San Simeone Piccolo
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San Simeone Piccolo (also called San Simeone e Giuda) is a church in the sestiere of Santa Croce in
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  ...
, northern Italy. From across the Grand Canal it faces the railroad terminal serving as entrypoint for most visitors to the city.


History

Built in 1718–38 by
Giovanni Antonio Scalfarotto Giovanni Antonio Scalfarotto (1672 – 1764) was an Italian architect from Venice. He is said to have taught architectural drawing to the engraver Giovanni Piranesi. Like many eclectic architects of his time, it is difficult to pin down a specif ...
, the church shows the emerging eclecticism of Neoclassical architecture. It accumulates academic architectural quotations, much like the contemporaneous Karlskirche in Vienna. Wittkower, in his monograph, acknowledges San Simeone is modeled on the Pantheon with a temple-front pronaos, on the other hand, the peaked dome recalls Longhena's more embellished and prominent Santa Maria della Salute church. The centralized circular church design and the metal dome recalls Byzantine models and San Marco, though the numerous centrifugal chapels are characteristic of
Post-Tridentine The Council of Trent ( la, Concilium Tridentinum), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trento, Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italian Peninsula, Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation ...
churches. This was one of the last churches built in Venice, in one of its poorer sestieri. The pediment of the entrance has a marble relief depicting "The Martyrdom of the Saints" by
Francesco Penso Francesco Penso called "Cabianca" (1665? — 1737) was an Italian sculptor. His earliest known work is the marble ''St. Benedict'' (1695) for San Michele in Isola, Venice. His best-known work is the reliquary (1711), with bas-reliefs of the Cruci ...
, known as "il Cabianca." Saint Simon was apparently the martyred cousin of Christ, martyred as a Jew by the Romans. The mass is celebrated according to the 1962 Roman Missal by the
Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Petri; FSSP) is a traditionalist Catholic society of apostolic life for priests and seminarians which is in communion with the Holy See. The society was founded in 19 ...
.


Design and architecture

The church has a Neoclassic style, with an oval cup dome, specially designed with the intent of making the church seem larger than it actually is. It also goes slightly underground, where there lies some religious depictions and paintings. Around the interior of San Simeone Piccolo there are several altar rooms, notorious for minor operas. On these altars some other artworks by Antonio Marinetti, Francesco Polazzo, and others. Today, some parts of the building are forbidden from public visitation.


References


San Simeon Piccolo's Church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simone Piccolo Roman Catholic churches in Venice 18th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Roman Catholic churches completed in 1738 Neoclassical architecture in Venice Churches used by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter Centralized-plan churches in Italy Neoclassical church buildings in Italy