This Ruskin-baiting baroque affair, which the celebrated art critic thought ‘the most monstrous example of the Grotesque Renaissance…in Venice’ was, like Vivaldi’s Pietà , famous for its female musicians. The accomplished girls came from the adjoining orphanage and hospice, designed by Antonio Sardi, and played amid the trumpeting angels of Baldassare Longhena’s 1660s chapel, complete with charming frescoed music room.
The complex is owned by IRE, a public institution that runs homes for the elderly. Reserve visits at least one week in advance.
