The largest church in the unusual Canal Vena complex is the Basilica of Saint James, elevated to such a high station because it houses a highly venerated icon: “La Madonna della navicella”, discovered after an apparition of the Madonna with the body of Christ covered in sores because of the sins of the inhabitants of Chioggio, by the poor greengrocer Zalon along the seashore of Sottomarina in 1508.

The painting is kept in the sumptuous and luxuriant high altar, surrounded by numerous “tolele”, ingenious votive tablets donated as votive offerings, sign of a strong popular religiosity.

Another striking fact is that numerous votive offerings made of silver, both ancient and recent, are placed in front of other sacred images.

The ancient Romanic church, with its three naves placed on lower pillars, was probably more evocative. However, it was demolished due to deterioration and substituted with this church with a single nave designed by Domenico Pelli and consecrated in 1790, fifty years after the building began. It became a Basilica in 1806 when it sheltered the relic.

Here we find two interesting works of art. On the left side there is an altar piece which is an authentic puzzle. The two saints in the lower part are attributed to Giovanni Bellini known as Giambellino (1430-1516), the upper part was made by Antonio Marinetti (1719-1790) and the Madonna’s face is placed in the middle, a detached fresco originating from the Palazzo Granaio. The eye is also drawn to the immense frescoed ceiling measuring 223 square meters, an eighteenth-century work by the ambidextrous Vicentine painter Mauri, who painted the scenography, and Antonio Marinetti, a local painter also known as Chiozzotto, a faithful pupil of Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (1682-1754).