Church of San Geremia Church

Church of San Geremia, Saint Lucy in Cannaregio

The Church of San Geremia, officially dedicated to Saints Jeremiah and Lucy, is located on the campo of the same name, near the Palazzo Labia and the Cannaregio Canal. Its position makes it one of the first churches you encounter when coming from the station toward the historic center. The campo also marks a crossroads between the Lista di Spagna, the Cannaregio Canal, and the paths leading to the Ghetto.

A church has existed here since the Middle Ages, but the current building is the result of an almost complete reconstruction carried out between 1753 and 1760 to a design by Carlo Corbellini. Its Greek cross plan, organized around a vast central space crowned by a dome, gives it a grandeur that its location between the campo, the canal, and the neighboring buildings does not necessarily suggest from the outside.

Its fame comes above all from the presence of the relics of Saint Lucy of Syracuse, one of the most venerated saints in Christianity and traditionally invoked as the protector of sight. San Geremia is today also the diocesan sanctuary of Santa Lucia and attracts pilgrims from far beyond Venice, especially around her feast day on December 13.

The interior brings together altars, sculptures, and paintings from different periods. Among them are several works by Jacopo Palma the Younger, some of which have been recently restored. But the religious and visual center of the sanctuary remains the chapel where the relics of Saint Lucy are preserved.

The church is part of a particularly dense urban landscape: bridges, streams of travelers, Palazzo Labia, the wide Cannaregio Canal, and access to the Ghetto all meet in a relatively small space. It thus reminds us that the area around the station is not just a transit zone, but fully belongs to the historical heritage of Cannaregio.

Sources and further information

Patriarcato di Venezia - Santa Lucia à San Geremia ; Catalogo Generale dei Beni Culturali - Chiesa dei Ss. Geremia e Lucia ; Venezia Unica - Cannaregio.