According to tradition, the basilica of Santa Maria and San Donato was founded in a field of red lilies by the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto the Great, in 950. At the request of Pope Agapetus II, the consecration ceremony was performed by Buono, the Patriarch of Grado, and attended by no less than two arch-bishops and twenty-five bishops.

Medieval chronicles tell a different story. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the 7th century by the Muriani and Muraneschi families—“men of great spirit and ability” who settled on Murano from mainland Altino—, the church was completely rebuilt between 1125-1141 in a Veneto-Byzantine style. On 7 August 1125, Doge Domenico Michiel donated to the basilica of Santa Maria the precious relics of the dragon-slaying bishop Saint Donatus of Euorea (Arezzo), whose name was added to its dedication. The donation also included the bones of the monster slain, which today hang behind the altar but at first, were housed in the baptistry that once stood in front of the church (demolished in 1719). The basilica is commonly known as San Donato.

One of the most impressive features of San Donato is the lavish, multicolored mosaic floor, made in the opus sectile and the opus tessellatum techniques. The central figural panel depicts a set of four great interlacing circles—well-known symbols of eternity and hence figures of the everlasting God who is beyond time and space. At the center of it, set like a jewel, a fifth circle bears a Latin inscription that reads: “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the year of our Lord 1141, the month of September, Indiction V.” The inscription demonstrates that San Donato’s tile floor was laid at the same time as that in the basilica di San Marco.

The mosaic floor measures over 500 square meters and is made of porphyry, serpentine, and other precious Mediterranean stones mixed with glass paste. Until the 18th century, the 12th-century mosaic also decorated the floor of the high altar, but in 1735 the tiles were pulled out and discarded to make room for the tombstone of the Patriarch Marco Giustinian.

Figurative images of animals including peacocks, roosters, eagles, griffins, and geometric patterns represent Christian imagery and symbolism. The pears of peacocks, for example, which traditionally symbolize Christian immortality (as it was believed their flesh could not decay), are portrayed pecking bread from a golden chalice, thus stressing how Eucharist is the means to eternal life. Even more intriguing is the mosaic representing two roosters carrying off a trussed-up fox, an iconography that may have its roots in the Fathers of the Church, including Saint Augustin and Saint Gregory the Great. According to the former, the fox was not just the symbol of evil, but also of the heretics (“vulpes insidiosos, maximeque haereticos significant”); the latter interpreted roosters as signs of evangelical preachers (“praedicatores sancti”). San Donato’s mosaic thus represents the men of God who overcome heresy, with evident reference to the vigilant Christians who don’t fall into temptation. This iconography was quite common in northern Italian Medieval churches and can be also found on the pavement of the basilica di San Marco and the church of San Giovanni Evangelista, Ravenna.

In the late 19th century, the Victorian critic John Ruskin praised San Donato as “one of the most precious monuments in Italy, showing […] the beginning of the mighty spirit of the Venetian color, which was to be consummated in Titian.” Save Venice’s concern for the San Donato floor began in the early 1970s with our first large-scale campaign, and continues today.

Unidentified artists
Mosaic Pavement
12th century, marble and stone
50 square meters
Basilica of Santi Maria and Donato

Conn, Melissa and Davis Rosand, eds. Save Venice Inc. Four Decades of Restoration in Venice. New York: Save Venice Inc., 2011

Niero, Antonio. Basilica of Saints Maria and Donato on Murano: History and Art. Padua: G. Deganello, 2013

Pasquini Vecchi, Laura. Il cosiddetto funerale della volpe nel mosaico pavimentale di S. Marco a Venezia. In Guidobaldi, Federico and Andrea Paribeni, eds. Atti del VI Colloquio dell’Associazione Italiana per lo Studio e la Conservazione del Mosaico. Ravenna: Edizioni del Girasole, 2000, pp. 23-34. Link to the article

Perry, Marilyn. The Basilica of SS. Maria e Donato on Murano. Murano: Parrocchia della basilica, 1980

Rinaldi, Maria Simonetta. “Il pavimentum sectile e tessellatum della Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato di Murano.” Venezia Arti, 8, 1994, pp. 13-20

Ruskin, John. The Stones of Venice. Vol. 2 The Sea Stories. New York: John Wiley & sons, 1880

Venice Restored. Paris: Unesco, 1978. Link to the book

In November and December 2019, a series of exceptionally high tides caused extensive damage throughout Venice. The church of Santa Maria e San Donato was no exception. The church’s low elevation makes it particularly vulnerable to flooding and the precious mosaic floor was submerged in corrosive seawater on multiple occasions over the course of several weeks.

Save Venice once again answered the call to action, allocating support from the Immediate Response Fund for urgently needed conservation. The UNISVE conservation firm has teamed up with master mosaicist and conservator Giovanni Cucco to repair damaged and missing mosaic tesserae and mortar support in the central and right apses. Sections of the left apse successfully treated in a 2012-2015 campaign withstood the tidal flooding, confirming that constant maintenance is the best preventative measure. Holes and cracks in the walls where tidal water enters the church are being filled and repaired. The rotting inner door and wooden entrance stairs were dismantled, revealing more mosaic floor that had not been visible for decades.

After more than thirty years had passed since previous conservation in the 1970s, the wear and tear of foot traffic and exposure to the elements led to the further deterioration of the mosaic tesserae and their mortar support, causing pieces to come loose.

Save Venice funded a maintenance and conservation campaign from 2012 to 2015, spearheaded by master mosaicist and restorer Giovanni Cucco. A full survey of the floor determined which sections of the floor were in the greatest need of conservation, and these areas were systematically documented and repaired while the church remained open to the public. This campaign concentrated primarily on securing individual tesserae of the mosaic floor in the left nave of the church, in addition to a selected section of highly decorative imagery in the right nave including the iconic “Rooster carrying the captured Fox” mosaic.

The 2012 to 2015 maintenance campaign was made possible with generous support from The Thompson Family Foundation, Inc., Tina Walls, the James R. Dougherty, Jr. Foundation, Inc. through Beatrice Rossi-Landi, and Martha & Peter Weller.

The mosaic floor was constructed using traditional medieval techniques and thus was laid directly on the topsoil below using only a thin layer of mortar. Centuries of wear, the constant exposure to damp, combined with frequent seasonal high tides in the church caused corrosion of the mosaics and the supportive mortar. By the 1970s it was clear that a radical intervention was needed to save the endangered pavement and the foundations of the church itself and Save Venice pledged to support the vital campaign.

It was decided to pick up the entire decorative floor to install a watertight basin and subfloor beneath. The mosaics were cut into jigsaw puzzle-like sections that could be lifted and removed. Support was given to each section through the application of glue and cotton cloth, which became stiff when dry. These solid mosaic sections were coded and placed on specially constructed storage racks until they could be reinstalled. After they were reinstalled, missing tesserae were replaced, and where possible patterns were filled in.

The entire project lasted from 1974 to 1978 and was generously funded by Mrs. Gladys Delmas.