How to reach the Fondazione Giorgio Cini - Island of San Giorgio Maggiore

Fondazione Giorgio Cini is located on the Island of San Giorgio (see the map of Google maps).

The water bus to use in order to reach the Workshop Venue is line 2. Line 2 water bus leaves for the San Giorgio Island from Ferrovia (railway station), Piazzale Roma (Car and Bus terminal), Zattere and San Zaccaria with a frequency of 10 minutes.

If you are close to St. Mark’s Square, the line 2 water bus stop, San Zaccaria, can be found on the Riva degli Schiavoni – the promenade located to the left of St. Mark’s Square (facing the waterfront). From St. Mark’s Square turn left and proceed along the promenade crossing over two bridges. After the second bridge you will see two landing stages (one before the statue of Vittorio Emanuele, and one after). Water buses leave:

- from the second landing stage after the statue every 10 min. “on the nine”.. 8.09, 8.19, 8.29, etc. from 8.29 to 20.19;

- from the landing stage preceding the statue every 20 min. “on the nine”.. 20.49, 21.09, 21.29, etc. from 20.49 until 8.09.

The journey time from San Zaccaria to the San Giorgio Island (direction Vallaresso) is of approximately 3 minutes. One stop ticket costs € 2,00.

For further information please visit the ACTV website:

http://www.actv.it/english/navigazione.php?pagina=tariffe_vaporetto

Short description of the Fondazione Giorgio Cini

Fondazione Giorgio Cini is one of the most important architectural complexes in the world for its magnitude and artistic value. In the history of the Venetian Republic there was no great personality who resisted the temptation of spending a few hours in contemplation among the walls of its silent cloisters, and many were the illustrious visitors who underwent its fascination, in the suggestive setting between sky and water.

In 790 the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore required its name from a small church dedicated to St. George and from the year 982 it became the seat of a Benedictine monastery. Over the centuries the Abbey of St. George grew and prospered, acquiring great prestige as a centre of spiritual and cultural diffusion, but also as a privileged site of meeting and refuge. This growing prosperity was matched by the development of its monumental buildings of the sixteenth century. The Gothic complex in the centre of the island, which currently hosts Fondazione Giorgio Cini, was superseded by a Renaissance reconstruction. The present church is the work of the greatest architect of the Veneto Renaissance, Andrea Palladio. It was begun in 1556 and completed at the beginning of following century, after Palladio's death. The paintings include masterpieces like “The Last Supper” and “The Fall of Manua” by Jacopo Tintoretto, and other canvasses by Domenico Tintoretto, Jacopo Bassano, Palma il Giovane and Sebastiano Ricci. In 1799, in the upper chapel, the Conclave was opened, where Pope Pius VII was elected, and where a painting by Carpaccio hangs representing St. George slaying the dragon.

To the right of the square in front of the church is the entrance to the two cloisters of the ancient monastery. The second cloister, the inner and more ancient one, gives access to the Chapter House with a Lombardesque portal, and the grandiose Palladian Refectory. This hall was the fruit of a collaboration with Paolo Veronese who, in order to "open up" the end wall, painted a huge canvas representing the Wedding Feast at Cana, which was taken to Paris during the Napoleonic period to hang in the Louvre. In its place you will find a digital re-creation of this painting. The facsimile, made by the Madrid enterprise Factum Arte, is a stunningly accurate replica of the 732-square-foot canvas.

The monumental staircase and the library are the work of Baldassare Longhena. The library, situated on the first floor, is furnished with shelves and wooden statues by Franz Pauc and decorated with a series of ceiling paintings by two famous mannerists of the seventeenth century, generally know as "i fratelli lucchesini" (The brothers from Lucca).

The far wing of the cloister is closed by the famous Dormitory, 128 metres in length and built at the end of the fifteenth century by Giovanni Buora and his son, Andrea from Lugano. With the fall of the Serenissima, the Island began to suffer the devastation and pillage of occupying forces, first during the Napoleonic period and later under the domination of the Austrians. After the closure of the Benedictine monastery, San Giorgio became a free port and some warehouses were constructed on the northern side, while the dock was closed by a small jetty. After a brief popular revolt against the Austrians in 1848, the Island was used for Austrian military installations. It maintained this function, though with entirely different aims, even when Venice became part of the kingdom of Italy in 1866.

After World War II, the Island was rescued from this period of decline, which lasted for more than a century, and from its inevitable consequences thanks to the Giorgio Cini Foundation, a private institution created by Count Vittorio Cini in memory of his son Giorgio, who died in an air crash. The Foundation was legally recognised by a Presidential decree on 12 July 1951, and the Island was conceded to the Cini Foundation for the purpose of restoring the historical buildings and founding its own cultural institutions. The restoration of the Island and its buildings was carried out between 1951 and 1954. At the very beginning three independent centres were established on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore: the Naval Training Centre, the Arts and Trades Centre and the Culture and Civilisation Centre.

Further information on the Fondazione Giorgio Cini and its activities is available at http://www.cini.it/