Daniele Manin

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​Daniele Manin (1804-57), lawyer and patriot, is one of the great heroes of Venice.

Manin was born on May 13th, 1804 in Ramo Astori, Venice. A plaque marks the place of his birth. He studied law at Padua, but practised in his native city. From an early age he had nurtured a deep hatred for Austria, which had been ruling Venice since 1814. 
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In March 1848 he led an uprising against Austrian rule. Seventeen months later, in August 1849, the rebellion was quashed and Manin was sent into exile. He spent the remaining nine years of his life in Paris, where he died in 1857. 

In 1866 Austrian rule in Venice and the Veneto came to an end and the city and the region became part of the recently formed (1861) Kingdom of Italy. Two years later, on March 22nd 1868, the twentieth anniversary of the uprising, Manin's ashes were returned to Venice, where he was given a state funeral.

Manin's supporters wanted his remains to be interred in the Basilica, but this was met with stiff opposition from the clergy and some members of the Venetian nobility. In 1875 his sarcophagus was placed in the Piazzetta dei Leoncini, against the north side of the church. 
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In the same year a monument was erected to Manin in the campo opposite his family home. In 1871 the church of San Paternian and its pentagonal campanile (999), the most ancient in the city after that of San Marco, had been demolished to make way for the monument. The memory of both church and campanile is marked by a plaque. 

It was inaugurated on March 22nd 1875 and Campo San Paternian was renamed Campo Manin. This was the first monument for almost 400 years to be erected in a public space to a private individual. 

Statue of Daniele Manin by Luigi Borro

Plaque marking the demolished church of San Paternian

Plaque marking Manin's place of birth, Ramo Astori