Overview
The Scuola was built for the Confraternity of the Misericordia (one of the seven grand charity houses in Venice) founded in 1310. It was expanded and rebuilt several times until the Scuola relocated across the bridge to a building designed by Sansovino in 1583. The Old Scuola became a hospice and, in 1643, the guildhall of the silk-cloth weavers' guild. It was later used as a theatre. Now it's used as an art restoration centre, for both sculpture and paintings. It shares the same campo as the church of Santa Maria Val Verde, an abbey church built in 936. In 1348 all the monks died of the plague with only the abbot surviving. He died in 1369 and patronage of the church passed to the Moro family. The church was enlarged in the 13th Century and the facade, by Bolognese architect Clemente Moli, was added during further rebuilding in 1651-59. This work was financed by philosopher Gasparo Moro, whose bust by Moli is above the door.
- Lorenzetti, Venice and Its Lagoon: Historical-Artistic Guide (Rome: Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, 1961) as translated and with supplementary content by Taryn Marie Zarrillo, 2012/13
