San Michele in Isola stands on an islet between Venice and Murano, the island that holds Venice's main cemetery. The first documented record is a church granted to the monastic order in 1212, consecrated in 1221 with Doge Pietro Ziani in attendance. A fire in 1453 destroyed it, and Mauro Codussi began the new church in 1469.
It is one of the first Renaissance buildings in Venice, and the facade appears influenced by Alberti. It is built entirely of white Istrian stone, now weathered to pale gray. The ashlar courses run across the Ionic pilasters, an unusual feature. The interior has a nave, two aisles and polychrome marble decoration.
Napoleonic forces suppressed the monastery in 1810, and many buildings were demolished for the cemetery. Ezra Pound and Igor Stravinsky are buried here. A fifteenth-century cloister gives access to the cemetery.
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