The sestiere of San Polo, in the heart of the city, is one of the oldest areas of Venice. Connected to the sestiere of San Marco by the Rialto Bridge, San Polo is the smallest sestiere in terms of size, yet it is home to the city's largest campo, where the ancient church dedicated to St Paul the Apostle stands, from which the campo and sestiere take their name. Not only: for almost a thousand years, San Polo has been the sestiere of the fish and fruit and vegetable market, and not far away is the church traditionally considered the oldest in Venice, San Giacomo di Rialto.

To anyone exploring the San Polo sestiere on foot, the dense network of houses and shops, a characteristic feature of this ancient area of Venice that was among the first to be inhabited, is immediately apparent.

The Rialto area, as well as being home to the Pescaria (fish market) and the Erbaria (fruit and vegetable market), is crowded with osterie and bacari where you can have an aperitif with ‘cicheti’ (appetisers and finger food) and the Venetians' favourite drink, the spritz.

The great beauty of San Polo

San Polo is home to a very high concentration of masterpieces of art and architecture. A must-see for those who want to visit something well known but at the same time quite far from the canonical sights is the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, inextricably linked to the genius of Tintoretto, who painted over sixty canvases there.

Also worth seeing is the imposing basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, a large Gothic church where celebrated painters and sculptors, from Giovanni Bellini to Titian and Baldassarre Longhena, left some of their best-known works. Among its treasures, the Assumption, a spectacular painting by Titian, certainly stands out.

Hidden treasures

Carlo Goldoni was born in San Polo, in Ca' Centanni, a typical Gothic palace now open to the public, transformed into a museum dedicated to the great playwright.

Among the unusual places in San Polo is the Ponte de le tette (Bridge of the breasts), so called because from the windows of the houses prostitutes displayed their bare breasts to attract clients. This whole area, which in the past was a sort of red-light district, is now a charming part of Venice full of unexpected glimpses in the dense fabric of calli, sottoporteghi, bridges and small campi.

Little visited, the church of San Cassiano houses one of Tintoretto's masterpieces, The Crucifixion. In the heart of the church, a small, half-hidden opening leads to a delightful chapel, a little 18th-century jewel, embellished with polychrome marble and covered with precious stones.

Church of San Giovanni Elemosinario