Madonna dell'Orto

Madonna dell'Orto was Tintoretto's own parish church, and he filled it with some of his finest work -- including two of his largest canvases anywhere -- before being buried here himself alongside his wife and two of his children. Away from the crowds of the Frari or San Rocco, it's arguably the single best place in Venice to see Tintoretto exactly as he intended: in the church he actually attended.

Entry is through the Chorus Association, whose admission fees fund the conservation of sixteen churches across Venice, most of which could not maintain themselves on donations. The multi-church pass costs barely more than two single entries and is the sensible way to pay for it.

This is an active parish in a residential quarter with very little tourism, and the surrounding calli are ordinary streets where people live. Voices carry here in a way they do not in the busier sestieri.

Flash photography is prohibited, and with good reason: Tintoretto's canvases have already survived four centuries of Venetian damp, and the apse pair are among the most vulnerable large paintings still in situ anywhere in the city.

Northern Cannaregio absorbs almost none of Venice's visitor pressure, and that is precisely its value. Coming here spreads a load that the streets around San Marco cannot carry, and it does so into a district that is not overwhelmed by it.

Madonna dell'Orto sits in northern Cannaregio, a genuine walk from the main tourist routes, reachable on foot or by vaporetto to the Madonna dell'Orto stop. It's part of Venice's Chorus church circuit, with an admission fee covering entry; the quieter setting makes it a good pairing with a wider walk through Cannaregio.

The two apse canvases are very large, very dark, and lit almost entirely by daylight. That makes the hour of the visit matter more here than at most Venetian churches: a bright late morning gives a genuine chance of reading the Last Judgement, while a dim afternoon reduces both paintings to shapes.

The church is on the Chorus circuit and keeps its hours -- daytime, Monday to Saturday, closed Sundays to visitors. It is a long walk to arrive on the wrong day, so this is one worth checking before setting out.

It is quiet at every hour of every season. Even in high summer this church rarely holds more than a dozen people, which means the paintings can be looked at from the middle of the nave without anyone waiting behind.

Pairing it with a walk out along the Fondamenta della Sensa and the Ghetto makes the trip proportionate -- coming to northern Cannaregio for one church and turning straight back is a lot of walking for forty minutes inside.