The church of San Raffaele Arcangelo, also known as the church of the Angelo Raffaele or, in Venetian, of the Ànzolo Rafaèl, is a religious building in the city of Venice, located in the Dorsoduro district.
The church stands in one of the oldest areas of the city, among the
first to be permanently inhabited. According to tradition, it would be
one of the eight churches that San Magno, a native of Altino and bishop
of Oderzo, had built at the dawn of the city, thus dating back to the
seventh century. It is documented that a church in this location was
destroyed in a fire in the year 899 and was rebuilt, except for being
destroyed, again by fire, two more times, in 1106 and in 1149, and
always being rebuilt.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century
the precarious static conditions of the building made it necessary to
carry out a further complete reconstruction, which was completed in 1639
by the architect Francesco Contin, originally from Lugano. The
decoration works inside, in particular the realization of the paintings
and statues, continued also in the eighteenth century, to be concluded
between 1743 and 1749.
The church develops on the Greek cross plan of the previous
structure, with the facade facing the Rio dell'Angelo Raffaele. However,
the most used entrance is the side one, which is better integrated into
the pedestrian circulation.
The sculpture by Sebastiano Mariani
The Angel Raffaele with Tobias on the entrance portal and the paintings
on the parapet of the choir stalls, depicting the Stories of Tobias,
attributed to Gianantonio Guardi, stand out. Other frescoes were
executed by Michelangelo Morlaiter.
The imposing organ with two
keyboards was built in 1749 by Gaetano Amigazzi and renovated in 1821 by
the brothers Antonio and Agostino Callido, sons of the more famous
Gaetano. It was later rearranged by the Bazzani brothers in 1848 and
then in 1862; in 1961 it underwent careful restoration by the Tamburini
company.
On the central span of the nave there is a valuable
fresco by Francesco Fontebasso: San Michele chasing away Lucifer; there
are also frescoes by the same author in the chapel of the Baptistery.
On the entrance wall: on the left the Last Supper by Bonifacio
Veronese (16th century) and on the right the Last Supper by Luigi
Benfatto (1554-1609).
In the central nave stands out a wonderful
wooden pulpit from 1687, decorated with sculptures. It is the replica of
a previous fourteenth-century pulpit.
In the baptistery we find
frescoes by Fontebasso: the instruments of the passion allude to the
Resurrection of Christ, the roundels in the sails and the subjects in
the lunettes narrate the passion of Christ in monochrome. The baptismal
font is in polychrome marble, surmounted by a copper and bronze cover.
The altarpiece is by Lattanzio Querena (1768–1853) represents the Virgin
of Sorrows. In the altar we find columns in Verona red and slabs in
Tuscan pavonazzetto.
The structure is completed by two square
bell towers, of Romanesque layout, with a cell with coupled arches and
with the drum surmounted by a lead-coated cusp.