Discovering a rare place in a very touristy location is always a reason for wonderment and excitement.
Such a place, believe it or not, exists also in Venice, a city more known for being crowded all year long with tourists taking pictures of every calle, corner and canal.
The place in question is the Meteorological Observatory of the Pinacoteca Manfrediana, part of the Patriarchal Seminary next to the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute (Saint Mary of Health). The church was built to celebrate the end of the last great plague of 1630-31, but the observatory was added in 1826 above the seminary and started working from 1835.
The Observatory ceased to function in 1938 and can now be accessed from a spiral staircase inside the seminary, but it's rarely open to the public since its roof is not safe enough.
The staircase is actually not quite as scary as it may look like and even people suffering from vertigo do not have any problems climbing it, considering also that there are ample landings with windows opening onto the roof of the seminary.
There are also a few small rooms with a selection of instruments and tools from the 1800s, including armillary spheres, examples of the early electric battery called Zamboni pile, moon and meteorological observation registers, calculators, reports of international observatories and anemometers.
There's evidence in church archives that at the beginning of the 1900s, a manufacturer of meteorological instruments from London, James Hicks, visited Rome and donated to the Pope a series of instruments for this Observatory.
Once you arrive on the top you emerge onto the flat roof where there is the small astronomical observatory dome that can still be accessed.
Unfortunately the roof can't be open and the astronomical observatory can't be used for actual viewing sessions and that's a shame.
The view from the roof though is architecturally extraordinary and it's worth the climb. On one side the view opens onto the Grand Canal and St Mark's.
On the other you can spot the Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore (Church of the Most Holy Redeemer) dominating the Giudecca Island, with the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore further along.
From up above you can also see the roof of contemporary art venue Punta della Dogana and, while watching it, you instantly think that wealthy people like François Pinault can buy all the art works and exhibition spaces they want, but they will never own such views (besides, I doubt it he has ever seen the roof of his venue from this perspective...).
The most striking view remains the one that opens on the nearby domes of La Salute, as you get the impression you can touch the Church and suddenly feel closer to Heaven.
There is a quote from Genesis on the door that leads to the spiral staircase that states "Look toward the heavens, and count the stars". Even though you can't technically use this space to count the stars, the view is spectacular enough to leave you breathless and in peace with the rest of the world.
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