(EMAILWIRE.COM, April 01, 2009 ) Venice is continuing its drive to help save the city’s art heritage by using SMS and Internet funding - and this year, the famous Rialto Bridge, scene of thousands of romantic proposals, is amongst the line up of buildings to be restored with the proceeds…

SMS Venice, which stands for Save St Mark’s, is a campaign aimed at helping to save Venice’s art heritage by receiving SMS and Internet funding.

The campaign, which originally launched last year, encourages Internet users to visit the website www.venezia.net and click on a digital tile of Palazzo Ducale to contribute to the city’s upkeep.

As Venice is bursting with historical buildings and valuable cultural pieces, deciding which to include in the campaign for this year proved difficult.

Eventually, it was decided that this year’s goals should be the restoration of the city’s famous Rialto Bridge and three historic churches, San Giorgio Maggiore, San Giuseppe and the Chiesa dei Gesuiti.

The Rialto Bridge, which was completed in 1591, last had some restoration work done to it in 1973. The bridge was cleaned, the Istrian stone facing was restored, and the lead roofing, structural beams and sustaining structures were repaired and parts were reconstructed. The work was finished in 1977.

The Scuola di San Rocco with its famed Tintoretto paintings is another building included in the line-up. Located very near to the ancient Chiesa di San Rocco Church, the Scuola di San Rocco was founded in the 15th Century and was originally used as a confraternity to assist the citizens in times of plague.

Charity concerts have been held to help to promote the campaign and encourage both locals and tourist to take part. This year’s find raising was kicked off at the Theatre La Fenice with a charity concert starring Madeleine Peyroux, the jazz pop artist now considered the new Billie Holiday.

Come July, there will also be a Simple Minds concert in St Mark’s in July.

Last year, Elton John took part in a concert as he owns a property in Venice.

For more information on Italian properties and the market in general, please visit http://italy.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

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0207 952 7650

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