History of the Church
The Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, referred to by most locals as simply Salute, sits on a narrow strip of land between the Grand Canal and the St. Mark's Basin. The church was proposed in Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, Italy
Santa Maria
della Salute
1630 by the Venetian Senate in response to a particularly terrible wave of the plague, which had already killed about a third of the city's population. The Senate promised to build the church in honor of Mary if she would free the city from the plague. After the epidemic had subsided, the Senate kept its promise and construction of the church soon started.
At the same time, the senate decided that the new church would be the site of the annual Feast of the Presentation of the Virgin, which would involve a procession from San Marco to the Salute in the sestiere Dorsoduro. Because this would involve crossing the canal, the site was chosen for easy access. The annual feast - known as the Festa della Salute - is still held every November 21, when a temporary bridge is constructed over the Grand Canal.