Church of San Domenico

San Domenico stands on its own small island east of the Vena, reached by a bridge, slightly apart from the rest of Chioggia.

The reason to make the short walk is a single painting: Vittore Carpaccio's St Paul, signed and dated 1520, which is the last work he signed and among the last he painted.

The church itself is a plain eighteenth-century rebuilding with a much older detached campanile, and it holds a scattering of other Venetian-school paintings -- but the Carpaccio is why art historians come to Chioggia at all.

This is a small parish with limited resources maintaining a painting of real art-historical importance. An offering in the box is the direct and appropriate contribution.

Do not use flash. The Carpaccio is a five-hundred-year-old panel in a building without museum climate control, and it is fragile.

Visit quietly and stay out of services. The community here is small and the church is in genuine parish use.

Entry is free, but the opening hours are limited and irregular -- this is a small parish church without staff, and it is not reliably open.

It is worth checking with the tourist office on the Corso before walking over, or timing a visit around a service. Being turned away at the door is the common experience here.

The church is about ten minutes' walk east from Corso del Popolo, over the bridge onto its island.

Allow twenty minutes once inside. The Carpaccio is the visit; the rest takes a few minutes.

The approach involves a stepped bridge, which limits wheelchair access.

Morning is when the church is most likely to be open, and when the light in the nave is best for looking at paintings.

Spring and autumn for the walk over; the island is exposed and hot in high summer.

Sunday around Mass times is often the most reliable way to find the doors open, though looking around during a service is not appropriate.

Out of the summer season the hours contract further -- check first.