Carpaccio's oriental World in the Scuola degli Schiavoni and Gothic Venice

The close ties between Venice and the Middle East — through trade, diplomacy, and the long stays of merchants in cities like Constantinople, Alexandria and Aleppo — left a deep mark on Venetian culture. Traces of this exchange can still be felt in its cuisine, its crafts, and especially in Venetian painting and architecture.

Our tour begins at the small Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, the Dalmatian confraternity, where Vittore Carpaccio painted one of his most imaginative cycles in the early 16th century. The stories of Saint George, Saint Tryphon and Saint Augustine unfold in a vision of the East — a fabulous Orient filled with exotic animals, distant cities and richly detailed costumes.

As we make our way through the Castello district, we’ll read the façades and windows like a silent script — their arches and patterns revealing the influence of the Eastern Mediterranean. Gothic and Byzantine forms coexist here, shaped by centuries of cultural exchange.

We will also stop in Campo San Giovanni in Bragora, where a small Gothic church holds paintings that bear witness to different artistic worlds: some still marked by the solemn elegance of Byzantine ceremonials, others touched by the light and space of the Italian Renaissance.