San Francesco della Vigna. Finally.

 

This is one of two Franciscan churches in Venice. The site was prior to its establishment in 1253 actually a vineyard belonging to Marco Ziani who donated it for the construction of a monastery.

The present building dates from 1554. The facade is by Palladio. It is very much off the beaten tourist track (near the Ospedale) and quite trick to get to but infinitely worth the effort.

It contains works by Tintoretto, Veronese, G.B. Tiepolo, Bellini, Vivarini, Vittoria, Zuccari, da Negroponte, Palma il Giovane, Salviati, P.T. and S. Lombardo, Grassi, Pittoni and Franco - and a vineyard.

The present vineyard only dates from a few decades ago and was planted thanks to the church's name S. Francesco della vigna. 

On two prior visits to Venice we had tried to visit the vineyard without success. This time we prepared the ground well in advance by emailing the Segretario, Fratello Rino. Fr. Rino asked us to call him when we had arrived in Venice which we did. He was ready to offer us a private tour and said this could take place after he had shown the vineyard to a group of Dutch historians. In order to spare him having to make two tours in one day we asked if we could join the Dutch group to which he agreed.

So there we were, bright and early with the charming Dutch (amateur) historians.

Fr, Rino must be the world's sweetest Franciscan monk. the Dutch (Europe's tallest people) somewhet towered above him but we all deferred to his benevolent authority. He claimed not to know much about vine growing and winemaking but in fact he knew a great deal.

 

First, a few historical facts. The monastery had originally been home to nearly 1,000 monks. Now there were only 6 permanent inhabitants bolstered by rather more visiting scholars. During Napoleon's occupation of Venice one side of a cloister was demolished so guns could be emplaced to defent the city from an invasion from the north. 

 

Part of the present vineyard is planted there and another is planted in another (intact) cloister.

Originally the vineyard was planted with Trebbiano and Malvasia but the former didn't work well in the saline ground (the vineyard sometimes gets flooded at Aqua Alta) and the work was getting laborious with not very encouraging results. A company was then brought in and they re-planted with Glera to make Prosecco of course. The prosecco has yet to make its debut on the market.

Glera grafted onto Malvasia

Some of the Malvasia stock was used for graftings of Glera and these seem to have been very successful.

Where unsuccessful, new plantings have been made.

No need to use weedkiller.

Flowers and herbs ghave been planted as cover crop between the rows. Very pretty: practical and ecological too.

Altogether a beautiful scene.

 A neat irrigation system too.

Fr. Rino had mentioned that the monastery was famous for its library, perhaps the largest in Venice. 

After the vineyard he took us on a tour.

 

There was the first musical score to be printed in Venice (1499/1500).

Altogether an amazing visit so much of which was unexpected. We have already covered two Ventian vineyards at Mazzorbo (Burano) and on the island of Orto. There is however rumoured to be another much smaller planting of vines in Venice proper. We shall see.