The colonna di San Marco, built in 1523, stands in front of the Maffei Palace, North of the Piazza della Erbe. It was sculptured from Veronese white marble, from a design by Michele Leoni. The lion at the top is not the original; this was taken down in 1797 when the Venetian Republic ceased to exist. It happened due to the Treaty of Campoformio in which Napoleon ceded Venice in exchange for the Duchy of Milan. The lion that now stands atop is a result of treaty in 1866, the year of the Vienna Peace Treaty.