Venice:
Daniele Manin
Monument to Daniele Manin by Luigi Borro
In 1875, the city of Venice erected a monument to Daniele Manin (1804-57), local hero and leader of the short-lived second Republic of San Marco (1848-9), the Venetians' failed insurrection against their Austrian overlords.
Sporting a sash across his chest and with his hand thrust into his jacket, Manin looks every bit a man of importance. There is no inscription on the monument, only the single word, Manin. The bronze statue is the work of the sculptor Luigi Borro (1826-86). A winged lion (what else!), its wings unfurled, sits at the base of the monument
The city-fathers were keen to erect the monument close to the house in which Manin lived during the insurrection and so the very ancient church of San Paternian (one of the oldest in Venice), and its equally ancient five-sided bell tower, were duly razed to the ground to make room. A plaque marks the spot where the church once stood and another plaque on the wall across the canal identifies Manin’s home.
The Campo San Paternian was duly renamed Campo Manin.
Sporting a sash across his chest and with his hand thrust into his jacket, Manin looks every bit a man of importance. There is no inscription on the monument, only the single word, Manin. The bronze statue is the work of the sculptor Luigi Borro (1826-86). A winged lion (what else!), its wings unfurled, sits at the base of the monument
The city-fathers were keen to erect the monument close to the house in which Manin lived during the insurrection and so the very ancient church of San Paternian (one of the oldest in Venice), and its equally ancient five-sided bell tower, were duly razed to the ground to make room. A plaque marks the spot where the church once stood and another plaque on the wall across the canal identifies Manin’s home.
The Campo San Paternian was duly renamed Campo Manin.
The second Republic of Venice survived for seventeen months, but was finally suppressed by the Austrian army in August 1849. Manin was sent into exile, ending up in Paris, where he eked out a living teaching Italian (two of his pupils were the daughters of Charles Dickens). Daniele Manin never returned (alive) to Venice, but died in Paris on September 22nd 1857.
Tomb of Daniele Manin
In 1866 Austrian rule in Venice and the Veneto came to an end and the city and the region became part of the Kingdom of Italy, which had been formed in 1861. Two years later, on March 22nd 1868, the twentieth anniversary of the start of the uprising, Manin's ashes were returned to Venice, where he was given a state funeral.
Manin's supporters wanted his remains to be interred in the Basilica di San Marco, but this was met with stiff opposition by the clergy and some members of the nobility. In 1875, his sarcophagus was placed in the Piazzetta dei Leoncini, against the north side of the church. The porphyry sarcophagus, which was designed by Luigi Borro, rests on the backs of four bronze lions.
Manin's supporters wanted his remains to be interred in the Basilica di San Marco, but this was met with stiff opposition by the clergy and some members of the nobility. In 1875, his sarcophagus was placed in the Piazzetta dei Leoncini, against the north side of the church. The porphyry sarcophagus, which was designed by Luigi Borro, rests on the backs of four bronze lions.