San Pietro di Castello (), formerly Olivolo (; ), is an island in the

Venetian Lagoon The Venetian Lagoon (; ) is an enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea, in northern Italy, in which the city of Venice is situated. Its name in the Italian and Venetian languages, ' (cognate of Latin ' ), has provided the English name for an enclosed, ...

, 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 ...

, forming part of the Castello

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 ...

. It is linked to the main islands of Venice by two bridges.

History

The island was the site of a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

from at least the 6th century, and it is from this that the island and the sestiere are named. In the seventh century, it became the seat of the Bishop of Olivolo, later renamed Bishop of Castello. When Castello was merged into the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice The Patriarchate of Venice (; ), also sometimes called the Archdiocese of Venice, is a patriarchate of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, located in the Metropolitan City of Venice. Its episcopal seat is in the Cathedral Basilica of St. ...

it remained the seat of that archdiocese until 1807. The Church of San Pietro was the seat from the ninth century, while other attractions on the island include a

campanile A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...

with a ring of bells in C, and the greenery of the Campo San Pietro.

Gallery

File:San Pietro di Castello Facciata.jpg, Facade File:Francesco Guardi 049.jpg, View of San Pietro di Castello by

Francesco Guardi Francesco Lazzaro Guardi (; 5 October 1712 – 1 January 1793) was an Italian painter, nobleman, and a member of the Venetian School (art), Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the clas ...

File:Districts venice - castello.PNG, Castello Sestiere shown within Venice

References

{{Islands of the Venetian Lagoon Islands of the Venetian Lagoon