San Vidal (Vitale)

In Campo San Vidal, at the southernmost end of Campo Santo Stefano is the deconsecrated church of San Vitale (or Vidal). The original was built in 1094 by Doge Vitale Falier; it burned in 1105, and was rebuilt, then rebuilt for the last time with a pseudo-Palladian façade by Antonio Gaspari (1696), paid for the Morosini clan to celebate Francesco's defeat of the Turks in the Peloponnese. Deconsecrated and restored in 2000, it's now used for Vivaldi concerts.

In its day, San Vitale was the site of an unusual ceremony, celebrating the anniversary of the execution of Doge Marin Falier; the current Doge would attend Mass, followed throughout by a priest bearing a phial of red liquid symbolizing the traitor’s blood, a humiliating reminder of the consequences of challenging the state.