Far from San Marco, at the western end of Dorsoduro, stands one of the oldest churches in the city. It gave its name to the Nicolotti, the fishermen’s faction who fought the Castellani on the Ponte dei Pugni.
At a glance
San Nicolò dei Mendicoli is a three-aisled Romanesque church on a quiet campo at the western tip of Dorsoduro, a district that was for centuries home to fishermen and craftsmen. A first church is believed to have stood here as early as the seventh century. The present building is medieval, altered over the centuries, with a small portico along its north side and a sturdy brick bell tower.
Key facts
- Origins: of very ancient foundation; a first church is believed to date from the seventh century
- Present church: rebuilt in the twelfth century according to the plaque at the church, in the thirteenth according to the Italian Wikipedia
- Plan: Romanesque basilica with three aisles
- Additions: a small portico on the north side, fifteenth century
- Works inside, listed on the plaque: A. Aliense, A. dal Friso, B. Caliari, L. Corona, F. Montemezzano, J. Palma il Giovane
- GPS: 45.43252, 12.31590 · Open in Google Maps
History
The name has two explanations. One reads Mendicoli as a corruption of Mendigola, an old name of the island the church stands on; the other takes it from mendici, beggars, for the poverty of a parish of fishermen and artisans. Its people were the Nicolotti, one of the two factions of the Venetian popolo, who met their rivals the Castellani at least once a year for a bare-handed fight on the Ponte dei Pugni.
The medieval church replaced an earlier one and was reworked many times. The two sources used here disagree on the date: the plaque at the church says it was rebuilt in the twelfth century, the Italian Wikipedia gives the thirteenth. In the fifteenth century a small portico was added on the north side. The flood of 4 November 1966 damaged the building badly, and in the 1970s a restoration funded by the Venice in Peril Fund raised the floor, which had sunk below the average level of the canals.
What you see
From the campo the church is low and plain: a brick front with a white stone doorway flanked by niches and statues, and the square brick bell tower rising behind. Along the side runs the portico, a timber roof on stone columns. In the campo a stone column carries a weathered stone lion. The Italian Wikipedia describes the interior as richly decorated, with gilded wooden statues along the nave and a cycle of paintings of the life of Christ by painters of Veronese’s school.
Nearby
- Chiesa di San Sebastiano — Veronese’s church, a few minutes east
- Chiesa dell’Angelo Raffaele — another church of the same old parish district, just beyond
Gallery
Sources
- The plaque at the church (photographed by Stefano Vigolo in 2015: see the gallery): very ancient foundation, rebuilt in the twelfth century, and the list of painters
- Chiesa di San Nicolò dei Mendicoli, Italian Wikipedia: the origin of the name, the Nicolotti, the Romanesque plan, the portico, the 1966 flood and the restoration
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