Cattedrale Di San Pietro Di Castello

Lonely Planet review

Although overshadowed by the Basilica di San Marco, this church, on the far-removed island of San Pietro, was Venice's cathedral from 1451 to 1807. Indeed the island was among the first to be inhabited.

In 775, the original church was the seat of a bishopric. Its present appearance is basically a post-Palladian job, taking its cue in part from Giudecca's Chiesa del Redentore, with a monumental façade dating to the end of the 16th century.

Legend says that the strange Trono di San Pietro (St Peter's Throne) was used by the Apostle Peter in Antioch and that later the Holy Grail was hidden in it. This is all rather unlikely, as the seat back of the throne is made up of a Muslim tombstone, postdating the Apostle's death by some centuries. But hey, never let the facts get in the way of a good story. The throne is located between the second and third altars on the right side of the church.

San Pietro rests in easy retirement, with its blinding white campanile of Istrian stone by Codussi (finished in 1490) leaning at an odd angle, and the former patriarchate dozily crumbling away next door. The latter was used as a barracks for a while and is now partly occupied by, strictly speaking, illegal apartments.