San Giovanni Crisostomo (Grisostomo) is a church in Venice, located in the Cannaregio district, along the calle that connects the Strada Nova with Campo San Bortolomio.
This small church was built in the 11th century in an area of Venice
that was already very rich then, as it is now. The facade looks towards
the main calle while the two walls overlook the same number of small
squares.
The first bell tower was opposite, across the calle.
In 1475 the church was destroyed, it is not known whether in part or
completely, in a fire that involved the area, also burning many houses
including that of Marco Polo which was located in the Corte del Milion,
in the immediate vicinity.
In 1488 Pope Innocent VIII granted an
indulgence of sins to anyone who contributed financially to its
reconstruction.
The works began in 1495 on a project by Mauro
Codussi, who however died in 1504 and did not see the end of the works.
It was finished around 1525 but already in 1531 the works commissioned
by the Venetian Senate began to widen the calle opposite. The current
bell tower was completed in 1590.
On February 26, 1918, the
façade was damaged by Austrian bombing.
Its plan is a regular Greek cross, with two naves that cross
perfectly and with the classic four pillars that support the arches on
which the hemispherical dome rests.
The most important work is
undoubtedly the altarpiece by Giovanni Bellini, from 1513, with Saints
Christopher, Jerome and Louis of Toulouse, commissioned by Giorgio
Diletti on 13 July 1494 in his will. It is an allegory of the Church:
Saint Jerome, the intellectual Doctor of the Church, finds himself
closest to God as the supreme conjunction between active and
contemplative liturgical life; Saint Louis of Toulouse, the nobleman who
left everything to become a Franciscan, instead symbolizes extreme
contemplation and Saint Christopher action. This is considered the last
work by Giovanni Bellini, now over eighty years old.
Also
important is a canvas by Sebastiano del Piombo, commissioned by Caterina
Contarini and Nicolò Morosini, and shows a very humble and human St.
John Chrysostom.
On the walls you can admire the Translation of
the body of San Giovanni Grisostomo by Zaccaria Facchinetti, 1610, and
San Giovanni Grisostomo ordained bishop by Alvise Dal Friso.
Finally, the marble altarpiece by Tullio Lombardo Coronation of the
Virgin among the Apostles, commissioned by the Bernabò de Catenariis
family of Montepulciano.
On the flat ceiling there are nine
compartments of various sizes in which the Holy Father is found among
cherubs and putti by Giuseppe Diamantini.