San Vidal, Venice

San Vidal, Venice tickets: which one to buy

San Vidal is no longer a church in use; it is a concert hall, and that is how to approach it. A resident chamber ensemble plays here most evenings, largely Vivaldi and the Venetian baroque, and the ticket for a concert is also the easiest way to see the interior, since daytime opening is limited to the hours around rehearsals. Tickets are sold at the door, at kiosks around the square and online, and prices sit in the middle of the range for Venice's many concert churches.

The building stands at the end of Campo Santo Stefano, on the way to the wooden Accademia bridge, so it is passed by everyone walking between San Marco and the Dorsoduro galleries. Walking tours rarely go in. If you want a concert in Venice and are choosing between venues, this one has the best painting on the wall behind the players. Seats are unreserved, so arriving twenty minutes early gets you the front of the nave.

Visiting San Vidal, Venice: what to see

A church was founded on the site in 1084 by a doge and burned in the great city fire of 1105. Rebuilding ran for centuries, and poor foundations forced yet another reconstruction in the seventeenth century, completed in 1696 in honour of a later doge who had recaptured the Peloponnese. The front, added between 1734 and 1737 by Andrea Tirali, is a Palladian composition of columns and pediment with portrait sculptures of another doge and his wife set into it.

Inside, the main altarpiece is a Carpaccio of 1514 showing Saint Vitalis on a white horse with eight saints arranged around and above him on balconies, an unusual composition and one of the painter's last works. Two marble allegorical figures flank the altar, and there are paintings by Sebastiano Ricci and others along the walls. The room is small, high and acoustically excellent. The players perform in front of the Carpaccio rather than under a stage light, which suits the room.

San Vidal, Venice opening hours and the best time to go

Concerts are generally in the evening and run about ninety minutes with an interval. Daytime access depends on the ensemble's schedule and is unpredictable, so treat an evening ticket as the plan. Venice is at its worst for crowds between May and October and at its best in November, January and February, when the light is extraordinary and the calli are walkable. Carnival in the weeks before Lent fills the city again.

Acqua alta can flood the square outside in autumn and winter; the tide tables are published and raised walkways appear. Campo Santo Stefano has cafes, a good ice cream shop and enough space to sit, which is rare here. The Accademia gallery is three minutes away across the bridge and deserves half a day of its own. Concert programmes are posted on boards outside and change through the week rather than nightly.