Santi Giovanni e Paolo

Open: 9-18. Holidays: 12-18. €3.50. 
Map. 

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The church of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (which is better known in Venetian dialect as San Zanipolo), was founded in 1234 when Doge Jacopo Tiepolo donated a large tract of marshy land to the Dominicans, who had been settled in Venice for about a decade.

The first church was completed in the 13th century, but soon became too small for the large congregations that it attracted. It was decided to rebuild it on a larger scale and work began at the east end. The apses were built by circa 1340, but the church, as a whole, would not be completed until 1430, the year it was consecrated. Its façade was never finished.

The portal (1460), which incorporates six Greek marble columns from Torcello, may have been designed by Bartolomeo Bon. Flanking the portal are several ducal sarcophagi, including that of Doge Jacopo Tiepolo and his son, Lorenzo. 

The church, the largest in Venice, takes the form of a Latin cross. The five-bay nave is a clear open space, ideal for preaching to large congregations. Beyond the crossing are five deep chapels. The Cappella Maggiore in the centre, the chancel itself, is lit by two tiers of tall, narrow windows. The high altar (c. 1619), a grand Baroque affair, has been attributed to both Baldassare Longhena and Mattia Carnero. 

The walls of San Zanipolo are lined with the tombs of numerous doges (a total of twenty-five are buried here) and leading members of the city's patrician families. The counter-façade has monuments to three doges, all members of the Mocenigo family. The monuments, the work of the Lombardo family of sculptors, take up almost the entire wall. 

Perhaps the most unusual monument in San Zanipolo is that of Marcantonio Bragadin.

​To the left of the Bragadin Monument is a fine altarpiece by Giovanni Bellini, which was commissioned by the St Vincent Ferrer confraternity in the 1460s. 

The Chapel of the Rosary, which can be found at the end of the left aisle, was the seat of the Scuola del Rosario. The scuola was founded in 1575 to mark the naval victory over the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Lepanto, which had taken place on October 7th, 1571. 

Santi Giovanni e Paolo

Portal of San Zanipolo

San Vincenzo Ferrer Polyptych by Giovanni Bellini