Ca 'Foscari

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Ca 'Foscari, southeast view

Ca 'Foscari , also called Palazzo Foscari , is a late Gothic palace in Venice that serves as the seat of the Venetian University . At the time of its construction it was the largest private house in Venice. Together with the neighboring Palazzo Giustinian , the Ca 'Foscari has been a connected building complex since 1942, making it the largest Gothic palace complex in Venice. It can be viewed for a fee as part of a guided tour.

The palace was often used as accommodation for high-ranking guests of the Republic of Venice . Due to its favorable location at the first bend of the Grand Canal , the so-called volta di Canal , the house offers an exceptionally far-reaching view along the waterway. The view extends from the Rialto Bridge in the northeast to the Accademia Bridge in the south. Because of its location, the house is the destination of the Regata storica every September .

description

The palace stands in a prominent location in the Dorsoduro district opposite the Palazzo Balbi and lies between the Rio di Ca 'Foscari and the Rio di San Barnaba on the right-hand side in the direction of Bacino di San Marco .

The Ca 'Foscari is a typical example of the late Gothic city palaces of the Venetian nobility and wealthy merchants. The ground floor of the four-story flamboyant -style building was previously used as a storage room. The first two upper floors served the residents as piano nobile , i.e. for residential purposes and festivities. The top floor is closed off by a flat hipped roof covered with red pans . The property has two entrances. The entrance facing the canal used to be the main portal . This keel arched entrance with a wall of light marble is more elaborately designed than the entrance facing the street. It is the same with the unplastered water-side facade. With the exception of a frieze  , it is completely symmetrical and shows a marble loggia made of eight-arched arcades on the first and second floors . This gives the two piano nobili special architectural emphasis. About the pillars of arcature, with foliage decorated, animals and masks, there is quatrefoil - tracery , which is crowned by a marble frieze. Its central motif is a helmet, which is flanked on both sides by putti with heraldic shields . The shields show the coat of arms of the Foscari family. The rear facade facing the land side does not date from the time the building was erected, but probably dates from the late 16th century.

The recently restored street-side portal leads into the large inner courtyard of the property, which is closed on two sides by a circular wall . The courtyard is the second largest of its kind in Venice after that of the Doge's Palace .

View over the Grand Canal towards the Rialto Bridge

Inside, the great hall on the second floor is particularly noteworthy. It is dedicated to the Italian literature professor Mario Baratto , who died in 1984 , which is why it is also called the Mario Baratto Hall . The hall presents itself with an interior from the 1930s and 1950s. From the period of the 1930s and the two in the coming Great Hall hanging frescoes Venezia, l'Italia e gli Studi ( German  Venice, Italy and the studies ) by Mario Sironi and La Scuola ( German  School ) by Mario Deluigi. The latter work was initially located on the first floor, but was then moved to the great hall . It shows a philosopher surrounded by his students.

  • Floor plan of the Ca 'Foscari (right) and the Palazzo Giustinian (left)

  • Facade on Calle Foscari

  • Loggia on the second floor

  • Gilded ceiling from the 16th century

history

Ca 'Foscari c. 1869, photograph by Carlo Naya ; on the left the Palazzo Giustinian

The so-called Casa delle Due Tori ( German  House of Two Towers ), which the Republic of Venice bought from Bernardo Giustinian in 1429, and then donated it to the condottiere Gianfrancesco I Gonzaga , Count of Mantua , used to stand at the site of the present palace . After switching sides and opposing Venice, the building was confiscated in 1439 and given to Francesco I Sforza , who later became Duke of Milan . When the latter also opposed Venice, the Republic withdrew it again in 1450 and auctioned it off in 1452. The buyer was the Doge Francesco Foscari . He had the buildings there put down and from 1453 a new representative palazzo was built, the elaborate design of which was appropriate to his status. The new building was given its current name by his family. The plans for the building were provided by the Venetian architect Bartolomeo Bon . The construction of the house took several years and was not finished when Francesco Foscari died in 1457.

The future French King Heinrich III was one of the palace's illustrious guests in 1574 . The later Elector of Hanover , Ernst August , visited Venice frequently from the 1640s and rented the Palazzo Foscari permanently as his accommodation.

The Foscari family remained the owners of the building until 1845, when they sold it to the Congregazione municipale di Venezia that year . The subsequent uses, for example as a hospital in 1849, were very detrimental to the historical building fabric. The fact that the Austrian occupying power used the palace as a barracks also did a lot of damage to the building - especially inside. When the founding of the Royal Commercial College ( Regia Scuola Superiore di Commercio in Italian ) was decided in 1868 , the Ca 'Foscari was designated as its seat.

In the 1930s, the first repair work took place under the leadership of the Italian architect Carlo Scarpa . Starting in 1936, Scarpa redesigned the entrance hall and the Great Hall ( Aula Magna ) with the adjoining rooms on the second floor. In addition, the two entrances to the property were repaired. In 1956 Scarpa was hired again to redesign the Great Hall again. This was partially destroyed in a fire in 1979, but was subsequently restored by the architect Valeriano Pastor.

The last major restoration work to date, which also included the Palazzo Giustinian, took place from January 2004 to summer 2006. Relics from the 9th century were found under the large inner courtyard and a floor decorated with frescoes from the 15th century was discovered. A richly decorated and gilded ceiling from the 16th century was also uncovered in a room on the first floor. In 2008, university students restored the palace's portal on the street side.

literature

  • Marcello Brusegan : La grande guida dei monumenti di Venezia . Newton & Compton, Rome 2005, ISBN 88-541-0475-2 .
  • Elsa and Wanda Eleodori: Il Canal Grande. Palazzi e Famiglie . Corbo e Fiore, Venice 2007, ISBN 88-7086-057-4 , p. 76.
  • Giuseppe Maria Pilo (Ed.): Ca 'Foscari. Storia e restauro del palazzo dell'Università di Venezia. Marsilio, Venice 2009, ISBN 88-317-8857-4 .
  • Fabiola Sartori (Ed.): La casa grande dei Foscari in volta de Canal. La Malcontenta, Venezia 2001.

Web links

Commons : Ca 'Foscari  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jonathan Buckley, Charles Hebbert, Kate Hughes: The Rough Guide to Venice & the Veneto . 6th edition. Rough Guides, London 2004, ISBN 1-84353-302-2 , p. 187 ( online ).
  2. ↑ a b c d History of Ca 'Foscari ( Memento from December 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ Evamarie Blattner: Venice . 14th edition. Baedeker, Ostfildern 2008, ISBN 978-3-8297-1051-0 , pp. 183-184 ( online ).
  4. ↑ Venice. The whole city and its masterpieces . Bonechi, Florenz 1991, ISBN 88-7009-689-0 , p. 73 ( online ).
  5. ↑ a b c d Description of Ca 'Foscari , accessed November 26, 2012.
  6. ↑ a b Information on Ca 'Foscari on venedig-guide.de , accessed on November 26, 2012.
  7. ↑ a b c Patricia Fortini Brown: Private Lives In Renaissance Venice. Art, Architecture, and the Family . Yale University Press, New Haven [et al. a.] 2004, ISBN 0-300-10236-4 , p. 23 ( online ).
  8. ↑ English information brochure of the University of Venice (PDF; 687 kB), p. 2.
  9. ^ Noemi Magri: Places in Shakespeare. Belmont and thereabouts. In: Richard Malim (ed.): Great Oxford: Essays on the Life and Work of Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, 1550-1604. Parapress, Tunbridge Wells 2004, pp. 91-106, here p. 98 . See also Pierre de Nolhac , Angelo Solerti: Il viaggio in Italia di Enrico III, re di Francia e le festa Venezia, Ferrara, Mantova e Torino. Rome, Turin, Naples 1890 (digitized version) .
  10. ↑ Gerd van den Heuvel : The great garden in Herrenhausen. A reflection of Leibniz's metaphysics? In: Lower Saxony Yearbook for State History . Volume 85, 2013, pp. 379–391, here p. 386 (PDF) .

Coordinates: 45 ° 26 ′ 4.1 ″  N , 12 ° 19 ′ 35.8 ″  E