Church of Santa Maria dei Carmini Church

Santa Maria dei Carmini, the Carmelite church of Dorsoduro

On the Campo dei Carmini, a few steps from Campo Santa Margherita, the Santa Maria dei Carmini church — or Santa Maria del Carmelo, often simply called i Carmini — is one of the main religious buildings in this part of Dorsoduro. 
In a daily-life area of Dorsoduro, it stands right next to the Scuola Grande dei Carmini, a former conventual church and the rich seat of a Venetian lay confraternity with its own decorated rooms.

A Gothic church transformed in the Renaissance

Founded by the Carmelite friars at the end of the 13th century, the church was begun in 1286 and consecrated in 1348. Its interior retains the three-aisled basilical plan and the Istrian stone columns of the Gothic building, while the facade was rebuilt in the late 15th century in a Renaissance style. From 1507 onwards, the choir, chapels and upper parts were profoundly remodelled, giving the whole its current composite appearance.

Cima, Lotto and Tintoretto

The second altar on the right preserves a remarkable Nativity by Cima da Conegliano, painted between 1503 and 1509: the sacred scene opens onto a vast landscape, characteristic of the painter. The church also possesses the Saint Nicholas in Glory by Lorenzo Lotto, dated 1529, as well as a Presentation of Jesus at the Temple executed by the young Tintoretto around 1541-1542, making the Carmini a much richer artistic stop than its exterior appearance suggests.

Sources and further information

Chorus Venezia — Santa Maria del Carmelo (Carmini) ; Scuola Grande dei Carmini — history of the confraternity.