The origin of the San Salvador Church and Convent, named after Christ The Saviour, goes back to the XI-XII century; they are located in the heart of Rialto’s area and are well known to any Venetians. In Italian, Rialto means the high shore marking the highest land along the Canal Grande. They were rebuilt several times, first following a roman architecture and then a gothic one. Their current architecture goes back to the Renaissance, in their last rebuilding that took place in the XVI century.

Among the several artists who work on them the great Cloister has probably seen the touch of Jacopo Sansovino, a great artist who contributed to the embellishment of the Church. The Church hosts several masterpieces, among them the celebrated Annunciation of Tiziano, painted in the best period of this great artist. The frescos and stuccos on the ceiling of the “Refettorio” (the monks canteen) are also going back to the XVI century.

In the late XVIII century, in the same period that saw the decline and then the end of the Venetian Republic, the San Salvador Convent faced a similar decline that hampered its own survival and was transformed in a barrack for the Napoleon army. After the First World War it was acquired by the local telecommunications company.

Since those years it has remained the main centre for the North-East Italian telecommunications.
In the middle of the 80ies a substantial restoration started with the goal of restoring the artistic wealth of the place and to accommodate a research centre for advanced studies in Information and Telecommunications Technologies.