A circle of names set into the sacristy wall of a Cannaregio church — placed there only after the parish agreed to lose a window’s worth of light.
At a glance
Inside a tall pedimented stone frame, a marble disc carries the parish’s roll of First World War dead, ringed by the words “Eterna luce, perenne amore godono i figli di questa parrocchia per la patria caduti” — eternal light, perpetual love, for the sons of this parish who fell for the fatherland. The dedication, cut into the base, reads “I Parrocchiani A.D. MCMXXVII”: the parishioners, 1927.
Key facts
- Designer: Angelo Valsecchi, credited with the plaque’s design
- Placed: 1927, confirmed by the on-site inscription “A.D. MCMXXVII”
- Location: the sacristy wall of the Chiesa di San Felice, Cannaregio, Venice
- Text: “Eterna luce perenne amore godono i figli di questa parrocchia per la patria caduti”, followed by the roll of names, 1915–1918
- GPS: 45.44175, 12.33333 · Open in Google Maps
History
When the San Felice parish sought permission to memorialise its First World War dead, the site itself needed negotiating. The spot the project first proposed would have closed a window that lit the church sacristy, and the parish priest asked the city’s Superintendency to reconsider. The Commission held its ground: from that position the plaque would be clearly visible from the street, it noted, and losing one window would not darken the sacristy, since two more looked onto the garden. The memorial went up as planned, its circular field of names framed in stone above the sacristy door, dated 1927 on the marble itself.
Sources
- Pietre della Memoria, Lapide ai Caduti nella Grande Guerra della parrocchia di San Felice – Venezia — pietredellamemoria.it: the sacristy-window dispute, the Commission’s ruling, and the 1927 placement date
- On-site inscription, verified from the contributed photographs: “A.D. MCMXXVII” and the full dedication text
- Coordinates cross-checked against OpenStreetMap Nominatim for the Chiesa di San Felice
Photo gallery
Photograph contributed by a Cultural Heritage Online member.
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See this place and what’s around it →Record researched and written by Carla Szathvary for Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.
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