Scuole Grandi of Venice

The Scuole Grandi of Venice (literally "Great Schools"; plural: "Scuole Grandi") were confraternity or sodality institutions in Venice, Italy. They were founded as early as the 13th century as charitable and religious organizations for the laity.

Unlike the trade guilds or the numerous "scuola piccola", they included persons from many occupations and ethnicities, although citizenship was required. Unlike the rigidly aristocratic Venetian governmental Grand Council, which for centuries only admitted a restricted number of noble families, membership in the Scuole was open to all citizens, and did not permit nobles to gain director roles. Citizens could include persons in the third generation of residency in the island republic, or persons who had paid taxes in Venice for fifteen years.

The Scuola proved to be one of the few outlets for non-noble Venetian citizens to control powerful institutions. There activities grew to encompass the organization of processions, sponsoring festivities, distribution of money, food, and clothing to poorer members, provision of dowries to daughters, burial of paupers, and the supervision of hospitals. The Scuola were regulated by the Procurators of Venice, who set forth a complex balance of elected offices, mirroring the structures of the Republic. Paying members could vote in the larger "Capitolo", which in turn elected 16 members to a supervisory "Banca": a chief officer, "Vicario" (first deputy), "Guardian da Mattin" (director of processions), a scribe and twelve officers known as the "Degani" (two for each sestieri). A second board, known as the "Zonta" was meant to examine the accounts of the "Banca".

By 1552, there were six "Scuole Grandi":
*Scuola Grande della Carità (founded 1260) now part of the Accademia
*Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista (founded 1261)
*Scuola Grande della Misericordia (founded 1308)
*Scuola Grande di San Marco (founded 1260)
*Scuola Grande di San Rocco (founded late 15th century)
*Scuola Grande di San Teodoro (founded 1530 or 1552)

Typically the main building consisted of an "androne", or meeting hall for the provision of charity; the upper floor contained the "salone" was used for meeting of the "Capitolo" and a smaller room, the "albergo", used for meetings of the "Banca" and "Zonta". They often had an affiliated hospital and church. The Scuola often sheltered relics, commissioned famous works of art, or patronized musicians and composers.

References

**cite book | first= Deborah| last= Howard| year=1975| title= "Jacopo Sansovino; Architecture and Patronage in Renaissance Venice"| chapter= | editor= Yale University press| others= | pages= p64-74| | publisher= | id= | url= | authorlink=
* [http://www.cheapvenice.com/scuole-grandi-venice.htm| Scuola grande map and intro.]