Zecca of Venice
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The Zecca is a sixteenth-century building in Venice, Italy which once housed the mint of the Republic of Venice. Built between 1536 and 1548, the heavily rusticated stone structure, originally with only two floors, was designed by Jacopo Sansovino in place of an earlier mint specifically to ensure safety from fire and to provide adequate security for the silver and gold deposits. Giorgio Vasari considered it the finest, richest, and strongest of Sansovino's buildings.
Main façade
Detail from woodcut Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam by Erhard Reuwich (1486), showing the earlier mint (shaded) in Saint Mark's Square.
Tintoretto, Portrait of Jacopo Sansovino (before 1546), Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi. The architect also served as consultant architect for the construction of the Zecca to draw up contracts and to resolve all design-related matters.
a. St Mark's Basilica b. Ducal Palace c. Bell tower and Loggetta d. Marciana Library e. Mint f. Procuratie Nuove g. Napoleonic wing h. Procuratie Vecchie i. Clock tower
The Republic of Venice was dissolved and dismembered by the French general Napoleon Bonaparte and the Habsburg Monarchy on 12 May 1797.
The Porta Nuova of Verona, which opened its gates to Napoleon's troops on 1 June 1796.
The Austrian Archduke Charles, painted at the time of the Napoleonic Wars
General Junot, commander of the French forces in the Veneto