Scuola Grande di San Rocco

The Scuola Grande di San Rocco stands on Campo San Rocco in the San Polo district of Venice, in Italy's Veneto region, beside the Frari church. It was the seat of a lay confraternity devoted to St. Roch, the patron saint invoked against plague, and it holds the most complete cycle of paintings by Jacopo Tintoretto anywhere. Tintoretto won the commission in 1564 by installing a finished ceiling painting as a gift rather than submitting a sketch like the other competitors, and then worked here for more than two decades. The visit follows a set route. On the ground floor, a hall of large canvases covers the life of the Virgin. A monumental staircase leads to the upper Sala Grande, where more than 30 canvases are set into a carved and gilded wooden ceiling, with scenes from the Old and New Testaments below on the walls. The adjoining Sala dell'Albergo holds the Crucifixion, a canvas roughly 12 metres wide that Tintoretto himself is said to have considered among his best. The scale and drama of the paintings, with strong contrasts of light and dark, make the interior feel closer to a theatre than a gallery. Because the ceiling panels are hard to see from below, the entrance provides mirrors that visitors can carry around and tilt to view the paintings without craning their necks. Most visitors spend one to one and a half hours, with the entry fee at about 10 euros and a reduced child rate of about 4 euros. The building opens daily from 9:30AM to 5:30PM. Mornings are generally calmer than at the main museums around San Marco, and midday tour groups tend to be the busiest period. The best photograph of the exterior is taken from Campo San Rocco, where the Renaissance facade sits beside the flank of the Frari church. Visitors should check whether photography is permitted on the day, as rules can vary. The nearest vaporetto stop on Line 1 is San Tomà, a short walk through the San Polo streets.