The church of San Leonardo is a religious building in the city of Venice located in the Cannaregio district along the Strada Nova.
From the earliest times it assumed the title of parish church:
according to tradition, the church was founded in 1025 with the help of
the Crituazio family, although the first document in which its existence
is mentioned dates back to 1089.
The restoration to which the
church underwent during the first half of the fourteenth century, which
led to its rededication on May 4, 1343 (an event commemorated on a
plaque now kept in the Seminary Museum), almost certainly stopped at the
level of restructuring, since in the perspective view created by Jacopo
de' Barbari in 1500, the church still refers to Byzantine models,
evidenced by the basilica plan with three naves with the sides marked by
pilasters and the longitudinal axis that runs parallel to the course of
the nearby Rio San Leonardo (later become rio tòrà). The left side of
the church faces it, somewhat set back from the bank, to form the Campo
San Leonardo which still exists today and onto which the side entrance
opens.
Church of lay patronage, the parish priest was designated
by the neighbors who owned properties in the parish; only later was this
confirmed by the bishop. From 1395 it also became a collegiate church,
governed by a chapter made up of only two titled priests: in that year,
in fact, the Council of Ten authorized the erection in the church of a
brotherhood dedicated to Saint Leonardo himself, with the proceeds of
which a second priest at the service of the parish.
In ancient
times, the parish was affiliated to the cathedral of St. Peter the
Apostle: the obligations linked to the relationship of filiation
required the parish priest and those entitled to the church of San
Leonardo, among others, to attend the blessing of the baptismal font in
the mother church on Holy Saturday, receiving blessed water for the
baptistery of his parish, as well as assets of various kinds established
by custom.
In 1595 the bell tower suddenly collapsed, while
towards the end of the eighteenth century the static conditions of the
building were now so critical as to recommend a total reconstruction.
The project was entrusted to Bernardino Maccaruzzi, (student of
Giorgio Massari), who transformed the interior into the single current
nave, while maintaining the orientation of the old building, i.e.
turning the left side towards the field which a row of low houses floor
they hide up to the height of the presbytery area. The works could be
considered completed in 1794.
Suppressed in 1807 following the
Napoleonic decrees, the church was stripped of all its ornaments (altars
and paintings) and used as a coal deposit while its territory was
divided between the parishes of San Marcuola (Santi Ermagora and
Fortunato) and San Geremia . In more recent years, after having been
used for a long time as a rehearsal room for the municipal band, the
Municipality of Venice, the current owner, carried out a restoration
that transformed it into a multipurpose public hall.