This is the final image from our voyage to the Mediterranean in the summer of 2009.

In 1630 Venice experienced an unusually devastating outbreak of the plague. As an offering for the city's deliverance from the pestilence,
the Republic of Venice vowed to build and dedicate a church to Our Lady of Health (Italian: Salute).

The church was designed in the then fashionable Palladian style by Baldassare Longhena, a pupil of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio,
and construction began in 1631. The dome of the Salute was an important addition to the Venice skyline and soon became
emblematic of the city, inspiring artists like Canaletto, J. M. W. Turner, John Singer Sargent, and Francesco Guardi