San Stae

Non-Venetians call him Sant' Eustachio, or St Eustace, the patron saint of hunters, and his church, one of the landmarks along the Grand Canal, was built in the 17th century, though the exuberant façade was added later in 1709, by Domenico Rossi, and decorated with saints who perform daredevil circus acts on the high trapeze of a bracket over the door.

The two reliefs show rarely depicted scenes from Eustace's life: The Lion Lowers its Head before St Eustace and The Emperor Hadrian has Eustace and his Relatives Thrown in a Red-hot Bronze Ox.

The airy (and statue-packed) interior, inspired by Palladio's Redentore, is bright white and grey after a recent restoration. It is still used for mass in winter, although in summer it’s given over to exhibitions.

All year round, however, you can see the Hallowe'en style slab in the floor marking the tomb of Doge Alvise Mocenigo II (d. 1709) who paid for the façade, but chose the Latin epitaph, ‘Name and ashes buried together with vanity’.