San Giorgio Maggiore Church
There's been a church on this island, originally known as the Isola dei Cipressi, since the 9th Century. Previously there'd been a vineyard, a cypress grove and a mill. A Benedictine monastery was established here in 982, with a church erected in 987 by Vitale Candido and the Badoer family. The body of Saint Stephen was brought here in 1103 by a monk called Petro from Constantinople and from then on the Doge and the Signoria visited the church every year on the saint's feast day, the 26th December, and this became one of the most popular festival days in the Venetian calendar, involving the floating of thousands of candles in the Bacino di San Marco, lasting until the end of the Republic. In 1204 the body of Saint Lucy was brought here too, but her feast day celebrations on the December 13th became so popular that after a storm resulted in the deaths of many people in 1280 her body was moved to the church of Santa Lucia in Cannaregio. The church and monastery were almost destroyed by an earthquake on Christmas Day in 1223 and rebuilt by Doge Pietro Ziani, who later retreated here. Palladio's replacement of the gothic church, together with his renovation and enlarging of the monastery, began in 1565. The church was also realigned at this time, its façade having originally faced San Marco. Palladio died in 1580 and Simeone Sorella continued the work for a further 30 years. In 1610 Palladio's facade was finally finished, having been begun by Sorella in 1597.In 1800 the Conclave which elected Pope Pius VII was held here, but in 1806 the monastery was suppressed and the buildings then used as barracks and government offices.