Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore

This guide to the Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore on Giudecca traces the 1576 plague that killed hundreds a day in Venice, among them the painter Titian, and the vow the Senate made if it lifted: to build a church to Christ the Redeemer. It follows the aging architect Andrea Palladio, overruled by the Senate when he wanted a round building, and the facade he modeled on ruins in Rome, its fifteen steps deliberately echoing the ancient Temple of Jerusalem. Palladio died three years into construction, never seeing the church he designed finished. Look up at that stacked, temple-front facade before you climb the steps.