San Giorgio Maggiore is the island and church in Venice. It’s the Palladio-designed basilica opposite St Mark’s Square, famous for its white façade, art-filled interior, and bell tower views over the lagoon.
 
The church was designed by Andrea Palladio in 1566 and finished in 1610 by Vincenzo Scamozzi.The church was designed by Andrea Palladio in 1566 and finished in 1610 by Vincenzo Scamozzi. The island has been associated with a church since at least the 9th century, and the Benedictine monastery was founded in 982 when Doge Tribuno Memmo donated the island to the monk Giovanni Morosini. Over time it became an important religious and cultural center, helped by the arrival of relics of St Stephen in 1109, which made it a pilgrimage destination. After the fall of the Venetian Republic, the monastery declined, was plundered during French rule, and later became a restored cultural and research complex from 1951.
 
Architecturally Its façade is especially famous because Palladio solved the problem of fitting a classical temple front to a basilica with a high central nave and lower side aisles by layering two façades together. Vey clever and inventive use of classical proportioning!
 
Interesting facts...
Paolo Veronese’s massive Wedding at Cana once adorned the monastery refectory but was looted by Napoleon in 1797 and now hangs in the Louvre, leaving a gap in the site’s artistic legacy.