Venice: San Giorgio Maggiore.

“San Giorgio Maggiore is one of the islands of Venice, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group.

“It was probably occupied in the Roman period; after the foundation of Venice it was called Insula Memmia after the Memmo family who owned it. By 829 it had a church consecrated to St George; thus it was designated as San Giorgio Maggiore to be distinguished from San Giorgio in Alga.

“The San Giorgio Monastery was established in 982, when the Benedictine monk, Giovanni Morosini, asked the doge Tribuno Memmo to donate the whole island for a monastery. Morosini drained the island’s marshes next to the church to get the ground for building, and founded the Monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore, and became its first abbot.

“It is now best known for the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, designed by Palladio and begun in 1566. The belltower has a ring of 9 bells in C#.

“In the early 19th century, after the Republic fell, the monastery was almost suppressed and the island became a free port with a new harbour built in 1812. It became the home of Venice’s artillery.”