Tanja Trška

Scuola Dalmata dei SS. Giorgio e Trifone (Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni), one of the numerous scuole piccole in Venice, gathered immigrants originating from the eastern coast of the Adriatic (mainly Dalmatian territories under Venetian rule), in Italy commonly referred to as Schiavoni. Founded in 1451, during the period of increased migration of Dalmatian populace to Venice, the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni first convened in the Hospice of St Catherine and had its altar in the church of San Giovanni in Tempio, both belonging to the Venetian branch of Knights Hospitaller (Cavalieri di Malta). The construction of the Scuola’s new seat was concluded in 1551 with the reconstruction of the building realized by the proto of the Arsenale Giovanni de Zon and the erection of the new façade decorated by Sansovino’s pupil Pietro da Salò. Besides with the famous early-16^th century narrative cycle painted by Vittore Carpaccio, first painted for the Scuola’s old seat in the Hospice of St Catherine, the new premises were further decorated in the first decades of the 17^th century by a series of paintings still preserved in the sala superiore.