Campo Sant'Anzolo

Campo Sant'Anzolo is an asymmetrical square in Venice’s San Marco district, with the Rio di San Anzolo along its southwestern edge. Across the canal, the former monastery of Santo Stefano faces a campo framed by historic palaces. Colourful façades, including a striking red palazzo, cast reflections into the water beside the square.

The tenth-century Oratorio di Sant’Angelo degli Zoppi once served a school for people with disabilities. The Church of St Michael the Archangel stood opposite Santo Stefano until its demolition in 1837. Among the palaces, Palazzo Duodo a Sant’Angelo carries a musical connection: Domenico Cimarosa died there while exiled from the Kingdom of Naples. Palazzo Trevisan Pisani and Palazzo Gritti Morosini also border the square.

In 1745, twenty-year-old Giacomo Casanova, his brother Francesco and musician friends made the campo a favourite setting for pranks. They rang bells for false fires and overturned the marble table once used for soldiers’ pay. Casanova later briefly managed the Teatro Sant’Angelo, adding a theatre to the square’s musical associations. The marble table has gone, while the red palazzo still catches changing light above the canal.