Popular belief believes that the church of Saints Ermagora and Fortunato, transformed into "San Marcuola" in the Venetian dialect, was built on an island called Lemeneo between the 9th and 10th centuries by some refugees who fled from the mainland into the lagoon to save themselves from the Lombard invasion.
The church was razed to the ground by a strong earthquake and subsequent fire and rebuilt by the economic intervention of the Memmo and Lupanizza families.
The news about the church is unknown and complicated but it is believed that it was entrusted to some nuns but that the precarious conditions of the place forced them to move to Campo San Trovaso where the convent of the Eremitane was built.
In 1663 Antonio Gaspari (1670ca - after 1730) presented plans for the renovation of the building but the internal works ended only in 1736 with the supervision of Giorgio Massari (1686-1766) who took over from Gaspari after his death; the façade of the church is still unfinished.
The church is composed of a single square nave covered by a vault structured with large semicircular windows and in the presbytery you can see 8 altars full of works of art; among these, the "Last Supper" by Tintoretto (1519-1594) stands out.
The facade of the building, designed by Giorgio Massari, is still unfinished.
Andrea Calmo (1510-1571), Venetian dialect and sixteenth-century poet of literature, lived and died in this area of Venice.
