Begun in 1631 by Baldassare Longhena to commemorate deliverance from the plague, the church is designed as an 8-sided octagonal crown supported — the count of tradition insists — by 1,106,657 wooden piles driven into the lagoon floor. The exterior carries its weight upward through great spiral scroll volutes (orecchioni), crowned by a ring of stone saints.
The full decipherment and its observational protocol — where to stand, when, and what to watch for — are in the Venice field codex.
Or read the complete Florence codex free first.