San Pietro di Castello: Venice's Forgotten Cathedral
Why is it significant?
Cross the bridge onto a grassy, almost rural square: a few trees, a church with a white classical front, and beside it a bell tower in pale stone, standing apart and visibly leaning. Washing hangs over the canal and nobody seems in a hurry.
Key Facts
| Place | San Pietro di Castello: Venice's Forgotten Cathedral |
|---|---|
| Address | Campo San Pietro, Castello, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy |
| Geo Coordinates | 45.43450, 12.35980 |
| Part of Walk | Lions, Shipyards and Saints: Venice's Castello and the Arsenale Beyond the Crowds |
| Generated | Generated |
Cross the bridge onto a grassy, almost rural square: a few trees, a church with a white classical front, and beside it a bell tower in pale stone, standing apart and visibly leaning. Washing hangs over the canal and nobody seems in a hurry. It is hard to believe that for about a thousand years this was the religious capital of Venice.
This small island, once called Olivolo, was among the first places in the lagoon to be settled, and from the eighth century it was the seat of the bishop. And this is the surprise: Saint Mark's Basilica, that golden marvel, was not the cathedral of Venice. It was the doge's own chapel. The cathedral was out here, far from the palace, and the Republic liked it that way, keeping the Church at a polite distance from power. Only in 1807 did the patriarch's seat move to Saint Mark's.
The bell tower was built by Mauro Codussi between 1482 and 1488, entirely clad in white Istrian stone, a rare thing in a city of brick towers. The church front follows a design by Palladio, completed after his death. Inside, look for a stone chair called the Throne of Saint Peter, said to have been used by the apostle in Antioch.
Now look at the back of that throne. It is made from an Islamic funerary stone, carved with verses from the Quran in Arabic script. Somebody, centuries ago, took a Muslim gravestone and turned it into a relic of Saint Peter, and either nobody noticed or nobody minded. Venice was a city of traders, and it collected beautiful things from everywhere.
In late June the campo hosts the Festa de San Piero de Casteo, a neighbourhood festival of long tables, music and fried fish, one of the few big celebrations in Venice still made by Venetians for Venetians. From here, cross back over the bridge and wind south through Campo di Ruga and the long street called Secco Marina, until the trees of the public gardens open up in front of you.