Santi Apostoli

Santi Apostoli's bustling campo was one of the first of the Rialtine islets colonized in the Dark Ages, and this church went up soon after. According to legend it was founded by St Magnus, who saw 12 cranes that reminded him of the 12 Apostles. It has been rebuilt several times since (lastly in the 1570s, perhaps by Alessandro Vittoria) and was given a tall, landmark campanile in 1672.

The star attraction inside is on the right, the Renaissance Cappella Corner by Mauro Codussi, dedicated to the family of Caterina, Queen of Cyprus, who was buried here before her body was transferred to San Salvador. Giambattista Tiepolo’s beautiful Last Communion of Santa Lucia (1748) on the chapel’s altar, is among that artist’s most spiritual works; Tullio Lombardo is given credit for the tomb of Caterina’s father Marco (d. 1511), and for the marble relief of St Sebastian’s head (located among the detached 14th-century frescoes in the chapel to the right of the high altar).