San Gregorio, Venice, Gothic secularized church in Dorsoduro district, Venice, Italy.
San Gregorio is a former church and abbey in Dorsoduro, set back behind Palazzo Genovese near the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. Its gabled brick façade on Campo di San Gregorio is divided into three parts by four lesenes, with an ogival portal and rose window. The triple apse projects into the Rio de la Salute, and the interior has a single nave with a truss ceiling and remnants of frescoes.
The building originated in the ninth century as a Benedictine monastery. During the fifteenth century, it underwent major reconstruction by architect Antonio da Cremona, who shaped much of its current appearance.
The structure reflects how religious buildings in Venice blended Gothic forms with local construction methods. Its pointed arch portal and tall side windows show the way northern European architectural ideas shaped Venetian design.
The façade faces Campo di San Gregorio, while the triple apse projects over the Rio de la Salute; two bridges flank the apse and connect the abbey to the Fondamenta Salute. The interior is closed and the church is disused, so the building is seen from the campo and the bridges. The abbey building, converted to housing after 1775, now partly serves as exhibition space and hosts Venice Biennale events.
After losing its religious status during the Napoleonic period, the building was repurposed as a coin-minting laboratory. Later it became an art restoration workshop, showing how Venice adapted old structures to serve new functions.
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