The Zecca (English: Mint) 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 ("...bellissimo, ricchissimo, e fortissimo edificio de' suoi è la Zecca di Venezia...").Vasari, Le vite..., VII (1881), p. 504. The quote does not appear in the 1568 edition of Vite but was included in an expanded biography of Sansovino written by Vasari after 1570 and republished in 1789. See Gaetano Milanesi's note on page 485.
Coin production continued after the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 but ceased in 1852 during the second period of Austrian domination (1814–1866). The building was subsequently adapted and served as the seat for the Chamber of Commerce from 1872 until 1900. Since 1904, it has housed the main part of the Marciana Library whose historical building, next door, is now largely a museum.
Historical background
An earlier mint located in the parish of San Bartolomeo across the Grand Canal from the Rialto market was closed and the parcel of land sold by the government in 1112.The mint was located along the Canal della Fava between the churches of San Bartolomeo and San Salvatore. See Stahl, Zecca..., p. 8. The document relative to the sale indicates that the site had been occupied by the mint since 'antiquity', perhaps since the first minting of a local coin, a Carolingian silver penny issued in the name of the emperor Louis the Pious.The coin resembles issues minted throughout the empire from 819-822 in appearance and weight. See Stahl, Zecca..., pp. 3-4. Evidence suggests a subsequent cessation of minting in the mid-twelfth century during which time the coinage of Verona seems to have been used for local transactions while Byzantine coins were used for long-distance trade.Stahl, Zecca..., pp. 8-13. Local minting resumed when ducal coinage was first issued during the reign of Vitale II Michiel ()Stahl, Zecca..., p. 13 and increased significantly when the grosso was introduced.Stahl, Zecca..., pp. 16-22
A new silver mint is mentioned as already present in Saint Mark's Square in a resolution of the Great Council in 1278.The deliberation of the Great Council, dated 8 October, obligated merchants to sell silver either at Rialto or in Saint Mark's Square at the Mint or the moneychangers' booths. See Stahl, Zecca..., p. 281 The location, across the Piazzetta from the Doge's Palace, facilitated oversight by the appropriate magistracy, the Council of Forty, and ensured greater security. It also followed a long-standing tradition in Italy that the mint, as a symbol of fiscal autonomy and economic prosperity, be located near the seat of the government.In their architectural treatises both Vitruvius and later Filarete recommended that the mint, or treasury, be situated near the centre of government. Elsewhere in Italy, the Vatican mint was built near the entrance to the Apostolic Palace and the Florentine Mint initially opposite the Palazzo della Signoria and subsequently behind the Loggia de' Signori. See Howard, Jacopo Sansovino..., p. 168, note 4. A separate gold mint, probably adjacent to the existing silver mint, was established in 1285 following the introduction of the ducat.Stahl, Zecca..., p. 285 It is referred to in a deliberation of the Great Council, dated that same year, as the Zecca, from the Arabic noun sikka, meaning "die". By 1290, the name was also used for the silver mint, formerly known by the term Moneta.Stahl, Zecca..., pp.33-34
Over time, these mint facilities were expanded and floors added as demand for coinage increased.Between 1319 and 1339, both the silver and gold mints were expanded. An additional floor to the gold mint was authorized in 1343 to accommodate four additional hearths, but this was eliminated in 1352. See Stahl, Zecca..., pp. 285-286. The Reuwich woodcut (Mainz, 1486) and the de' Barbari engraving (Venice, 1500) show the mint as a single, three-story building with a courtyard behind.Morresi, Jacopo Sansovino, pp. 182-183Stahl, Zecca..., pp. 282-283. Stahl mistakes the central meat market to the east as a part of the mint. The structure is delimited on all sides: to the west by a canal, to the north by the tenth-century hospice for pilgrims, to the east by a series of hostelries and the meat market, and to the south by a row of lean-to stalls that were rented by the procurators of Saint Mark de supra to vendors of sausage and cheese.
Safety concerns within the mint were raised when fire broke out in July 1532.Sanudo, Diari, 57 (1902), col. 516, 7 July 1532 Following an inspection by Doge Andrea Gritti () to verify conditions, the Council of Ten, the magistracy responsible for the defence of vital state interests, deliberated on 4 December 1535 that the entire mint was to be rebuilt with stone vaults in order to eliminate the use of wooden beams.Howard, Jacopo Sansovino..., p. 39.Morresi, Jacopo Sansovino, p. 182 This decision coincided with a need to add furnaces and increase production following a deliberation of the Council of Ten in 1526 that obligated the government offices dislocated in the subject cities on the mainland to accept only Venetian currency, effectively substituting local currencies for official business. In addition, it was necessary to improve security when after 1528 interest-earning private deposits began to be accepted at the mint as a means of increasing the supply of silver for minting.Morresi, Jacopo Sansovino, p. 182
For the design of the new mint, three projects were reviewed, and on 28 March 1536, the Council of Ten awarded the commission to Jacopo Sansovino.Howard, Jacopo Sansovino..., p. 39. The document is in the State Archives of Venice in Consiglio di Dieci, Comuni, reg, II, c. 106.Morresi, Jacopo Sansovino, p. 183 The architect, as proto (consultant architect and buildings manager) of the procurators of Saint Mark de supra, had already supervised the final stages in the construction of the Procuratie vecchie in Saint Mark's Square following the death of his predecessor Pietro Bon,Pietro Bon, chief consulting architect for the procurators of Saint Mark de supra is often confused with Bartolomeo Bon, chief consulting architect for the Salt Office. For relative documentation and the attribution of various projects, see Stefano Mariani, 'Vita e opere dei proti Bon Bartolomeo e Pietro' (unpublished doctoral thesis, Istituto Universitario di Architettura – Venezia, Dipartimento di Storia dell'Architettura, 1983). but the mint was his first major commission in Venice.
Building Construction 1536-1548
Independently of the need to provide greater fire protection and security as well as space for increased production, the mint was intended to symbolize Venice's financial recovery from years of famine and war.The second Italian war (1499-1504) largely coincided with the conflict against the Ottomans (1499-1503). The third Italian war lasted from 1508-1516. Conflicts on the mainland began anew in 1521 with the fourth and fifth Italian wars and concluded in 1530. Famine struck in 1527-1528. It was an integral part of the renovatio urbis, the vast architectural programme begun under Doge Andrea Gritti to express Venice's renewed self-confidence and reaffirm its international prestige after the earlier defeat at Agnadello during the War of Cambrai and the subsequent Peace of Bologna which sanctioned Habsburg hegemony on the Italian peninsula at the end of the War of the League of Cognac. The programme, which included the library (1537) and the loggia of the bell tower (1538), called for the transformation of Saint Mark’s Square from an antiquated medieval town centre with food vendors, money changers, and even latrines into a classical forum. The intent was to evoke the memory of the ancient Roman republic and, in the aftermath of the Sack of Rome in 1527, to present Venice as Rome’s true successor.See in general Chambers, The Imperial Age of Venice..., pp. 12–31. Sansovino's understanding of Vitruvian principles and his direct knowledge of ancient Roman prototypes, garnered from his time in Rome, provided the expertise necessary to enact the programme.
To raise the 5,000 ducats appropriated for construction, the Council of Ten authorized the freeing of slaves on Cyprus, then a Venetian possession, at 50 ducats a head.Howard, Jacopo Sansovino..., p. 39An estimated 23,000 to 24,000 slaves existed on Cyprus. These were descendants of the earlier invaders who had later been enslaved by the Byzantines. For a discussion, see Federico Berchet, 'Contributo alla storia dell'edificio della veneta Zecca, prima della sua destinazione a sede della Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana', Atti del Regio Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, lxix (1909-1910), part II, pp. 339-367. Additional funds were similarly raised in 1539 and 1544. Ultimately, the construction of the mint exceeded initial cost estimates roughly sixfold.By 1558, 28,879 ducats had been spent to complete Sansovino's design. Additional funds in the amount of 1,790 ducats arrived later and were used to finance the additional floor. See Howard, Jacopo Sansovino..., pp. 42 and 169, note 31.
Construction began in 1536 and, given the importance of the mint, does not seem to have been hindered by the financial constraints at the time of the Ottoman–Venetian War (1537–1540).Contracts were already awarded in January 1537 (=Venetian year 1536) for the vaults of a portion of the ground floor, an indication that work had progressed sufficiently. See Howard, Jacopo Sansovino..., p. 169, note 13. Since minting operations could not be interrupted, work had to proceed piecemeal, beginning with the charcoal depository on the northern side. To protect the structure from high tides, the floor level was raised by approximately . In 1539, it was decided to incorporate the lean-to cheese and sausage shops along the embankment into the new structure in order to give greater dignity to the mint façade but also to then extend the upper floor over the shops and provide additional space for the gold mint which was located upstairs. But for security concerns, the shops were relocated in 1588. The arcades on the ground floor, originally open to facilitate commercial activities, were walled, and the space was annexed to the mint.Howard, Jacopo Sansovino..., p. 42Morresi, Jacopo Sansovino, p. 184. The senate deliberation is in the State Archives of Venice in Senato Terra, f. 108, 15 Sept. 1588; PS, b. 33, proc. 67, c. 34-40t. Construction terminated in 1548.Howard, Jacopo Sansovino..., p. 169, note 24Morresi, Jacopo Sansovino, pp. 183-184. The document relative to the closing of the construction site is in the State Archives of Venice in Provveditori di Zecca, Terminazioni, reg. 22, c. 82, 3 Jan 1547 m.v. (=1548).Sansovino received a final payment on 17 May 1549. See Morresi, Jacopo Sansovino, p. 184.
1558 addition