San Giacomo di Rialto Church

The church of San Giacomo di Rialto is amongst the oldest in Venice, if not the oldest (legend says that it was built by a carpenter in 421).

It is commonly called Chiesa di San Giacometto (little Giacomo) because of its small dimensions compared to all other religious building, it’ s on one of the most important places of Venice, the Rialto market.

Various restoring didn’t modify the aspect and the structure, the meridian and the veil shaped bell tower.
As well its particular and characteristic gothic archway formed an unique example of the genere in the whole city.
Its connection with the market is well represented by an inscription on the external apse encouraging the merchants to be honest, to weight wit care and precision and loyalty on the contract.

The interior is the classic cross design scheme (in use on all the religious building of the renaissance) with a central dome.
The floor was raised in 1513 during one of the many restoration to avoid continuous flooding of the high tide. (Rialto is one of the lowest area of all city.)