Church of San’tAlvise

A visit to the church of Sant’alvise and to the nearby church of Madonna dell’Orto offers a precious occasion to explore the most authentic and secret part of Venice, represented by Cannaregio. This area is characterized by silent tranquility spaced out by the swarming of the cities daily routines; moreover it presents a geometrical map derived by the works of the territories reclamation occured in the latest past.

Originally a convent church, Sant’Alvise was, according to tradition, commissioned in honour of St. Louis of Toulouse by the Venetian noblewoman Antonia Venier in 1388 after the saint had appeared to her in a dream.

The present form of the church, with a single nave structure, is the result of refurbishing work carried out in the XVII century.
The appealing particularity is the conservation of one of the first examples of fifteenth-century barcos supported by columns and barbacani, otherwise of a pensile choir used by nuns, related directly with the adjacent convent structure.

The ceiling, entirely painted by Pietro Antonio Torri and Pietro Ricchi’s frescoes, strike with absolute spectacularity.
Amongst the other works of art in the church one cannot omit to mention Christ carrying the Cross – a youthful masterpiece by Giambattista Tiepolo, who is represented in Sant’Alvise by other two early works: The Coronation with Thorns, and The Flagellation (1737-40)
Nor should one overlook the delightful 15th-century tempera panels painted by Lazzaro Bastiani originally from the organ in the suppressed church of Le Vergini.

(Aldo Bova “Venezia i luoghi della musica”)

The organ by Nicholas Moscatelli (Nacchini’s student) has one keyboard and 19 stop knobs (1760).

The three paintings from the school of Bonifacio de ‘Pitati, above and beside the pulpit, were the doors of the old organ