home to Palazzo Barbaro, once owned by the Barbaros, an influential family from which many streets in the city also take their name. This small square is also one of the most evocative of the city and is therefore a very popular film location. Beyond a high wall you can see the gothic windows and loggias of the mysterious Ca' Dario, known by the Venetians as the cursed palace, due to the fate of violent death that marked many of its owners.

Walking along Ponte San Cristoforo from Campiello Barbaro you will reach Fondamenta Venier dei Leoni shortly after. After turning around Ca' Venier dei Leoni, home of the Guggenheim Collection, you are now walking in the "art mile", an area of ​​Venice with plenty of galleries and art shops. Nearby is also Punta della Dogana, another important exhibition area in the city.

In the vast Campo Santo Stefano, stop at street numbers 2799 and 2800. Here once was the ancient "Cedro Imperiale" haberdashery: on the ground it is still possible to see some circular shapes carved into the pavement by the base of ancient bronze mortars, used for the manufacture of Theriaca, a very popular drug in Venice, halfway between medicine and magic, which was thought to have miraculous properties against all kinds of diseases.

Now reach Campo Sant'Angelo, the end of this Venice walking tour. Have fun looking in the pavement for a plaque showing where once stood the church dedicated to the Archangel Michael, which gives its name to the whole area, demolished in the nineteenth century during the Napoleonic suppressions. Here you can see Palazzo Trevisan Pisani, Palazzo Gritti Morosini, Palazzo Duodo and the monastery of Santo Stefano. Finally, there are also two 15th century wells and the small Oratory of the Annunziata, with five stained glass windows from Murano.