The Fondaco del Megio ( Venetian, also Fontego; Italian: , ) is a palace in the ''

sestiere A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed a ...

'' (quarter]) of Santa Croce (Venice), Santa Croce in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Located near the Palazzo Belloni Battagia and the

Fondaco dei Turchi The Grand Canal ( , locally and informally ; , locally usually ) is the largest channel in Venice, Italy, forming one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. One end of the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Lucia railway ...

, it faces the Canal Grande and is opposed to the church of San Marcuola of

Cannaregio Cannaregio () is the northernmost of the six historic ''sestieri of Venice''. It is the second largest ''sestiere'' by land area and the largest by population, with 13,169 people . Isola di San Michele, the historic cemetery island, is associate ...

. It was built in the 13th century as a grain depot, but later was used to store millet, maintaining this function until the fall of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

in 1797. It currently houses an elementary school. The palace is built in brickwork. There are three portals at the ground floor and thirteen small windows. Decorations include a row of

merlon A merlon is the solid, upright section of a battlement (a crenellated parapet) in medieval architecture or fortifications. Merlons are sometimes pierced by narrow, vertical embrasures, or tooth-like slits designed for observation and fire. The sp ...

s at the top, and a basrelief with the

Lion of St. Mark The Lion of Saint Mark, representing Mark the Evangelist, pictured in the form of a winged lion, is an aspect of the Tetramorph#The four evangelists as four living creatures, Tetramorph. On the pinnacle of St Mark's Basilica, St Mark's Cathedr ...

(a modern reconstruction of the original, which was placed on every public building of the Republic). (Venice) Fontego del megio - Leone di San Marco.jpg,

Sources

* Granaries Buildings and structures in Venice Medieval Italian architecture Buildings and structures completed in the 13th century Del Megio Del Megio Santa Croce (Venice) {{Italy-palace-stub