Cattedrale Santa Maria Assunta

The first Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta was built on the foundation of an ancient temple, probably dating back to the 8th century, and was destroyed by a fire happened during the night of 25-26 December 1623. The second Cathedral was commissioned to the architect Baldassare Longhena, who presented a project in which he mixed together two architectural orders: the Corinthian and the Ionic. The outside of the church is very simple with exposed bricks. In the front of the building, inside two niches, there are the statues of the patron saints of Chioggia: Felice and Fortunato. Near the church there is the Romanesque bell tower, which is 64-metre-high and it’s covered by an octagonal dome. The bell tower small “portal” is decorated by a bas-relief of the 14th century, representing the Virgin Mary with Baby Jesus and the patron Saints. The inside of the church has a cross structure with three aisles separated by semi-columns. Down the side aisles there are six altars decorated with altarpieces of different authors, including Jacopo Palma il Giovane, Pietro Liberi and Francesco Rosa. On the west side there are three chapels: from the left, the Chapel of Saints Felice and Fortunato, with a series of paintings depicting the martyrdoms of the two saints, the main chapel with a majestic High Altar and a wooden choir, and finally the magnificent Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The Baptistery (1700), made by Alvise Tagliapietra, and the Pulpit, sculpted by Bartolomeo Cavalieri with Domenico Negri’s bas-relief (1677), are very remarkable.