The church of San Basso is a sacred building in Venice, located in the San Marco district, with access from the Leoncini square. The church, nestled between the buildings annexed to the clock tower, has the right side façade which faces the left side of the basilica of San Marco.
Of very ancient foundation (about 1017), the church was commissioned
by the Elia family and dedicated to Saint Saba; it was later consecrated
to Basso di Nizza, bishop and martyr.
The building has repeatedly
been the victim of fires and the subject of consequent renovations,
which have changed its appearance over the centuries: the forms in which
it appears today, especially externally, are the result of the
seventeenth-century works of Baldassarre Longhena.
Deconsecrated
in 1807 by Napoleon's edict, the building was first sold, then used as a
warehouse.
It was only reopened in 1953, after a restoration
commissioned by the patriarch of Venice Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who
converted its use into a conference room.
Today it is the seat of the
Ateneo San Basso, an institution linked to the Procuratoria di San
Marco; conferences and musical events are organized there.
Description
Of the current building, with a gabled façade on the
narrow Calle San Basso (to the right as you leave the square), the most
valuable element is the lateral façade on the Leoncini square: it,
inserted between the civil architectures to the right of the tower of
the Clock, has a square and tripartite shape by Corinthian semi-columns;
it is opened by two entrances surmounted by a rectangular lancet window
in the external partitions, while in the center it is characterized by a
large circular decoration.