Casa dei Tre Oci

Casa dei Tre Oci (House of Three Eyes), also known as Casa di Maria, is a palace overlooking the Giudecca Canal, located near Le Zitelle, in the sestiere of Dorsoduro, on the Giudecca island, in Venice.

The name of the palace comes from the three large windows on its facade, which resemble three eyes (òci meaning eyes in the Venetian dialect).

SHORT HISTORY

Casa dei Tre Oci is a 20th century palazzo linked to many illustrious names. It was built between 1912 and 1913 by the painter Mario de Maria, who made it his new Venetian residence.

The painter, wanting to commemorate his beloved daughter Silvia, who disappeared a few years earlier, built the house with three large windows on the facade, representing the three surviving members of his family: himself, his wife Emilia Voight and his son Astolfo. The mullioned window placed above them symbolizes the deceased daughter.

In this palace, after the death of de Maria, people linked to the art world stayed and lived, like the architect Renzo Piano. In 1970, Enrico Maria Salerno set some scenes of the film The Anonymous Venetian in the palace.

Today, the palace is owned by Polymnia Venezia, a company that organizes cultural events related to 20th-century art. Inside, there are still preserved the original furnishings and many photographic and artistic materials related to de Maria and the house.

ARCHITECTURE

Casa dei Tre Oci is an example of Neo-Gothic early 20th-century architecture, the result of various architectural trends of the time.

The building has three floors, but the importance of the main floor is emphasized by the three enormous òci, large ogival windows with a view of the Giudecca Canal and the San Marco Basin. On the second floor, there is the mullioned window framed by Neo-Gothic decorations.

HOW TO GET THERE

The closest waterbus stop is Zitelle, located a few meters away, that can be reached with the waterbus Lines 2, 4.1 and 4.2.