This is one of Venice's later churches, Santa Maria della Consolazione, also called Santa Maria La Fava. Its popular name comes from a little pastry shop that long ago on All Souls' Day sold little sweet cakes called 'fave,' meaning beans. The exterior was left unfinished as per the custom. The chancel of the church was built by Giorgio Massari (1750-1753) while the front and nave were built earlier by Antonio Gaspari in 1711.
Giorgio Massari
b. Venice 1687 - d. 1766
Massari was an architect. His father was a carpenter. Massari's first architectural client was Paolo Tamagnini, a Venetian merchant who commissioned him to build a villa in 1712. Massari was Venice's most important architect in the first half of the 18th century. Perhaps his most famous church is Gesuati on the Giudecca in Venice. He produced many villas and the Palazzo Grassi on the Grand Canal in Venice. He did restoration work on the Scuola Giovanni Evangelista.
Antonio Gaspari
b. Venice 1670 – d.. 1730
Gaspari had two sons Antonio b. 1724 d. Munich 1775 and Pietro b. 1720 d. 1785. Antonio Gaspari was an associate of Baldasarre Longhena. When Longhena died Antonio finished Ca Pesaro. He also designed the important Chapel of St. Teresa of Avila in Scalzi Church. For San Stefano he designed the tomb of Doge Francesco Morosini. For Santa Maria della Consolazione he built the front and nave. He designed the palazzo Zenobio for the Zenobio family. The palazzo is well known for the famous trompe-l'oeil ceiling fresco by Louis (Lodovico) Dorigny in the ball hall. There are wall paintings by Luca Carlevariis and ceiling paintings by Lazzarini and Tiepolo in the 'portego'. He designed the Palazzo Michiel Dalle Colonne on the Grand Canal. And he may have had a hand in the Spagnola Synagogue in the Jewish Ghetto.
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1) Exterior designed by Antonio Gaspari [80]
