One of my favorite churches in Venice, a spectacular example of Venetian gothic style. It of course has the 2 Tizians, but also a Donatello and a Bellini (which is in the sacristy and not available when I visited). Incredible statuary (includes 4 enormous blacks shouldering a marble freeze, an enormous and amazing gothic screen, and evidence of early (6th century) Christian frescoes; monumental funeral statuary of early doges (Foscari etc). Truly amazing.

No matter how often one visits Venice there are favourite friends you just have to see and in my book the Frari is one of those! One can enthuse about Titian and Bellini but really to my mind it is the wonderful ensemble, it’s enormous scale, the bricks, the numerous beautiful memorials, that of Canova especially elegant and beautiful in my mind, the sun of all its parts rather than any individual pieces. I do hope I get to come back a further time, it is delightful inside and out!

This is an art lovers’ Paradise as this church has excellent examples. of works by Titian, Donatello, and Bellini. The Francisco order which established this church purposely changed-its design to bring in more light and with it, more space for art. It is close enough to Scuola San Rocco, that visitors can combine the two places in one day.

This very large Gothic church was largely completed in the first half of the 15th century after having taken nearly 100 years to build. The red brick facade is largely unadorned except for four rose windows, one large and one very small above the single portal in the central nave and two medium sized windows, one in each of the aisles. There are also three statues surmounted on the cornice above the portal that were added in the early 16th century. The campanile was completed in 1396 but had structural renovations undertaken in the course of the 20th century. The interior is in the style of a Latin Cross with a central nave, an aisle either side separated by 12 columns and a Gothic vaulted rib ceiling. The church also has three small chapels either side of the main chapel and altar, a magnificent choir screen dating from 1475 that contains 124 wooden seats and 10 chapels and/or monuments along the aisle walls including the tombs/monuments of Canova, Titian and several Doges. We were advised that Monteverdi is also buried here. The stained glass windows are also quite lovely. Perhaps though the most outstanding features are the paintings and sculptures, particularly those of Titian including the "Assumption of the Virgin" which is the main altarpiece and Giovanni Bellini's Fran Triptych in the Altar of the Sacristy. There was a cost of EUR3 (for seniors) to enter which was money well spent.