Il Redentore
Venice lost 46,000 people — a quarter of its population — to plague in two years; this is the church the city built in thanks for surviving.
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Palladio modeled the facade on Rome's Pantheon and raised it on a wide plinth above the Canale della Giudecca so it reads as a statement from the water. The 15 steps to the entrance are a deliberate reference to the Temple of Jerusalem. Inside, a single nave with three chapels on each side holds paintings by Tintoretto, Veronese, and Bassano.
What to look for
- The Pantheon-inspired facade on its wide plinth, designed to dominate the Canale della Giudecca waterfront
- The 15-step climb to the entrance — Palladio's explicit reference to the Temple of Jerusalem, intended to build devotion with each step
- Canvases by Tintoretto, Paolo Veronese, and Francesco Bassano in the side chapels
Il Redentore is on Giudecca island and is a member of the Chorus Association of Venetian churches; if you visit on the third Sunday of July you'll catch the Festa del Redentore procession across a pontoon bridge.
Il Redentore is one of 38 sights worth the detour in Venice, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Venice pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Venice
- St Mark's BasilicaThe Doge's private chapel turned war-trophy hall — every marble slab and bronze horse was taken from somewhere else.
- Doge's PalaceGovernment offices, a jail, and the Doge's private rooms — all under one Venetian Gothic roof on the lagoon edge.
- Grand CanalVenice's main street is water — a 3.8 km reverse-S where noble families spent fortunes trying to outshine each other in stone and marble.
- Piazza San MarcoNapoleon called it "the drawing room of Europe" — then stripped it of its four horses and shipped them to Paris.
- Rialto BridgePredicted to collapse before it opened, this single-span stone arch has carried Venice's Grand Canal traffic since 1591.
- Bridge of SighsLord Byron named it in the 19th century — condemned men crossing in 1600 took their last look at Venice through stone-barred windows before the cells closed behind them.