Description of the attraction
Campo dei Mori is a square located in the northern part of Venice, in the Cannaregio quarter, about 100 yards from the Delle Navi Canal, which separates the northern coast of Venice from the "mainland". Today it is a quiet, remote place not frequented by tourists, and in the distant past, Campo dei Mori was the center of a thriving commune. Nearby were the marinas and shipyards, where most of the visitors and cargo from the "mainland" arrived. The word "mori" itself means "Moors" in Italian, but it is reliably known that the territory of Campo was never inhabited by immigrants from North Africa. Probably, the name of the square comes from the brothers Mastelli - Rioba, Sandi and Afani, who arrived from the Peloponnesian city of Morea and settled in Venice in the 12th century. At the corner of the square, which runs parallel to the canal, you can see a statue of one of the brothers, Senor Antonio Rioba. The statue's lost nose was once replaced with an unsightly metal brace. Two other brothers, dressed in national costumes, stand at the doors of their houses, one of which is facing the square, and the other - to the southern bank of the Rio Madonna del Orto.
The Mastelli brothers were successful entrepreneurs and invested a lot in the Fourth Crusade, whose participants in 1204 sacked Constantinople on their way to the Holy Land. Mastelli and other "sponsors" of the campaign later divided the booty among themselves, returning their investments.
Palazzo Mastelli faces the Rio Madonna del Orto canal and is located directly opposite the church of the same name, standing on the other side of the canal. The palace is popularly known as the "Camel House" because of the decorative bas-reliefs on the facade depicting a camel loaded with goods. Mastelli ordered this bas-relief because it was thanks to the import of African and Arabian spices that they made their fortune. Despite the obvious traces of their presence, Mastelli were not the most famous inhabitants of Campo dei Mori. This honor belongs to the painter Jacopo Robusti, who is better known as Tintoretto ("the little dyer"). Tourists must inspect the house in which he spent the last 20 years of his life, and on which a corresponding memorial plaque was installed at the end of the 19th century. The house itself is now privately owned and closed to the public.
