The Basilica dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, known in Venetian as San Zanipolo, is a church in the Castello ''sestiere'' of

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, Italy. One of the largest churches in the city, it has the status of a minor basilica. After the 15th century the funeral services of all of Venice's

doges A doge ( , ; plural dogi or doges) was an elected lord and head of state in several Italian city-states, notably Venice and Genoa, during the medieval and renaissance periods. Such states are referred to as " crowned republics". Etymology The ...

were held here, and twenty-five doges are buried in the church.

Description

The huge brick edifice was designed in the Italian Gothic style, and completed in the 1430s. It is the principal Dominican church of Venice, and as such was built to hold large congregations. It is dedicated to

John and Paul John and Paul (Latin: ''Ioannes, Paulus'') are saints who lived during the fourth century in the Roman Empire. They were martyred at Rome on 26 June. The year of their martyrdom is uncertain according to their ''Acts''; it occurred under Julian ...

, not the Biblical Apostles of the same names, but two obscure martyrs of the Early Christian church in Rome, whose names were recorded in the 4th century but whose legend is of a later date. In 1246, Doge Jacopo Tiepolo donated some swampland to the Dominicans after dreaming of a flock of white doves flying over it. The first church was demolished in 1333, when the current church was begun. It was not completed until 1430. The vast interior contains many funerary monuments and paintings, as well as the '' Madonna della Pace'', a miraculous Byzantine image situated in its own chapel in the south aisle, and a foot of

Saint Catherine of Siena Catherine of Siena (Italian: ''Caterina da Siena''; 25 March 1347 – 29 April 1380), a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, was a mystic, activist, and author who had a great influence on Italian literature and on the Catholic Church. ...

, the church's chief

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

. Santi Giovanni e Paolo is a parish church of the Vicariate of San Marco-Castello. Other churches of the parish are San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti, the Ospedaletto and the

Beata Vergine Addolorata Beata or Beate is a female given name that occurs in several cultures and languages, including Italian, German, Polish, and Swedish, and which is derived from the Latin ''beatus'', meaning "blessed".''Behind the Name''"Given Name Beate" Retriev ...

. The Renaissance Equestrian Statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni (1483), by Andrea del Verrocchio, is located next to the church. The belltower has 3 bells in D major. Exterior of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Venice) from Campo San Zanipolo.jpg, The facade of Santi Giovanni e Paolo. Exterior of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Venice) - Campanile a vela.jpg, Bel-gable Santi Giovanni e Paolo Venice interior 01.jpg, Interior of the church. Veneto Venezia5 tango7174.jpg, Chapel of the Rosary.

Notable artists

Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 26 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father ...

(''

Saint Vincent Ferrer Altarpiece The ''Saint Vincent Ferrer Altarpiece'' is a tempera on panel painting by Giovanni Bellini (possibly with some collaboration by another artist on the scenes of Ferrer's miracles on the predella, perhaps Lauro Padovano), dating to 1464–1470 and ...

'' in the south aisle) * Bartolomeo Bon (the great west doorway) * Cima da Conegliano or Giovanni Martini da Udine (''Coronation of the Virgin'' in the south transept) * Lorenzo Gramiccia (''Madonna del Rosario'' in Capella di Trinita) *

Piero di Niccolò Lamberti Piero is an Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: *Piero Angela (1928–2022), Italian television host *Piero Barucci (born 1933), Italian academic and politician *Piero del Pollaiuolo (c. 1443–1496), Italian painter *Piero de ...

and

Giovanni di Martino Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * '' Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend ...

(tomb of Doge Tommaso Mocenigo in the north aisle) * Gregorio Lazzarini (sala S. Tommaso) * Pietro Lombardo (tombs of on the west wall and Doges Pasquale Malipiero and Nicolo Marcello in the north aisle; tomb of Alvise Diedo in the south aisle) *

Tullio Lombardo Tullio Lombardo (c. 1455 – November 17, 1532), also known as Tullio Solari, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor. He was the brother of Antonio Lombardo and son of Pietro Lombardo. The Lombardo family worked together to sculpt famous Catholic ...

( and

Alessandro Leopardo Alessandro Leopardi (sometimes called Leopardo) (1466 – 1512) was a Venetian sculptor, bronze founder and architect. Biography Leopardi was born and died in Venice. He is first heard of in 1482 and is said to have worked at the mint. He wa ...

?) ( on the north wall of the choir) * Lorenzo Lotto (''

St Antoninus Giving Alms ''St Antoninus Giving Alms'' or ''The Alms of St Antoninus'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian artist Lorenzo Lotto, created . It depicts Archbishop Antoninus of Florence giving alms as an allegorical ideal for bureaucratic charity. Th ...

'' in the south transept) *

Rocco Marconi Rocco Marconi (born before 1490 – 13 May 1529) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, active mainly in Venice and Treviso. He was a pupil of the painter Giovanni Bellini along with Vittore Belliniano and Girolamo Santacroce Gir ...

(''Christ between SS Peter and Andrew'' in the south transept) *

Giuseppe Maria Mazza Giuseppe Maria Mazza (13 May 1653 – 6 June 1741) was one of the leading sculptors of Bologna, Italy, in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He was trained as a painter, but is best known for his fine sculptural work in terracotta and stucco. ...

(five large bronze reliefs depicting the miracles of

Saint Dominic Saint Dominic ( es, Santo Domingo; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (), was a Castilian Catholic priest, mystic, the founder of the Dominican Order and is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientis ...

in the Chapel of San Dominico) * Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (''St Dominic in Glory'' on the ceiling of the Capella di San Domenico) *

Alvise Tagliapietra Alvise Tagliapietra (1670–1747) was a Venetian baroque sculptor. Tagliapietra was born in Venice in 1670 and died there in 1747. Between 1705 and 1711, he and his studio carved several standing marble figures for the high altar of the Church ...

, reliefs in the Chapel of the Rosary Giovanni Bellini Giovanni Bellini (; c. 1430 – 26 November 1516) was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. He was raised in the household of Jacopo Bellini, formerly thought to have been his father ...

Description

Notable artists

Funerary monuments

External links