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| Island and Church of San Pietro di Castello |
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| The church on the island of San Pietro di Castello |
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Location: Campo San Pietro di Castello, reached by crossing the San Pietro canal by means of one of the two bridges that connect it to the rest of the district of Castello. By motor launch ACTV line no. 41/51, S. Pietro stop.
Telephone: 0039 041 5238950.
Visit of the church by Chorus, Associazione Chiese di Venezia (info: tel. 0039 041 2750462, fax. 0039 041 2750494 e-mail: info@chorus-ve.org). Opening hours: from Monday to Saturday, 10.00 - 17.00; Sunday 13.00 - 17.00. Chorus Single admission: € 2,50, Chorus Pass Visit of all the churches, one-year validity, € 8,00 for groups, one free entrance every fifteen participants
free entrance for the tour leader; 5 euro for students up to 29 years of age (with ID) for groups, one free entrance every fifteen participants free entrance for the tour leader.
The last stage in the proposed itinerary is a secluded and charming corner at the eastern end of the urban area, behind the complex of the Arsenal, which housed the city’s religious power from the eighth century to the beginning of the nineteenth.
Here in fact stands the church of San Pietro di Castello, which until 1807 was Venice’s cathedral, that is the church of the Patriarch: of ancient origin (ninth century), but restructured several times and rebuilt in the 16th-17th century, it has a monumental façade of 1594-96 and a separate bell tower, the work of Mauro Codussi (1482-90).
The design of the façade is attributed to Palladio, his first work in Venice for which he was recommended by Daniele and Marcantonio Barbaro, who acted as guarantors for the contract with the masons in January 1558. But the death of the client, the Patriarch Vincenzo Diedo, held up work on the site two years after the start of the work, which was finished only much later. What we see now does not exactly respect Palladio’s design, but it follows his basic intentions, in particular the interaction between a larger order corresponding to the nave and a smaller one corresponding to the aisles, as was later completely accomplished in San Francesco della Vigna. |
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