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San
Nicolò dei Mendicoli is the second
church with which Venice in Peril has been
associated for some twenty-five years; over
this time its structure and works of art
have been comprehensively repaired. The
church was founded, like the Cathedral of
Torcello, in the 7th century; its parish,
on this most westerly and impoverished island
of the historic centre of Venice, had its
own gastaldo (chamberlain) until the extinction
of the Republic in 1797.
The original church -dedicated to a Serbian
martyr, St Niceta- was replaced in the 12th
century by the church dedicated to St Nicholas
of Myra which exists today. This is a rare,
surviving Veneto-Byzantine complex of aisled
church with an apse, a narthex at the west
end and a contemporary campanile, with quays
by the water on two sides.Despite 14th-century
improvements, such as the capitals on the
columns (that representing St Niceta is
dated 1366), it retained its ancient plan
-with a solid partition screening the presbytery
from the nave- until after the Council of
Trent.
Following a Papal visitation in 1583, the
present more open iconostasis was introduced,
together with many works of art.In the last
century, however, parochial life at S. Nicolò
dwindled away and its treasures were largely
dispersed. Between 1903 and 1924 it was
closed for prolonged repairs. These included
the reconstruction of the narthex (originally
a shelter for the poor) on the west front.
The restoration by VIP began in 1972. The
church was reroofed; the floor was relaid
over a waterproof membrane and its marble
paving relaid throughout, with 10% of the
slabs being renewed. The lower parts of
the walls of the church and campanile were
rebuilt with a damp-course, using the scuci-cuci
(patching) method. In collaboration with
the Superintendency for the Artistic and
Historical Heritage the gilded wooden carvings
(added to the medieval arcades in the 1580s)
were conserved, together with the polychrome-on-wood
medieval statue of St Nicholas in the apse
(dated 1457 and now known to be from the
Bon workshop). The organ (perhaps by Gaetano
Callido) in its late 16th-century choir
loft has also been repaired.Lastly, in 1980
heating and lighting were installed, the
Fund paying more than half the overall costs
of around £250,000.
More recently, in response to initiatives
within the parish, similar structural work
was carried out on the adjoining Oratory
of San Filippo Neri in 1991. Full internal
services installed in 1996 enable the upper
part to be used as a hall for parish meetings
or functions; it is currently let out to
the Istituto per i Beni Culturali del Veneto
for courses.
DIRECTION OF WORKS: Superintendency for
the Environmental and Architectural Heritage
and the Superintendency for the Artistic
and Historical Heritage
CHURCH CONSERVATORS
Architect: Giorgio Bellavitis
Contractors: Ing. Todeschini
Wooden carvings: Enzo Fassi Restauri, N
Niero, Maximilian Leuthenmayr
Paintings: Ferruccio and Serafino Volpin
ORATORIO DI SAN FILIPPO NERI |
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