Campo Santa Margherita

Campi / Places of Venice

Description

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The place, located in the sestiere of Dorsoduro, is one of the largest in Venice and characterized by student bars and nightlife. Its surrounding buildings were and are of minor artistic importance, and therefore there is a lack of historic illustrations. However, a gothic single storey house with arches of fourth order and the adjacent Palazzetto Corner Foscolo, dating from the 13th century and having a courtyard and open stairway, do constitute interesting examples of minor gothic architecture, albeit being much restored. In the Calle Renier, a portal belonging to a destroyed Palazzo Renier can be found. The church of Santa Margherita on the northern side of the place was suspended under Napoleon and today serves as an university aula. The Campanile, being in danger of collapsing, was partially pulled down in 1880. Originally, the Rio della Scoazzera, a canal poured in 1863, bordered the Campo on the southern side. Its absence leads to the current strange urbanistic situation, giving the so-called Scuola dei Varoteri, a building erected for the tanners in 1725 and today used by the Consiglio di Quartiere 2, a overemphasised position. Also the Rio Terà Canal, which once connected the place with the Rio di San Barnabà, was, like many other canals in Venice, poured. A tablet bearing the inscription Colmato il Rio / A maggior ampiezza / MDCCCLXIII / Podestà Bembo can be found on a house in the said rio. Considering the former water surfaces marked in a obfuscated red on the map, the Campo's physiognomy was totally different.

The baroque Scuola Grande dei Carmini, designed by Francesco Cantello and completed by Longhena, located at the western end of the place towards the Church of the Carmini, is a huge 17th century confraternity house. Its interior decoration with paintings by Tiepolo is preserved. The acute end of the Campo leads the side portal of the Carmini church, enriched by pre-gothic disks.