Restored in 1996-1997 with Save Venice general funds.

Eight Pillars with Carved Capitals

Eight pillars line the nave of the church of San Giovanni in Bragora, dividing the interior into a three-aisled basilica and supporting the arches above which the wooden ship’s keel roof rises. The columns were most likely preserved from the earlier structure of the church, prior to Sebastiano Mariani’s late fifteenth-century intervention described below. The pillars stand upon tall cylindrical pedestals, and are topped with simply carved capitals that feature decorative gilding.

Carved Panels and Two Pillars from the Former Choir Screen

When the church underwent extensive changes in the late fifteenth century, Sebastiano Mariani da Lugano created a three-sided decorative choir screen that separated the presbytery from the nave. This Renaissance screen was dismantled in the late sixteenth century in accordance with changes to the liturgy prompted by the Counter-Reformation that stipulated that the congregation must have more direct visual access to the altar. The two square piers that once formed part of the screen at the start of the nave colonnade are still in situ, but the decorative panels from the choir were removed and placed along the walls of the apse. The panels and pilasters are adorned with gilded classicizing reliefs of flowers, birds, mythological creatures, vessels, and foliate motifs.

Holy Water Font Pillar

In addition to the choir screen and its pillars, Mariani also created two holy water fonts for the church, one of which remains today. It is located on the right side of the central nave near the entrance door. The pillar that supports the basin is decorated with classicizing motifs similar to those employed on the choir screen elements.

Carved Tabernacle

This tabernacle in the right nave of the church is made of multi-colored and finely gilded marble. It houses a painting of the Madonna and Child by a Greek artist from the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century.

Presbytery Throne

The marble throne on the back wall of the presbytery of San Giovanni in Bragora is carved from Greek marble in various colors, and decorated with lavish gilding. The throne takes the form of a classical aedicule with freestanding composite columns that support a projecting entablature topped with a triangular pediment. A wooden seat is inserted within the marble structure. The throne is thought to have been a donation from the Venetian family of Paolo Barbo, who became Pope Paul II in 1464, due to the presence of the Barbo coat-of-arms.

Bell Tower Portal

The elegant portal decorated with a relief carving of Saint John the Baptist in the right nave of the church is all that remains of the church’s bell tower. According to some sources, the bell tower was originally built during the ninth century. It was restored between 1475 and 1498, and is visible in Jacopo de’ Barbari’s woodcut map of Venice dated 1500. The structure was already in poor condition by 1554, when the interior stone portal and wooden door were added as a preliminary step to the bell tower’s imminent reconstruction. The old tower was demolished in 1568 and immediately rebuilt, only to be definitively torn down in 1826.

The works were restored by conservator Toto Bergamo and the Sansovino restoration firm, with the guidance of project director Sandro Sponza of the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Unidentified sculptor
Eight Pillars with Carved Capitals
Eleventh century (?), “cotto” brick interior covered in Istrian stone

Sebastiano Mariani da Lugano (active 1483–1518)
Carved Panels and Two Pillars from the Former Choir Screen
1490s, Istrian stone with gilding

Sebastiano Mariani da Lugano (active 1483–1518)
Holy Water Font Pillar
1495-1496, marble

Unidentified sculptor
Carved Tabernacle
Early sixteenth century (?), marble

Unidentified Veneto sculptor
Presbytery Throne
Sixteenth century, Greek marble

Unidentified sculptor
Bell Tower Portal
1554, Istrian stone

San Giovanni Battista in Bragora: Homepage (in Italian)

San Giovanni Battista in Bragora: The Interior (in Italian)