Above you can see what Ombriola must have looked like during those early times, around 400 AD. You’ll really need to venture out into the Lagoon to “travel back in time” and see what Venice looked like long before her 118 islands were connected to form the city as we know her today.
With regard to Ombriola, she looks completely different in our time and at first sight, nothing is left of her lush gardens and orchards. But now, let’s take a short walk around Ombriola ! Here she is …
Ombriola’s name was forgotten after the fall of the Venetian Republic, and she was renamed San Zaccaria. The church and convent of the nuns I described in the story is the Church and Convent of San Zaccaria. The walled garden is located, and there are a few green traces. Part of this monastery was handed over to the Carabinieri Station of San Zaccaria in the 1930s.
The southern shores of Ombriola where the tradespeople from Byzantium landed are called Riva degli Schiavoni. When the nuns created their private zones, what is today called Campo San Zaccaria was private, representing the courtyard of the Monastery of San Zaccaria. At night, the courtyard was closed and you can still see the entrance made in Gothic style created by Bartolomeo Bon in the 15th century. He also built the famous Porta della Carta at the Doge’s Palace, the Ca’ d’Oro and the marble entrance of the Chiesa dei Frari. The portal shows Jesus, Virgin Mary between Saint Mark and Saint John Baptist.
The name of the little church built outside the walls of San Zaccaria is Chiesa di San Provolo, and the rich trading area I described in my story is Campo San Provolo, Campiello del Vin and Calle delle Rasse. So you see, chances are that you have been to Ombriola already :-) and it’s really easy to find. Just five minutes east of Piazza San Marco …
Finally, Ombriola’s northern “shores” overgrown with rosemary are called Fondamenta de l’Osmarin (osmarin meaning rosemary), so at least the rosemary hedges live on in the name.