A simple and particularly evocative religious building, hidden between the Venetian streets and alleys, where children play in the fields and the elderly relax on the benches.
The "field" indicates an open space surrounded by buildings, often with a water well in the center, a term very common and also used in Italy, but only a few examples remain today, including Campo dei Flowers in Rome or Campo Square in Siena.
This area of the city is very old, in fact it was once made up of sandbanks and sandy islets, which extended towards the internal lagoon and where during the summer the inhabitants went for pleasant picnics or for seductive parties.
Over the years the islets are reclaimed, and the area is immediately used for exercises by the Austrian army, then for a cotton mill and finally transformed into a railway and maritime terminal. Today the area has been further expanded, thus developing Piazzale Roma and the Grandi Navi Terminal.
The San Nicolò dei Mendicoli Church was founded in the twelfth century, and is one of the oldest churches on the island of Venice, this can be seen from its simple thirteenth-century lines and delicate proportions. It is particularly loved and remembered by the locals, especially for the disorder of works and objects of art of every era. Its Byzantine bell tower dates back to the 12th century, embellished with an ancient clock with a single hand.
The interior is very rich, especially the central nave, with gilded wooden statues from the 16th century, and a fabulous large organ of Baroque origin. Between the upper walls there is a cycle of paintings on the life of Christ by Alvise dal Friso, on the ceiling of the central nave we find valuable paintings by some students of Veronese, which date back to the 16th century, and which tell episodes of San Nicola.
Above the columns you can admire valuable paintings with various themes, made by several important painters including Jacopo Palma the Younger. The entire interior underwent one of the most complete restorations in the 1970s.
