Description
Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo, San Zanipolo to Venetians, is one of the largest squares in Venice, in the Castello district on the border with Cannaregio. Here an imposing basilica, a Renaissance marble facade and a bronze masterpiece stand side by side.
In the center, on a base of colored marble, rises Verrocchio's Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, almost four meters tall without the pedestal. On one side is the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo; next to it, the facade of the Scuola Grande di San Marco, with two lions in relief on either side of the portal, today the entrance to the city hospital.
Verrocchio died in Venice in 1488 with the statue still unfinished, and the Republic entrusted the work to Alessandro Leopardi. The horse stands on just three legs: Verrocchio was the first to pull it off. Outside the side apse of the basilica you can still see the old level of the square, much lower than today's.
In the center, on a base of colored marble, rises Verrocchio's Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni, almost four meters tall without the pedestal. On one side is the Basilica of Santi Giovanni e Paolo; next to it, the facade of the Scuola Grande di San Marco, with two lions in relief on either side of the portal, today the entrance to the city hospital.
Verrocchio died in Venice in 1488 with the statue still unfinished, and the Republic entrusted the work to Alessandro Leopardi. The horse stands on just three legs: Verrocchio was the first to pull it off. Outside the side apse of the basilica you can still see the old level of the square, much lower than today's.