Scuola Grande di San Marco

The stonecutter Cesco Pizzigani scratched ships into his own facade while begging. Beside them a youth in a turban holds a heart in his hand.

The marble facade on Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo was rebuilt after the fire of 1485, and legend credits some of its finest carving to the stonecutter Cesco Pizzigani. In 1501, just after the work was finished, his wife fell ill with a disease no doctor could name. He spent everything he had, she died anyway, and the old man ended up begging in front of the very portal he had made. To pass the time he scratched into the stone with a nail the ships he watched gliding past in the canal. Those scratches survive on the lintels of the portal — and among them a turbaned youth holding a heart in his hand, the memory of a blood-soaked family tragedy that happened on this spot and that nobody can now tell in full.

FAQ

Where is Scuola Grande di San Marco located?

Scuola Grande di San Marco is in Venedig, Italy.

More haunted places in Venedig

Palazzo Contarini Fasan Venice · Palace
Il Gobbo di Rialto Venice · Urban site
Rialto Bridge (Ponte di Rialto) Venice · Bridge
Lazzaretto Nuovo Venice · Abandoned site
Giardini della Biennale (statue of Giuseppe Zolli) Venice · Urban site
Doge's Palace (Scala dei Giganti) Venice · Palace
The Devil's Bridge (Torcello) Venice · Bridge
The Columns of San Marco and San Todaro Venice · Execution site

Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: This Photo was taken by Wolfgang Moroder . Feel free to use my photos, but please mention · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons