Chiesa di San Pantalon

San Pantalon looks unremarkable from outside -- its brick facade was never finished with the marble cladding originally planned -- but its ceiling holds one of the largest painted canvases in the world, an illusionistic sky that appears to blow the roof wide open above the nave.

San Pantalon charges nothing to enter, which makes it unusual among Venice's major painted interiors and also makes it dependent on the donation box. A church that asks for nothing still has a ceiling of forty canvases to conserve.

It is a working parish first and an attraction second, and the difference shows: there are no barriers, no wardens and no marked route, so the responsibility for behaving well inside sits entirely with the visitor. Quiet, no flash, and not walking through a service are the whole of it.

The neighbourhood around it is residential and academic rather than touristic. Groups stopping in the small campo block a genuine thoroughfare between Santa Margherita and the Frari, and there is no room here to absorb them the way the larger squares can.

San Pantalon is free to enter and just a short walk from Campo Santa Margherita in Dorsoduro. Early morning or late afternoon light works best for viewing the ceiling, and a visit rarely takes more than 30 to 45 minutes.