Palazzo Balbi (Venice)

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Palazzo Balbi from Ca 'Rezzonico from
Facade of the Palazzo Balbi

The Palazzo Balbi is a palace in Venice in the Italian region of Veneto . It is located in the Dorsoduro sestiere , overlooking the Grand Canal , in a section called the "curve of the canal" between Ca 'Masieri and Palazzo Caotorta Angaran . Palazzo Balbi is the official seat of the President of the Veneto Region and the seat of the regional government.

history

The Palazzo Balbi was built by Alessandro Vittoria in the second half of the 16th century as the residence of the Balbi family , members of the Venetian patriciate. The client was Nicolò Balbi . Construction took only eight years, from 1582 to 1590, perhaps because the owner was in dire need of new accommodation.

The restorations that have followed over the years have been numerous, from the one carried out in 1737 by Lorenzo Balbi to the next carried out by Jacopo Guarana . In 1807 Napoleon Bonaparte , who was able to attend the regatta that was organized in his honor, visited the palace. The building has often been rented out over the years. The builder's will already stipulated that one of the parade floors and the mezzanine rooms should remain leased to Almorò Pisani . Other tenants were the Valmaranas and the Biondis .

In 1887 the palazzo fell to Michelangelo Guggenheim , who chose it as the seat of his "Laboratories for Industrial Art", modernized it and housed his personal art collection there, which was auctioned off in 1913. In 1925 the Palazzo Balbi passed to the Società Adriatica di Elettricità . They had it restored and one of the two monumental stairs was torn down.

In 1971, the Palazzo became the property of the Veneto Region, which made it one of their more prestigious properties, where the President of the Region lived. In 1973 it underwent another restoration.

description

The palazzo has three full floors and a mezzanine floor under the roof; its facade is perfectly symmetrical and shows the first signs of the Baroque , albeit with Renaissance elements . The most striking element of this transition is the emphasis on the light-dark contrasts on the facade.

On the ground floor, the facade shows a large round arched portal with a mascaron and a triangular tympanum in the middle , which is enhanced by external decorations in the upper part. The motif of the tympanum, which is interrupted, is subsequently taken up again. There are side entrances on both sides of the facade, decorated with mixed-line tympanums. The two parade floors of the same size are vertically divided into three by pilaster strips and horizontally separated by a wall belt; they show two three- arched windows in the middle , separated at full height by paired ionic columns and provided with parapets . On each side there is a pair of individual, rectangular windows with tympanums. Two Balbi coats of arms are inserted as partial relief between the pairs of windows on the first floor .

Under the serrated eaves there are six small, oval windows that are worked into a stone frame. Such a motif is inspired by the work of Jacopo Sansovino and also finds it by Baldassarre Longhena . On the roof there are two pinnacles in the form of obelisks , which dominate the facade and are reminiscent of those of the Palazzo Belloni Battaglia . Inside are frescoes from the 18th century by Jacopo Guarana.

Legend

The writer of Venetian curiosities, Giuseppe Tassini , tells of a legend related to the construction of this building. At the time, the client, Nicolò Balbi , lived in a house that he had rented. One day he was approached by his landlord, who firmly believed that he had forgotten to pay his rent. Seriously offended, he paid the debt, but at the same time decided to build his own place. He then moved with his entire family into a floating house that was moored right in front of the house of his previous landlord, so that his home was covered.

Individual references and comments

  1. ↑ a b c d e Marcello Brusegan: La grande guida dei monumenti di Venezia . Newton & Compton, Rome 2005. ISBN 88-541-0475-2 . P. 17.
  2. ↑ a b Marcello Brusegan: La grande guida dei monumenti di Venezia . Newton & Compton, Rome 2005. ISBN 88-541-0475-2 . P. 19.
  3. ↑ a b Marcello Brusegan: La grande guida dei monumenti di Venezia . Newton & Compton, Rome 2005. ISBN 88-541-0475-2 . P. 18.
  4. ↑ a b Jan-Christoph Rößler: Palazzo Balbi . venezia-jc-r.net. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved July 26, 2019.
  5. ^ Moisè Michelangelo Guggenheim (Venice, 1837-1914) was an antiquarian, art dealer, collector and promoter of productions and decorative art.
  6. ^ Andrea Fasolo: Palazzi di Venezia . Arsenale editrice, 2003. ISBN 978-88-7743-295-7 . P. 60.

literature

  • Marcello Brusegan: La grande guida dei monumenti di Venezia . Newton & Compton, Rome 2005. ISBN 88-541-0475-2 .
  • Guida d'Italia - Venezia . 3. Edition. Touring Editore, Milan 2007. ISBN 978-88-365-4347-2 .
  • Marcello Brusegan: I palazzi di Venezia . Newton & Compton, Rome 2007. ISBN 978-88-541-0820-2 .
  • Andrea Fasolo: Palazzi di Venezia . Arsenale editrice, 2003. ISBN 978-88-7743-295-7 .
  • Elena Bassi: Palazzi di Venezia: Admiranda urbis Venetae . La Stamperia di Venezia Editrice, Venice 1987. pp. 124-130.

Web links

Commons : Palazzo Balbi (Venice)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 45 ° 26 ′ 6.1 ″  N , 12 ° 19 ′ 37.4 ″  E