Church of San Bernardino: Overall view, facade of San Bernardino with monastery cloister to the left

The first important public architectural project under the Venetians (doge Francesco Foscari) was the construction (1452-1466) of S Bernardino, still on Gothic lines but with some Renaissance decorative elements. One of Sanmicheli's most sophisticated and admired buildings is the Pellegrini Chapel (ca. 1527), attached to the church of S Bernardino. Approached from a short vestibule, the tall chapel is of circular plan, with a dome concealed externally by a drum in the North Italian manner. The interior was inspired by that of the Pantheon, having a radial plan with large recesses on the main axes and tabernacled niches between them. The upper storey has a balcony, perhaps intended for a choir. Richly embellished with exquisite carving, the execution, as Vasari observed, appears to defy the immense technical difficulty of adapting so complex a design to a curving wall surface and realizing it in stonework. The church is part of a Franciscan monastery.