San Polo
Bounded on one side by the Rio Nuovo-Rio di Ca' Fóscari (the
waterways dug under Mussolini's instructions from Piazzale Roma to
the Volta del Canal) and on the others by the upper loop of the
Canal Grande, the area covered by this section is composed of the
entire San Polo sestiere, the greater part of the sestiere of Santa
Croce and a couple of slivers of Dorsoduro. This jigsaw is not as
baffling as it at first appears. There are two main routes through
the district, each following approximately the curve of the Canal
Grande - one runs between the Rialto and the Scalzi bridge, the
other takes you in the opposite direction from the Rialto, down
towards the Accademia. Virtually all the essential sights lie on,
or just off, one of these two routes, and once you've become
familiar with these the exploration of the streets and squares
between them can be attempted with only a minimal risk of feeling
that you'll never see friends and family again. Wherever you are in
this area, you cannot be more than a couple of minutes'
well-navigated walk from one of the two roads to the Rialto.
As far as the day-to-day life of Venice is concerned, the focal
points of the district are the sociable open space of Campo San
Polo and the Rialto area, once the commercial heart of
the Republic and still the home of a market that's famous
far beyond the boundaries of the city. The bustle of the stalls and
the unspoilt bars used by the porters are a good antidote to
cultural overload. Nobody, however, should miss the extraordinary
pair of buildings in the southern part of San Polo: the colossal
Gothic church of the Frari , embellished with three of
Venice's finest altarpieces, and the Scuola Grande di San
Rocco , decorated with an unforgettable cycle of paintings by
Tintoretto.
In the northern part of the district, Venice's erratically open
modern art, oriental and natural history museums are
clustered together on the bank of the Canal Grande: the first two
collections occupy one of the city's most magnificent palaces,
while the third is installed in the former headquarters of the
Turkish merchants. As ever, numerous treasures are also scattered
among the minor churches - for example in San Cassiano ,
San Simeone Grande and San Pantaleone . Lastly, if
you're in search of a spot in which to sit for an hour and just
watch the world go by, head for the Campo San Giacomo
dell'Orio , one of Venice's better-kept secrets.
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