The church of San Giovanni Elemosinario is located in Venice, in the
San Polo district, in the Rialto market area. Commonly known in Venice
with the name of San Zuane de Rialto, it is inserted in an area dense
with uniform buildings and is usually surrounded by the stalls of
itinerant vendors, making it difficult to identify: it is located at
number 479 and is distinguished only by the arched portal, closed by an
iron gate.
The church is part of the Chorus Venezia association.
The erection of the church is uncertain, according to the chronicles,
thanks to donations from the Trevisan family, however it must be prior
to 1071, the year in which the collapse of the bell tower is documented.
It became a parish at the end of the 11th century, a period in which a
reorganization of the Venetian ecclesiastical administration took place.
Reduced to commendam in 1391 and later submitted to the chapter of
San Pietro di Castello and, in 1440, a papal privilege of 1440 gave it
as a benefit to the College of the twelve poor of Christ, still based in
the cathedral. However, the disputes between the college and the people
brought the church under the jurisdiction of the dogi (1487), thus going
under the control of the primicerio di San Marco.
It was
completely destroyed by the fire that struck the whole insula of Rialto
on 10 January 1514. The fire is remembered as one of the most disastrous
for the city of Venice, huge quantities of merchandise and many shops
were burned.
The reconstruction of the entire Rialto area was
then entrusted to the architect Antonio Abbondi known as lo Scarpagnino,
who also designed the reconstruction of the church in pure Renaissance
style, his was also the decision to insert the church in a context of
uniform and contiguous buildings, even the spaces in front of the church
were designed in such a way that they could comfortably accommodate
itinerant shops from which the church could obtain funds to support
itself. The reconstruction of the church was completed around 1531, in
the first years of the Dogeship of Andrea Gritti (1523-1538). It was
immediately embellished with works by the greatest artists of the time,
such as Titian, Jacopo Palma il Giovane, Giovanni Antonio de' Sacchis
known as il Pordenone.
In 1705, a family that moved inside
appears in the census of the church, Giovanni Maria, hatter, Laura
Manzoni with their six children including Stefano, Pietro, Anna Maria,
Caterina, and their brother Giambattista Pittoni, who became one of the
most famous painters of Venetian history.
Since 1808 the church
has been a branch of the parish of San Silvestro.
In 1982,
considering the serious conditions of deterioration which the building
had undergone, above all due to the humidity which seriously threatened,
with the development of fungi, even the very valuable paintings kept in
it, the Superintendency for Environmental and Architectural Heritage of
Venice he decided to close the building to restore it. All the paintings
were removed and kept in the deposit of S. Gregorio of the
Superintendency for Artistic and Historical Heritage.
The
restoration was completed by the Superintendent for the Historical and
Artistic Heritage of Venice and Director of the Gallerie dell'Accademia
Giovanna Nepi Scirè, the church was reopened with all its artistic
heritage on 1 March 2001. All the works were relocated except the
Heraclius carrying the cross to Jerusalem (oil on canvas, cm. 210x350)
by Jacopo Palma il Giovane, who, since it was very damaged, was
entrusted by the Patriarchal Curia to the restorer Maristella Volpin,
finally on 1 February 2002, this work too, very note, it was relocated.
The current church, rebuilt after the fire between 1514 and 1531 to a
design by the architect Antonio Abbondi still retains the original
fourteenth-century bell tower.
The plan is a Greek cross
inscribed in a square, the internal aspect is purely Renaissance and
classical.
The church was home to various brotherhoods of
merchants and schools of arts and crafts: the merchants, the biavaroli,
the couriers, the gallineri and the telaroli, who vied with each other
in embellishing it with works of art.
Vasari recounts that Titian
was commissioned to paint the high altarpiece representing San Giovanni
Elemosinario, titular of the church, who painted a beautiful work. Then
he left for Bologna. In his absence, some Venetian nobles, to challenge
him, commissioned Pordenone to paint the altarpiece for the right apse
chapel, which depicted the saints Catherine, Rocco and Sebastiano.
Titian, having returned to Venice and finding the Pordenone altarpiece
in competition with his own, flew into a rage. However, historical
reality would deny Vasari's thesis, because the Pordenone altarpiece
dated 1530-1535 would be prior to that of Titian dated 1545-1550.
In 1591 the Scuola dei Mercanti commissioned from Antonio
Vassilacchi known as Aliense a Washing of the feet which was placed to
the left of the main altar to complete the cycle of the Passion of Jesus
created by Leonardo Corona and which included the Oration in the garden
and the Crucifixion of Christ.