Statue of Colleoni

Few statues have had such a rocky history. When celebrated condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni died it was discovered that, in gratitude for the Republic’s goodness towards him, he would leave it the princely sum of 100,000 ducats on the condition that it erect an equestrian monument to him ‘super platea San Marco’.

After all, Colleoni’s predecessor, the condottiere ‘Honey Cat’ Gattamelata, had got a fine one by Donatello in Padua (paid for by the Republic).

Greedy for the money, but gagging at the thought of erecting a statue in the sacred Piazza San Marco to anybody on this planet, much less a mercenary warlord, the Senate came up with the wily solution of erecting the statue in the campo of the Scuola di San Marco.