Description of the attraction
San Giovanni in Bragora is a Roman Catholic church in Venice in the Castello quarter, located on the corner of Piazza Campo Bandiera and Moro near the tourist-packed Riva degli Schiavoni promenade. It was founded at the beginning of the 8th century, presumably by Saint Magnus of Oderzo, and in the next century, by order of the Doge Pietro III, Candiano was rebuilt in order to receive the relics of Saint John the Baptist, whose name it bears. The next reconstruction took place in 1178. It was in San Giovanni in Bragora that Pietro Barbo, the future Pope Paul II, was baptized, and in 1678, the great composer Antonio Vivaldi.
The church received its present appearance during the restoration of 1475-1505 under the direction of the architect Sebastiano Mariani da Lugano. A simple late Gothic brick façade was then added to the original basilica-like building with few decorations and gentle curves at the top. A little to the side is a small bell tower with three visible bells - it was built on the site of another, demolished in 1826. The interior of the temple is decorated with paintings by Cima da Conegliano and Alvise and Bartolemeo Vivarini, which were restored in the 1990s.
The second chapel on the right is dedicated to Saint John the Merciful, whose relics were brought to Venice from Egypt in 1247. And the chapel on the left is notable for a huge, exquisitely decorated 15th century baptismal font - the one in which Vivaldi was baptized. Scientists believe that the composer's family lived next to the church in those years. On the day Vivaldi was born, an earthquake happened in Venice, and the midwives, deciding that the child would not survive, urgently christened him in the nearest church. But fate decreed otherwise - Vivaldi not only survived, but also became one of the most famous sons of Venice.
The origin of the word Bragora in the name of the church is still unclear. According to some assumptions, it comes from the Greek word "agora", which means "square" - in front of the building there really is a square. According to other versions, it may come from the words of the local dialect "bragora" - "market" or "bragolare" - "to fish."
