The church of San Giacomo da l'Orio is a religious building in the city of Venice, located in the Santa Croce district.
Probably founded in the 9th-10th century, it is nonetheless among the
oldest churches in Venice. An old tradition much anticipated its
foundation, making it go back to 555; it was based on an ancient
inscription «VVV» once present on the façade; Marin Sanudo specified
that the date was to be understood as from the foundation of Venice,
according to the old Venetian more, and corrected it to 975. The same
also informed us that the church of San Giacomo was built by the Campoli
di Oderzo and Da Mula families from the Contrade . However, the first
archival information on the church is later: for the church they date
back to 1089 and for the parish to 1130.
During the restoration
of 1903, the remains of a circular building were discovered outside the
church (probably a baptistery similar to that of Torcello) and the date
555. Fragments of the floor were also found, 60 centimeters below the
current surface walkable, very similar to those of the basilicas of San
Marco and Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello.
The etymology is
rather uncertain: according to some it derives from an Orio family,
according to others more probably from luprio, marsh (and in fact the
island was surrounded by a marshy area, then reclaimed), according to
others still from a reference to the opposite rio, towards which the
facade faces (from the stream). Lorenzetti reports that the origin of
the name was linked to the fact that the island on which the church was
built was infested by wolves, from which de lupio or de lupao, later
mangled in dall'Orio, or it would be a reference to a tree of laurel
(laurel), probably located near the church itself.
Hit by fire in
1149, it was rebuilt in 1225 by the noble Badoer and Da Mula families,
preserving the basilican forms, with further works during the Gothic
period, and then internally remodeled in the 16th century.
Initially subject to the bishop of Castello, from 1200 it was instead
directly subject to the patriarch of Grado and its Venetian seat of San
Silvestro as mother church. In 1451, with the establishment of the
Patriarchate of Venice and the suppression of that of Grado, it returned
under the local authority of the castle.
Preserved as a parish by
the Napoleonic provisions of 1807 and 1810, it absorbed the territories
of San Boldo and Sant'Agostin (with their churches later condemned to
demolition), as well as those of San Zan Degolà and San Stae. As a
result of the same provisions, it ceded part of its original structure
to the parishes of San Cassiano and San Simeon Grando.
This
church was one of the starting points for pilgrimages to Santiago de
Compostela, as evidenced by the image of a man carrying a shell, placed
on the bell tower.
The church is part of the Chorus Venezia
association.
The interior is characterized by the overlapping of various
architectural styles, linked to the interventions that took place over
the course of time: the bell tower and the basilica plan with three
naves remain of the thirteenth-century building, while the "ship hull"
roof has a Gothic and the decorations of the high altar and of the
central nave are from Lombardy. In particular, the ceiling uses
shipbuilding techniques typical of the Venetian Arsenal.
On the
entrance wall is the organ with three sixteenth-century paintings on the
parapet of the choir loft attributable to Andrea Schiavone: the Dispute
of Jesus, the Calling of the Apostles and the Martyrdom of St. James;
plus two other paintings by the same author on the sides of the door
depicting the Prophets. After the New Sacristy is the Chapel of the
Sacrament, dating back to the second half of the 16th century and
subsequently renovated in 1753, which houses paintings by Alessandro
Varotari (The Evangelists), Tizianello (The Flagellation), Giulio Del
Moro (Ecce Homo) and Jacopo Palma il Giovane (The Ascent to Calvary and
The Deposition in the Sepulchre). The frescoes in the dome, decorated
with stucco decorations, date back to the eighteenth-century renovation
and are attributed to Jacopo Guarana.
The main altarpiece
depicting the Virgin with Putto between Saints Andrew, James, Cosma and
Damian, better known as the San Giacomo da l'Orio altarpiece, is the
work of Lorenzo Lotto, executed in 1546. In the apse chapel they find
other paintings of the Venetian school and the painting on canvas
L'Addolorata by Lorenzo Gramiccia.
After the Old Sacristy is the
Chapel of San Lorenzo, decorated with a Virgin in Glory and Saints, from
the 18th century, San Lorenzo benefits the poor - Martyrdom of the
Saint, an early work by Jacopo Palma il Giovane, and above the altar the
altarpiece Madonna and Saints attributed to Giovanni Battista Pittoni.
Pittoni's tomb is kept in the church. To one side of the chapel is the
baptistery and immediately next to it, on the walls, another work by
Palma il Giovane (Christ comforted by the angel) and the Presentation of
the Virgin in the temple by Francesco Zugno.
Other important
works are kept in the sacristies. In particular, in the New Sacristy
next to the presbytery are works by Paolo Veronese: Allegory of the
Faith, in the center of the ceiling, the Four Doctors of the Church on
the sides and the altarpiece San Lorenzo, San Giuliano and San Prospero,
dated 1573 and originally used as altarpiece for the altar of the chapel
of San Lorenzo. Above the sacristy door is the painting San Sebastiano
between San Rocco and San Lorenzo by Giovanni Buonconsiglio, a work
executed between 1498 and 1500, which previously adorned the altar of
the church of San Sebastiano. Finally, there are two canvases by
Francesco da Ponte, The Preaching of the Baptist and The Virgin in Glory
with St. John and St. Nicholas, a Supper at Emmaus from the early 16th
century and a small Crucifixion by Palma il Giovane and a gilded wood
carving on a blue background also dating back to the early sixteenth
century. The decoration of the sacristy, above the external entrance, is
completed by another painting by the Veronese school depicting The Last
Supper.
Also in the Old Sacristy there are several paintings by
Jacopo Palma il Giovane, datable to 1575: The Virgin and the Saints, The
Punishment of the Serpent, The Gathering of the Manna, Elijah and an
Angel, Jewish Paschal Sacrifice, The Crossing of the Red Sea and the
ceiling The Blessed Sacrament adored by the four Evangelists.