In 1404 a delegation of Vicentini, led by Giampiero De Proti, signed in Venice the dedication of our city to the Serenissima. The first Venetian mayor, Michiel, exhibited the symbol of Venice in Vicenza: the bas-relief with the winged lion of St. Mark was placed on the Bissara tower in 1406.
A column was then raised in the square with the plan to hoist another lion on top. Clearly visible and majestic. It was placed up there in 1473 and remained there until 1509. In that year a war broke out between Venice and the League of Cambrai (coalition between the Pope, Habsburgs, France, Spain, etc.). Venice initially suffered a serious defeat and the enemies spread to the mainland; Vicenza was occupied on behalf of the Habsburgs by a handful of adventurers led by the prejudiced (transfuga in Tyrol) Leonardo Trissino; he had the winged stone lion cut down and reduced it (testimony of Luigi da Porto) into very small scales. Leonardo Trissino continued to occupy Padua, but there he was overwhelmed by the Venetian counterattack and imprisoned in Venice; it is said that he was convicted of outrage against the Serenissima and drowned at night in the lagoon.
The League then fell apart, the Venetians recaptured all the Venetian cities, including Vicenza. In 1521 they placed a new winged lion on the column which some historians claim was gilded; in 1797 Napoleon laid it down and confined it to a warehouse with broken wings and tail and without gilding. Upon reunification with Italy, the Lion was restored with new wings and tail and put back on the column: it is the one of today. But a couple of minor outrages still suffered them: the old wings were stuck (10 meters away from each other and without indication) on a wall of the Olympic garden; the gilding was re-proposed as worthy of the city of gold but nothing came of it.
Fabio Gasparini
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