ACCADEMIA GALLERY, The Feast In The House Of Levi

You are now in the Gallery's largest hall, which was built at the beginning of the 1800s and is home to paintings of massive proportions: authentic glories of Venetian Renaissance painting. Make yourself comfortable, because you'll pass some unforgettable moments here, immersed in the ocean of color of the greatest Venetian masters.

The most magnificent composition is in the center, and is a sumptuous banquet that is personally brought to you by the great Paolo Veronese. The immense canvas was originally destined for the refectory of the Dominican convent of San Zanipolo, and the subject, not unusual for a place where friars consumed meals, is the Last Supper.

The picture was painted to replace an earlier work by Titian that had burned in a fire when the convent was used as a gunpowder and military equipment storage site during the Battle of Lepanto.

Veronese frames the scene in an architectural context: the three large arches inspired by the Classic style of Palladio's architecture makes you feel like a spectator watching the stage of a theater play. Apart from Christ and the Apostles, the vast painting has an authentic crowd of figures in contemporary dress and with casual attitudes. Many of these "extras" seem totally indifferent to the sacred episode before them....