Scuola dei Morti

Scuola dei Morti (School of the Dead) is a small and charming building from the 17th century, overlooking the Grand Canal, in Venice, placed between Palazzo Flangini and the apse of the Church of San Geremia.

SHORT HISTORY

The building belonged to the Congregazione della Santissima Madonna del Suffragio dei Morti, known also as the School of the Dead, a religious congregation that, in 1624, has joined the homonymous Confraternity of Rome.

A few years earlier, in 1615, the congregation held meetings in the Church of San Geremia, until the parish priest gave them a piece of land in the ancient cemetery, to erect a chapel for the meetings, permission approved by the Venetian Senate in 1659.

At the expense of the Savorgnan family, the school was built, but was then destroyed during an Austrian bombing in 1849. Today, after an integral reconstruction, the building is used by the parish of San Geremia.

ARCHITECTURE

The facade of the one-storey building is simple and has a skull in the center, between two large windows, with an inscription below reminding about the congregation of Scuola dei Morti.

HOW TO GET THERE

The best place to admire the Scuola dei Morti is on the other bank of the Canal Grande, about 50 meters away from the nearest vaporetto station, Riva de Biasio, where the waterbuses of Line 1, 5.1 and 5.2 are stopping. If you want to get near the building, you have to reach Campo San Geremia, with the nearest vaporetto station being Guglie, about 300 meters away, on the routes 4.1, 4.2, 5.1 and 5.2.