Gesuati

Santa Maria del Rosario (St. Mary of the Rosary), commonly known as I Gesuati, is an 18th-century Dominican church in the Sestiere of Dorsoduro, on the Giudecca canal in Venice, northern Italy. The classical style building has a well-lit interior and is exceptional in preserving its original layout and Rococo decoration intact. The church and almost all its sculpture and paintings were created within a thirty-year period: construction began in 1725, the church was consecrated in 1743, and the last sculptural decoration was in place by 1755.

==Background== The religious order of the Jesuates, formally the Clerici apostolici Sancti Hieronymi was founded in Siena in the 14th century and had a presence in Venice by 1390. Its members were known as I poveri Gesuati (the poor Jesuates) because they frequently called on the name of Jesus; they had no connection with the Jesuits (I Gesuiti), whose church is in the north of Venice. They acquired some wealth from donations and legacies and from privileges granted by the state, including a monopoly on the distillation of wine.