Under the arcades that Scarpagnino raised at Rialto after the fire of 1514, on the stretch of market once called the Naranzeria, where the oranges of the Mediterranean were sold.
At a glance
- Type
- Osteria and wine bar on the Grand Canal
- The building
- Fabbriche Vecchie, by Antonio Abbondi “lo Scarpagnino”, built 1520–1522
- Why here
- The Naranzeria was one of the named sections of the Rialto market
- Where
- Sotoportego del Bancogiro, San Polo 130, beside San Giacometto
- The business
- Documented in operation from December 2004
Overview
Rialto was not one market but several, each with its own name and its own goods: Erbaria for greens, Beccaria for meat, Casaria for cheese, Pescaria for fish, Ruga dei Oresi for the goldsmiths, Ruga dei Spezieri for the spice merchants, and Naranzeria for the citrus that arrived by sea. The name of this osteria is the name of that stretch of market.
It sits under the Sotoportego del Bancogiro, which Tassini describes as running along two sides of the little square of San Giacomo and surmounted by part of the Fabbriche Vecchie. The passage took its name from the public merchant bank, the Bancogiro, that had its seat there.
History
On 10 January 1514 fire destroyed the Rialto market. The only building left standing was the church of San Giacometto. What replaced the ruins is the block that stands here now: the Fabbriche Vecchie, designed by Antonio Abbondi, called lo Scarpagnino, and built between 1520 and 1522, with the ground floor divided among the Erbaria, the Pescaria, the Bancogiro and the Drapperia.
The Fabbriche Nuove further along, towards the fish market, are a different and later building, by Sansovino, of 1554 to 1556. The two are often confused.
The osteria itself is recent, and its own history should not be borrowed from the walls around it: the earliest trace of the business is from December 2004. What is old here is the address.
What you see
Tables outside on the Grand Canal, at the point where the market meets the water and the boats still unload before dawn. Behind, the arcade of the Fabbriche Vecchie runs on towards the Erbaria.
Next door stands San Giacometto, by tradition the oldest church in Venice, founded in the year 421 — a legend that historians do not accept: the building is of the eleventh or twelfth century, the age of the market itself. What is certain is that it was the one thing at Rialto that the fire of 1514 spared.
Practical information
- Address: Sotoportego del Bancogiro, San Polo 130, 30125 Venezia
- Closing: Mondays outside the March–October season, and a variable period in January
- Check before travelling: the establishment publishes no opening hours; telephone +39 041 7241035
Nearby
- Osteria Bancogiro Venezia — Bar, 20 m away
- T Fondaco dei Tedeschi — Shopping centre, 93 m away
- Rialto Bridge — Bridge, 101 m away
- Bacaro The Devil and the Aqua Santa — Restaurant, 120 m away
Sources
- Comune di Venezia, «Pescheria e Mercato di Rialto» — the named sections of the market, including the Naranzeria
- Giuseppe Tassini, Curiosità veneziane — entry «Bancogiro (Sottoportico del) a Rialto»
- Fabbriche Vecchie: Antonio Abbondi lo Scarpagnino, 1520–22, after the fire of 10 January 1514
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