Equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni

Monumento equestre a Bartolomeo Colleoni

The famous condottiere (1395–1475) had a long and remunerative career as captain of a mercenary army fighting for (or against, depending on the pay) the Republic, but died without an heir (8 daughters did not count) and bequeathed most of his significant wealth to Venice - on the condition that the grateful populace erect a monument to him in front of San Marco. The crafty council fulfilled the condition, with one detail - the statue stands in front of Scuola San Marco, the religious confraternity (now city hospital), not the Basilica. They didn't skimp on the sculptor, though, hiring Andrea del Verrocchio, teacher of Leonardo da Vinci. Look for the visual pun on the side of the postament - three inverted-comma-like shapes on the shield, the Colleoni coat of arms, are in fact three pairs of human testicles, or coglioni in Italian.

Address

Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo