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Named after either a bay tree, wolves or a canal depending on your source, this picturesque quintessential square, well off the beaten track, sports plane trees, benches for relaxing and patches of grass. Modest surrounding palaces are home to Venice University’s architectural faculties. The laid-back air and abundance of eateries and coffee shops make it very inviting, and there’s no lack of subjects for photographers or artists.

People usually hurry through this square en route to the bus terminal, oblivious to its quiet charm. Interest starts with the curious loggia on the western canal edge, then there’s the attractive plain church named for San Giovanni Decollato or St John the Beheaded, depicted with flowing curly locks in a stone bas-relief on the southern wall. Inside the simple Veneto-Byzantine building are lovely 13th-century frescoes, an unusual survivor for damp old Venice.

On no account miss this unusual church. Founded in the 9th century, its Latin-cross shape boasts a marvellous 15th-century wood-beamed ceiling and a forest of colourful granite and black limestone columns from the Middle East, several of them loot from the Crusades. The floor merits close scrutiny for its multitude of fossils, while memorable paintings include Palma il Giovane’s Descent of Manna (1580–81), left of the main altar, and a painted crucifix (1350) attributed to Paolo Veneziano.

A leafy haven of twittering sparrows and flowerbeds close to Piazzale Roma and the car parks, these French-designed gardens date back to the 1800s when extravagant parties for the nobility were held here among exotic flowers and rare animals. Site of a demolished convent, it belonged to Corfu-born entrepreneurs, hence the Greek name. The public park was greatly reduced in size when the Rio Novo canal was excavated 1932–3.

This erstwhile confraternity headquarters with a high-ceilinged upstairs hall is mostly used for conferences. The monumental staircase was the work of Coducci and the priceless reliquary contains a fragment of the True Cross, presented to the Scuola in 1369. The spectacular Miracles of the Cross cycle of paintings commissioned of Gentile Bellini and associates is now in the Accademia Galleries. The exterior courtyard has a fine sculptured portal screen by Pietro Lombardo mounted with an eagle to symbolize St John.

Blinding in the morning sun thanks to its cleansing face-lift, the early Renaissance façade of this historic building, home to masterpieces by Tintoretto, is a marvel of intertwined sculpted stone wreaths and crouching elephants dwarfed by admirable columns. The Istrian stone facing is embedded with a rainbow medley of burgundy porphyry and green and cream veined marble inserts. Designed by Bartolomeo Bon in 1517 and added to by Scarpagnino and other stone-masons, the imposing building with neighbouring church was home to one of the city’s foremost confraternities, honoured with an annual visit by the Doge.

Interior detail, Scuola Grande di San Rocco