The Scuola dei Varoteri is an architecture of Venice, located in the Dorsoduro district, in the middle of Campo Santa Margherita, formerly the site of a school of arts and crafts.
It was the seat of the furriers' brotherhood, Varoteri or Vajati in
the Venetian language, founded in 1312 at the church of the Crociferi,
the current church of the Jesuits. In 1501 the school made an agreement
with the religious to build a building for their school. When the
Jesuits were readmitted to Venice in 1657 and were able to purchase the
entire Crociferi complex from the republic, they decided to rebuild and
expand the ancient church with the consequent demolition of the school
building. In 1723 the senate authorized the Varoteris to rebuild the
school, as it was, in Santa Margherita. The Jesuits, for their part,
compensated the Arte with 1900 ducats and returned the furnishings of
the old school in 1724. The brothers were able to move there in 1725. In
1808, at the time of the suppression, the Arte possessed, in addition to
an altarpiece altar, thirteen other paintings, two of which are
considered «of value».
Subsequently it was used as a coal depot,
a cinema (1910-1915) and a school of fascist mysticism.
The small building has a rectangular plan, with the two main facades
facing north and south, the latter once facing the Rio della Scoazzera,
filled in in the 19th century.
On the north façade, at first
floor level, a large framed bas-relief represents the Madonna with Child
and furrier brothers which dates back to 1501, coming from the old
school at the church of Santa Maria dei Crociferi, in Cannaregio, in
place of which it was built in the 18th century century the Church of
Santa Maria Assunta called the Jesuits.