The Deposito del Megio on the banks of the Canal Grande has a dark brick façade topped with battlements and, like all Venetian granaries in the 1400s, has a St. Mark’s Lion set into its façade, indicating that the building belonged to the Venetian State.

The Venetian Republic had many such granaries in order to ensure the people always had good supplies of moderately priced commodities. That way the Venetian State always had stocks of wheat and other cereals for its citizens and others in the event of famine (bad weather, war or disease).
There is an interesting story concerning the city of Bologna in this regard: in 1648, during a severe famine, the members of the Senate of Bologna were forced to use their own assets as security for grain from Venice in order to feed their people.

1300 - 1400 - S. CROCE - rev. 0.1.7