The arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte.
The fall of la Serenissima, by now a foregone conclusion, took place the following year in 1797, a date that marks both the end of a magnificent dynasty that lasted over a thousand years and the beginning of the Democratic Republic. The first French occupation initiated a great upheaval of the characteristic ambience of the city. It began with the reformation of Piazza San Marco, the destruction of many churches, the devastation of a great part of the city, and the creation of the cemetery of San Michele. San Giorgio was not immune to the attacks that plagued other historic places and monuments. She suffered one despoilment after another, while the monks were confined to a tiny portion of the monastery. ("Centuries of work, piety, charity, of culture and art were not enough to save the peace of the cloister. And the fall came all at once, fatal and complete.G.Frasson 1987)
"The Wedding at Cana" by Paolo Veronese was delivered to the French Republic in 1797 through an agreement between the Officer General of the Italian fleet and the Governor of Venice along with thirty four cases of books (approximately 1800 in total), among which were 70 editions from the 15th century and more than 180 manuscripts which were eventually recovered in 1806. Many other great works of art were also taken away, including numerous series of landscapes by Francesco Zucarelli, "The Rich Epicurean" by Jacopo da Bassano, and eight canvasses which disappeared in 1807 painted by Evaristo Baschenis, of Bergamo. Another thirteen works pictures were sold between 1811 and 1812. Of the remaining fifteen thousand valuable works kept at San Giorgio
(213 manuscripts, 78 incunabula, 1,572 rare books, 3,585 of lesser value, and 10,088 various volumes), the remnants were stolen and sold-even by the Venetian people-as scrap. The historian Cicogna said: "Here is the way in which so much labour, so many works accumulated over centuries borne of so much toil and expense by well deserving men of the cloth, came to an end."
8.2 The Conclave and the election of Pope Pious VII. In 1799, the island was once again the setting for an important historic event: the Conclave that brought the election of Pope Pious VII. The Church and Catholicism were in a dangerous position. Rome had submitted to French occupation. Pope Pious VI, octogenarian, spiritually and physically weak, was sent to the Carthusian Monastery in Florence. The likelihood of his death was too great, therefore to avoid the subsequent dissolution of the Roman Pontificate, the cardinals met at San Giorgio December 1, 1799 to choose a new pope. Barnaba Chiaromonti, Bishop of Imola, was elected on March 21 and assumed the name, Pious VII. On the twenty fourth of April, 1867, a decree from the Italian government sequestered all belongings of the monks who were, in turn, expelled from the island. Some obtained permission to remain there as custodians and administrators of the Basilica, maintaining their monastic life at San Giorgio, although unrecognised by the government.
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