San Pietro di Castello ( vec, San Piero de Casteło), formerly Olivolo ( it, Olivòlo; vec, Ołivoło), is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, forming part of the Castello

sestiere A (plural: ) is a subdivision of certain Italian towns and cities. The word is from (‘sixth’), so it is thus used only for towns divided into six districts. The best-known example is the ''sestieri'' of Venice, but Ascoli Piceno, Genoa, M ...

. It is linked to the main islands of Venice by two bridges.

History

The island was the site of a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

from at least the 6th century, and it is from this that the island and the sestiere are named. In the seventh century, it became the seat of the

Bishop of Olivolo The Diocese of Castello, originally the Diocese of Olivolo, is a former Roman Catholic diocese that was based on the city of Venice in Italy. It was established in 774, covering the islands that are now occupied by Venice. Throughout its existen ...

, later renamed Bishop of Castello. When Castello was merged into the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice The Patriarchate of Venice ( la, Patriarchatus Venetiarum), also sometimes called the Archdiocese of Venice, is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or patriarchal archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Venice, Italy. In 1451 the Patriarchate o ...

it remained the seat of that archdiocese until 1807. The Church of San Pietro was the seat from the ninth century, while other attractions on the island include a

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

with a ring of bells in C, and the greenery of the Campo San Pietro.

Gallery

File:San Pietro di Castello Facciata.jpg, Facade File:Francesco Guardi 049.jpg, View of San Pietro di Castello by

Francesco Guardi Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the classic Venetian school of ...

File:Districts venice - castello.PNG, Castello Sestiere shown within Venice

References

{{Islands of the Venetian Lagoon Islands of the Venetian Lagoon