Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti is a palace in Venice, located in the sestiere of San Marco, in the immediate vicinity of the Accademia Bridge. Since 1999, it belongs to the Venetian Institute of Science, Letters and Arts, which hosts frequent cultural events. SHORT HISTORY The palace was built in Gothic style in the second half of the 15th century by the Marcello family. It was inhabited later by the Gussoni and the Cavalli families. In 1847, the palace was ceded to the young Archduke Friedrich Ferdinand of Austria, who initiated a series of works for the modernization of the building. Later, the palace passed to Enrico, Count of Chambord, who commissioned the architect Giovanni Battista Meduna to renovate the structure. Meduna redesigned the palace, which became one of the emblems of the 19th century in Venice. In 1878, the building was bought by the Baron Raimondo Franchetti. Franchetti started a radical restoration under the direction of the architect Camillo Boito. In September 1922, the widow of Raimondo, Sarah Luisa de Rothschild, sold the building to the Istituto Federale di Credito per il Risorgimento delle Venezie, which proceeded to a new phase of works and functional adaptations. ARCHITECTURE The palace is Read more [...]
Tag: Camillo Boito in Venice
Fondaco dei Turchi
One of the oldest palaces in Venice, Fondaco dei Turchi is located in the district of Santa Croce, on the southern bank of the Grand Canal. From this strategic point of view, with an impenetrable mimic on its Byzantine style facade, the palace watches the gondolas passing by for almost 800 years. SHORT HISTORY The palace was built in 1225 by Giacomo Palmieri, one of the members of the powerful Pesaro family. For certain political favors, the construction was given in 1381 to Nicolo d’Este, Marquise of Ferrara. Two centuries later, in 1621, it was bought by the Turkish merchants in Venice, who turned it into a warehouse and a residential space. The name that it bears today comes from that period, meaning in English The Turkish Warehouse. In 1838, the palace was abandoned by the Turks in a very bad state. It had to be another twenty years before the Municipality decided to renovate it, and the mission was entrusted to the architect and engineer Camillo Boito. It seems, however, that after the reconstruction, the palace was adorned with two lateral Gothic towers that did not existed before, but keept the general lines of the initial construction. Since Read more [...]