Description
Campo San Polo is the largest campo in Venice after Piazza San Marco, in the district of the same name, between Rialto and Campo Santa Margherita. The name comes from the church of San Polo, which gives onto the campo only with its apse. For centuries it was the Venetians' backyard.
At first it was a meadow with vegetable plots and pastures. In 1493 it was paved and the well was placed in the center. From then on it became the place for markets, fairs and large gatherings: in the seventeenth century the poor people's little markets, previously in Piazza San Marco, were moved here too.
The campo also took on a festive air: games such as ball games and bull-chasing were organized. It became so rowdy that in 1611 the Republic banned games and the sale of goods. A plaque on the church still recalls it.
Looking at the palaces, you see a curve of façades from different periods: Palazzo Maffetti Tiepolo, from 1712, the Gothic Palazzo Soranzo and Palazzo Donà, from the early sixteenth century. The curve follows a canal, the Rio di San Antonio, filled in in 1761.
On the other side you notice the corner of Palazzo Corner Mocenigo, by Michele Sanmicheli. An old mosaic sign recalls a brewery, at number 2168.
The church of San Polo, of Byzantine origin and from the ninth century, was remodeled in the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. Inside are canvases by Tintoretto and Tiepolo.
In one of the large houses of the campo was born Franco Basaglia, the psychiatrist who inspired Law 180, the one that led to the closing of the asylums in Italy.
On February 25, 1548, Lorenzino de' Medici was stabbed here, reached by two hired killers in the service of Cosimo I. Those who believe in a Roman origin of Venice swear that the campo was the city's arena, little by little demolished to get building material.
Today it is a good place to sit and watch the life of the neighborhood, away from the crowds of Rialto.
At first it was a meadow with vegetable plots and pastures. In 1493 it was paved and the well was placed in the center. From then on it became the place for markets, fairs and large gatherings: in the seventeenth century the poor people's little markets, previously in Piazza San Marco, were moved here too.
The campo also took on a festive air: games such as ball games and bull-chasing were organized. It became so rowdy that in 1611 the Republic banned games and the sale of goods. A plaque on the church still recalls it.
Looking at the palaces, you see a curve of façades from different periods: Palazzo Maffetti Tiepolo, from 1712, the Gothic Palazzo Soranzo and Palazzo Donà, from the early sixteenth century. The curve follows a canal, the Rio di San Antonio, filled in in 1761.
On the other side you notice the corner of Palazzo Corner Mocenigo, by Michele Sanmicheli. An old mosaic sign recalls a brewery, at number 2168.
The church of San Polo, of Byzantine origin and from the ninth century, was remodeled in the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. Inside are canvases by Tintoretto and Tiepolo.
In one of the large houses of the campo was born Franco Basaglia, the psychiatrist who inspired Law 180, the one that led to the closing of the asylums in Italy.
On February 25, 1548, Lorenzino de' Medici was stabbed here, reached by two hired killers in the service of Cosimo I. Those who believe in a Roman origin of Venice swear that the campo was the city's arena, little by little demolished to get building material.
Today it is a good place to sit and watch the life of the neighborhood, away from the crowds of Rialto.