Quarantine and Santa Maria Salute
Venice – In just a few weeks Venice celebrates the Feast of Santa Maria della Salute. This is a very important day for Venetians who visit the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute to give thanks for being delivered from the plague in the 1630s.
Each year on 21st November families and friends walk across the temporary bridge (constructed over the Grand Canal) to pray.
In true Italian style, there are many candle sellers outside the church. You queue patiently to light your candle inside the lofty dome of the basilica. Baldassare Longhena designed the basilica in a sort of Palladian-Baroque wedding cake style. He was one of the era’s leading practitioners of Baroque architecture. Construction of the church began in 1631 and was completed fifty years later. It’s become an integral part of the skyline of Venice along with the Bell Tower, Basilica of San Marco, and Doge’s Palace.
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Venice suffered devastating outbreaks of plague throughout its history. The city was the first to develop quarantine islands (lazzaretti) in the lagoon. Devised the term ‘quarantine’ from ‘quaranta’ meaning forty in Italian. As time infectious individuals stayed there before getting into the city.
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