The church of San Giacomo di Rialto (popularly known as San
Giacométo) is a religious building in the city of Venice, located in the
San Polo district.
As the name suggests, which serves to
distinguish it from the church of San Giacomo dall'Orio in Santa Croce,
it is located on the left of the well-known Rialto bridge. The church is
part of the Chorus Venezia association.
Tradition considers it the oldest church in Venice, consecrated on
March 25, 421. It was begun by the vote of a carpenter, such Candioto or
Eutinopo, who would have turned to the titular saint to put out a
serious fire. According to the chronicle of Doge Andrea Dandolo, the
Paduan community participated in the construction in large numbers and
one of the bishops present at the rite of consecration, the bishop
Severiano dei Dauli, was from Padua. Tradition has it that the people of
Rivoalto, to thank Padua, donated the church of San Clemente Papa in
turn. Studies have shown, however, that the building is much later: for
example, in the donation of the Orios, a document of the 1097, the land
on which it stands is described, without mentioning the church. The
first certain mention dates back to May 1152, when there is mention of a
Henricum Navigaiosum plebanum sancti Johannis et sancti Jacobi de
Rivoalto.
In 1513 it escaped the serious fire that devastated the
adjacent commercial area and in 1601 the doge Marino Grimani ordered its
restoration, during which the floor was raised to face the high tide.
The exterior is interesting with the bell tower, the large clock
(useful for the market, which took place opposite) and the Gothic
portico, one of the last examples of its kind left in the city.
The interior follows the traditional cross pattern with a central dome,
later imitated in the Renaissance.
The history of the church is
therefore linked to the Rialto market: evidence of this is a Latin
inscription outside the apse, which invites traders to be honest: Hoc
circa templum sit jus mercantibus aequum pondera nec vergant nec sit
conventio prava ( Around this church let the law of the merchants be
just, the burdens just and the contracts loyal.)
It is currently
a rector's church, dependent on the parish of San Silvestro (vicariate
of San Polo-Santa Croce-Dorsoduro).