Ghost Stories of Venice

The cylindrical stone wellhead in the center of Campo Santa Maria Formosa dates to seventeen fifty-five. While it appears to be a typical piece of civic infrastructure built to collect and filter the city's precious rainwater, this square…

Calle de la Bissa is a narrow Venetian passage that winds from the bustling Campo San Bartolomeo toward the Ponte Sant'Antonio. Its name captures its historical character, as bissa is the Venetian word for snake, a nod to the way the…

The Corte Seconda del Milion is a quiet, secluded courtyard near the Rialto, identified by the Veneto-Byzantine stone carvings that decorate its archway. These carved motifs—featuring griffins, peacocks, flowers, and fruit—are among the…

Campiello del Remer is a small, quiet square opening directly onto the Grand Canal, where an old carved stone well sits at the center of a space surrounded by fifteenth-century buildings. The name comes from the Venetian word for an…

Palazzo Soranzo Van Axel is a large Gothic palace in the Cannaregio district that occupies the corner where two canals meet. Built between fourteen seventy-three and fourteen seventy-nine for the merchant Nicolò Soranzo, the structure…

The Campo dei Gesuiti is defined by the imposing presence of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta, whose facade is punctuated by twelve monumental statues of the Apostles. This square in the Cannaregio district sits near the northern edge of…

Campo dei Mori is marked by four stone figures embedded directly into the exterior walls of buildings bordering the square. These statues, carved from Istrian stone between the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, depict three…

The Casino degli Spiriti is a low, isolated building situated at the northern edge of the Cannaregio district, standing as an annex to the sixteenth-century Palazzo Contarini dal Zaffo. It is identifiable by its position directly on the…