On the occasion of the organization’s 50th Anniversary in 2021, Save Venice launched two historic campaigns for iconic Venetian artworks and monuments: the conservation of more than 2,400 square feet of Byzantine apse mosaics and interior and exterior brickwork and stone elements at the basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on the island of Torcello, and the 16th-century Italian Synagogue in the Ghetto of Venice.

Save Venice gratefully acknowledges the donors to the 50th Anniversary Campaign for Torcello

GRAND BENEFACTORS ($300,000+)
Jon and Barbara Landau, Madonna Hodegetria Mosaic

PRINCIPAL FUNDERS ($100,000–$50,000)
Howard and Roberta Ahmanson; Barbara and Amos Hostetter; VISA; and Donna and Christian Hoffman

BENEFACTORS ($49,999–$20,000)
John H. Wilson III and Annasue McCleave Wilson, in memory of John H. Wilson II and Mary Ryan Wilson; Gifford Combs in Memory of Professor Sir Christopher Dobson, FRS; Dr. Rosemary Mazanet; Jesse Robert & Patricia W. Lovejoy; Anonymous

PATRONS ($19,999–$10,000)
Andrew Jones and Laura Hodgson; Dr. A. Fenner Milton†; Prieto family in honor of Carmen Chinchilla Prieto; Wade W. Murphy; Donna Malin; Ms. Merrill Shields & Dr. M. Ray Thomasson; Patricia Fortini Brown;  Andrea H. Fahnestock through the New York Community Trust; and Tracey Roberts

SUPPORTERS ($9,999–$5,000)
Casey Kohlberg through the Camalotte Foundation; and Dr. Bruce Horten

With additional support from  Christine Steiner; Daniel Fitzgerald in memory of Louis & Teresa Verza; Warren Ilchman; Carol MacGregor; William Collins; Janice Hunt; C. Danial Elliott; Penelope Gardner-Chloros; Karen L. Marshall; and Constance Dickerson.

On the occasion of Save Venice’s 50th Anniversary in 2021, major conservation campaigns are underway at the Italian Synagogue in the Ghetto of Venice and the basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello. 50th Anniversary Campaign donors generously provided support for both projects.

PRINCIPAL FUNDERS ($99,999-$50,000)
Manitou Fund, Nora McNeely Hurley; Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg; Amy Harmon; and Tina Walls

BENEFACTORS ($49,999-$20,000)
Amy and David Abrams in honor of Anne Hawley and her impressive efforts to support the conservation of Venice art and architecture; and BULGARI

PATRONS ($19,999-$10,000)
Molly and David Borthwick; and Mary Ellen Oldenburg

Gifts listed in accordance to donation amount. 

Save Venice has long been dedicated to the preservation of this important site and the precious artworks it contains. Campaigns in the late 1970s and 1980s supported wall reinforcement in the church and treatment of the mosaics, with additional funding in the early 2000s to monitor the state of conservation for the Last Judgment mosaic. In 2018, Save Venice committed to funding the conservation of Torcello’s iconostasis in collaboration with the Venice in Peril Fund of London, in memory of our Honorary Director John Julius Norwich, the eminent historian, and writer. The latter project inspired Save Venice’s further commitment to fund the apse project in 2019.

The mosaics of the basilica’s central apse and the Diaconicon apse in addition to the iconostasis are among the most splendid examples of the Veneto-Byzantine style. These artworks and the brick and stone structure of the church date to the 7th, 9th, and 11th centuries, meaning they have been exposed to the harsh lagoon elements of humidity and salt for over one and a half millennia, making their need for conservation all the more critical.

Save Venice’s campaign treated the deteriorating exterior and interior walls in addition to 227 square meters (2,442 square feet) of Byzantine mosaics adorning the walls of the interior of the church apse. Each section of mosaic and underlying brickwork underwent conservation treatment concurrently with the corresponding section of exterior brickwork, which allowed conservators to monitor the stability of the delicate layers and consolidate problem areas more efficiently.

From October 2019 to September 2020, conservator Giovanni Cucco completed the conservation of the right nave Diaconicon chapel mosaics depicting Christ Pantocrator and archangels above a field of four bishop saints, with four angels and mystical animals supporting the Lamb of God. Concurrent to the work on the interior mosaics, the Silvio Pierobon firm repaired, reinforced, and restored the exterior brick walls and crypt under the direction of architect Paolo Tocchi, while specialized stone conservators concentrated their efforts on the elements in marble and stone.

Venice’s Università Ca’ Foscari archeologist Diego Calaon and his team conducted fieldwork in every phase of the project, searching for clues to reconstruct the history of Torcello’s Basilica and better understand artistic trends of the early Middle Ages in Venice.

From late 2020 through autumn 2021, conservation work focused on the central apse mosaics of the Madonna Hodegetria surmounting the Twelve Apostles and framed by the Angel Gabriel and Virgin Annunciate. Simultaneously, the Silvio Pierobon firm completed urgently needed structural reinforcement, repair, and restoration of the interior and exterior brick walls of the central apse and crypt. Conservators also restored the stone elements and altarpiece of the Saint Cecilia altar.

The brickwork in the synthronon of the center apse was also restored in 2022.

While confirming the structural stability of the chapel, conservators discovered frescoes above the vault, hidden under the roofline. These wall paintings depict a colorful frieze and narrative panels of the Virgin Mary and Saint Martin. The images are accompanied by captions with medieval lettering which experts have confirmed date to the ninth century.

The marble sheeting between the synthronon and mosaics in the central apse was removed for treatment, revealing a section of remnant frescoes of apostles, which were part of the decorative cycle that pre-dated the 11th-century mosaics. Additional fresco fragments were also discovered behind the altar in the crypt.

These previously undocumented frescoes indicate an extensive Western European Carolingian decorative cycle on Torcello prior to the Byzantine mosaics for which the church is now famous.

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